Phoebe ChungSouffle cheesecake is more like a sponge cake than a cheesecake, but it is much moister than a sponge cake.
Soft and light when it’s warm, soft and moist as if it melts in your mouth when eaten cold.
It’s not difficult to make, so give it a try.
This is a recipe I posted on my Korean blog a long time ago and is the most popular baking recipe so far.
There are quite a few people who ask me to upload this recipe every time I move my blog. (In fact, I moved my blog twice.)
Westerners call this cake Japanese cheesecake, cotton cake, Japanese soufflé cheesecake.
Usually, cheesecake has a creamy cheese and rich taste, so it’s good to have coffee or tea with it.
This Japanese souffle cheesecake has a very light texture and just melts in your mouth.
Japanese soufflé cheesecake
This cake is call Japanese souffle cheesecake because it makes meringue in the form of a souffle and gives it a puffy effect.
It is also call Japanese cotton cheesecake because it is light and fluffy like cotton.
Also call ‘Jiggly’ cake because it shakes gently.
The cake was created by a Japanese chef named Tomotaro Kujuno.
This chef went on a trip to Berlin, Germany in the 1960s, tasted German cheesecake there, reduced sugar and cream cheese, and created this soufflé cheesecake.
Later, in 1990, it was made and sold as a signature cake at a bakery call Tetsuojisan no Mise (てつおじさんの店) in Fukuoka.
However, it sold so well that the bakery became a chain and has now spread to many countries.
Souffle Cheesecake Baking Tips
Souffle Cheesecake Ingredients
Cream cheese is usually 225 grams in 1 pack. If you have only 225 grams of cream cheese, you can use just that.
It would be nice if there was a flour with less gluten than all-purpose flour, such as cake flour, but you can just use all-purpose flour.
Using starch is to lower the gluten content and make a light cake.
Double Boiler
The reason melt cream cheese in double boiler is to make it soft without leaving lumps of cream cheese.
Don’t try to melt it in the microwave in a hurry. Cream cheese does not melt well in the microwave and becomes dry.
Beat egg whites
Whipping bowls and utensils must be clean and dry, free of grease and water. And it’s even better if you use them chilled.
Add the sugar in portions starting when the egg whites go from transparent to foamy.
If you turn the whisk until the meringue state(stiff peak), the cake will crack after baking.
When you remove the whisk the peak that forms will keep its shape(firm peak).
Japanese souffle cheesecake
Equipment
- 1 23 cm diameter cake pan
- 1 whisk
- parchment paper
- aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 50 g butter
- 225~250 g cream cheese
- 100 ml milk
- 6 egg whites (keep chilled)
- 6 egg yolks
- 100~120 g sugar
- ¼ tsp cream tartar or baking soda optional
- 1 tsp vanilla essence or ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- 60 g cake flour (or all-purpose)
- 20 g starch
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Place about 1 1/2 cups of water in a pot and place a double boiler bowl on top. Make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water.Add butter, milk, cream cheese and bring to a boil.Start on medium heat, then reduce to low heat when the water starts to boil.
- Stir it for about 5 minutes and it's done when the cream cheese mixes smoothly without lumps.Turn off the heat and cool.
- While the cream cheese cools down, mix dry ingredients(flour , starch , salt) well and set aside.
- Prepare a cake tin. Butter the inside and cut the parchment paper to fit the cake tin.
- Separate the yolks and whites. When all are separated, put the egg whites in the refrigerator.
- In the meantime, the cream cheese is cool down. Add the yolks and vanilla extract or lemon juice, mix evenly.
- Mix the flour mix and cream cheese mix until no flour is visible.
- Place the egg whites in a deep bowl and beat with a whisk.When the egg white starts to lose its transparency, add ⅓ of sugar. Continue whisking and adding sugar.It's done when you remove the whisk the peak that forms will keep its shape
- Mix the cream cheese batter into the whipped egg whites.Mix ⅓ of the cream cheese mixture into the egg whites, fold it with a spatula. Then another ⅓ into the mixture fold.The dough is heavy and sinks to the bottom. Fold it up by lifting from the bottom.Add the last batter and continue to lift and fold until incorporated.
- Preheat oven to 160°C.Cover the prepared cake tin with foil so that no water gets in.
- Pour the batter into the cake tin and tap it on the table two or three times to even out the bubbles.Place the cake tin on an oven pan and pour boiling water into the oven pan to a depth of 1.5~2 cm.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C for 50-60 minutes.Check in the middle and if the top part is too dark brown, lightly cover the top with foil.
- Let it cool completely, then remove it from the cake tin.It tastes better when chilled after putting it in the refrigerator than eating it at room temperature.
