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Sweets and desserts

Japanese cheesecake

A light, wobbly souffle cheesecake of cream cheese and whipped egg whites, baked gently in a water bath.

Japanese cheesecake, also called souffle or cotton cheesecake, is a soft, airy cake made from cream cheese, butter, milk and egg yolks, lightened with whipped egg whites and baked slowly in a water bath. It is less sweet and much lighter than a New York cheesecake, and it trembles when moved. Hokkaido, Japan's dairy island, is famous for baked cheese tarts and cheese sweets.

What goes in

Cream cheese: 33%33%Eggs: 28%28%Milk and butter: 17%17%Sugar: 11%11%Flour and cornflour: 6%Lemon juice: 6%6parts
  • Cream cheese633%, Softened.
  • Eggs528%, Separated.
  • Milk and butter317%, Melted with the cheese.
  • Sugar211%, Whipped into the whites.
  • Flour and cornflour16%, A little.
  • Lemon juice16%, Freshness.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each ingredient's share of the dish.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Melt Melt cream cheese, butter and milk together over gentle heat.
  2. Step 2: Knead Whisk in the yolks, flour and lemon juice and sieve the mixture.
  3. Step 3: Knead Whip the whites with sugar to soft peaks.
  4. Step 4: Layer Fold the whites into the cheese mixture in stages.
  5. Step 5: Bake Bake slowly in a water bath until risen and set.
  6. Step 6: Rest Cool gently in the oven, then serve plain or chilled.
  7. Cream cheese: 33%33%Eggs: 28%28%Milk and butter: 17%17%Sugar: 11%11%Flour and cornflour: 6%Lemon juice: 6%
    Finished Japanese cheesecake, by share.

Origins

The cake is usually credited to Tomotaro Kuzuno, a Japanese cook who tasted a German-style cheesecake in Berlin in the 1960s and created a lighter version back in Japan. It became popular in Japanese bakeries in the following decades and later spread to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and beyond. Cream cheese, rather than curd cheese, gives it its smooth taste.

Technique

The method borrows from both cheesecake and chiffon cake. Egg whites are whipped to soft peaks and folded in gently, and the cake is baked at a low heat surrounded by water, so it rises without cracking and stays moist. Some bakers finish with a short blast of heat to colour the top. The cake shrinks slightly as it cools.

Where it is used

Bakery cakeAfternoon tea

The cheeses in it

Cream cheeseThe cheese base of the cake.

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Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and kitchen makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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