Japanese Cheesecake - Funky Asian Kitchen (2024)

There may not be a more crowd pleasing, popular dessert than cheesecake, and this Japanese Cheesecake is next level. It’s melt in your mouth delicious; part cheesecake and part soufflé. All the creamy tang of cheesecake, lightened with the airy cloudlike texture of a soufflé. Now you know what you’re making next time someone says, “bring dessert”.

Unlike New York style cheesecake, which is rich, dense, and decadent, this Japanese Cheesecake is soft, airy, and sophisticated. It perfectly reflects Japanese tastes when it comes to desserts. It’s modestly sweet and just rich enough for you to feel like it’s dessert. Honestly, it’s hard to stop at just one serving. So if you’re a cheesecake lover (and let’s get real, who isn’t?), switch it up and try a different spin on a familiar favorite.

Japanese Cheesecake?

What separates Japanese cheesecake, also called Soufflé cheesecake, from a New York style cheesecake that you may be more familiar with is its incredibly light, fluffy, and airy texture. That texture comes from an egg white meringue that gets mixed into the cream cheese batter. And it relies on having a truly preheated oven. Don’t rush, give your oven enough time to heat up. If the oven isn’t hot enough, the egg whites will deflate and the cheesecake will be dense and heavy instead of light and airy, so turning on the oven is always the first thing I do. Then I begin by prepping my soufflé ramekin.

Prepping the Ramekin

I use the same ramekin here that I use for making soufflés. It’s 7 inches across and 5 inches deep. You can use a slightly bigger one too; your cake will just be a little bigger but flatter. First I swipe it with softened butter (you can also spray it with nonstick spray), and then I use parchment paper to fashion a sling that helps lift it out. The butter/oil is important for not only making sure the non-parchment parts of the cake don’t stick, but also for sticking the parchment in place.

I used standard parchment paper from a roll and cut out a circle by tracing the ramekin on paper with a pencil. Then I cut out the circle. The circle should either fit exactly into the pan or be a tiny bit smaller. I’m a terrible cutter, and can rarely cut a straight line, so my circle is typically asymmetrical. But that’s ok too; just make sure that the parchment circle is not so big that you have excess paper that’s balled up at the edges.

Next, I rip off two wide strips for the sling, which will help us pull the cake out from the baking dish. You do not need much overhang of paper. In fact, if they are too long, there’s always a chance they will burn getting close to a heating element. The sling should be long enough to reach the top of the ramekin so you can grip and pull out the cheesecake. Even if the cake cooks to the top of the ramekin, it will shrink back as it cools.

If you don’t have a ramekin, you can also use a 7 inch deep pan (about 4 inches). Since this cheesecake cooks in a water bath, a spring form pan may not be the best idea, unless you are POSITIVE that it will not leak-either batter out or water in. No matter what pan you use, use the same parchment technique. Only oil the pan. Do not oil the parchment as it’s already non stick and putting extra oil will cause you to bake up a wet gummy layer on the parchment.

Make the Batter

Then I start making the batter. Make sure to bring the butter and cream cheese to room temperature so that it can blend easily. I usually leave both out on the counter before I go to sleep, so the next day it’s there, ready for me.

This recipe uses a lot of bowls and equipment-yeah sorry about that! But there’s just no way around it. Because this cake is so simple, no real garnishes or add-ins to distract your eye, every step is important to achieve that smooth silky texture and lush mouthfeel. You will be rewarded in the end, so roll up your sleeves and don’t get discouraged.

Now it’s time to make the meringue, which gives the Japanese cheesecake its trademark cloudlike texture. There a couple rules to whipping a great meringue. First, make sure your equipment is squeaky clean. Any oily residue on your bowl or whip will interfere with the meringue and you will not get the volume you want. Also, your hands should be very clean for the same reason. Finally, make sure that you separate the egg yolks from the whites cleanly. Any trace of yolk in the egg whites will also affect your meringue.

Egg whites are at the soft peak stage when they will briefly hold a shape before collapsing. They are soft and malleable, not the stiff shiny peaks that happen after beating for several minutes longer. Soft peaks are easier to fold into the batter, which will help you retain the volume (it’s all about volume people ;))

Adding the meringue to the base helps to lighten the cheesecake mixture so it doesn’t deflate the meringue when it all gets mixed together. If you’ve ever made a soufflé, this technique will be familiar to you. Once you add the lightened base to the rest of the meringue, mix gently, taking care to not deflate the meringue. It’s ok to have a couple of thin streaks of egg white, which is preferable to over mixing.

Now it’s time to bake. I bake my Japanese cheesecake in a water bath to help ensure a gentle, even heat.

Bake for an hour undisturbed, and then test with a skewer. It should come out mostly clean. I turn the oven off, leaving the door cracked open with a towel wedged in the crack. Let the cheesecake cool in the oven for at least another hour or two. This helps it set up so it’s not as jiggly when you try to remove it. The gentle cooling will help the cake from deflating. If you were to remove the cake from the oven immediately, the cold air would cause the cake to shrink down significantly. Don’t let your hard work go to waste!

Once the cake has cooled in the oven, transfer the ramekin to the counter and run a knife around the edge of the cake to make sure it’s free. Then grab the 2 parchment slings on the left with your left hand and the other slings with your right hand. Gently lift and transfer the cake to a serving plate.

You can serve this at room temperature when it’s at its fluffiest, most soufflé-like texture, but I prefer it after a few hours in the fridge.I like to simply garnish my cheesecake with a dusting of powdered sugar but some fresh berries would be nice too.

If you are a cheesecake fan, you cannot sleep on this one. There’s a reason Japanese Cheesecake is so Instagram and TikTok famous. Try it for yourself and let me know what you think. Rate and comment on the recipe below, and tag us in your pics @funkyasiankitchen-we love seeing your creations!

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