Japanese Cotton Cheesecake
A quick and easy recipe for Japanese cotton cheesecake. Japanese cotton cheesecake is a rich, creamy cheesecake with a wonderfully light, cotton-like texture.
I remember having my first ever slice of cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory when I was living in Canada. That was over twenty years ago. I thought I’d gone to heaven!
It was the most wondrous thing I’d ever tasted – soft and velvety in texture, so rich and creamy in taste. Then on, it became my absolute favourite dessert.
It became quite a quest for me, to taste all the different flavoured cheesecakes – Oreo, coffee, chocolate, Cookies ‘n’ Cream, strawberry, Irish Bailey’s, and so much more.
My first couple of attempts at baking cheesecakes at home were quite disastrous. That was in the late 1990’s. Now, a couple of baking courses later, and having become an avid home baker over the years, I return to conquer baking this love of my life.
Here is one of my favourite versions, the Japanese Cotton Cheesecake. As the name implies, Japanese cotton cheesecake has a soft, light, melt-in-your-mouth, almost chiffon-like texture. Yet, it is denser than the chiffon variety, and just as rich and creamy as any oven-baked cheesecake.
If you’d like a rich-tasting, creamy cheesecake without feeling like you’ve eaten a day’s worth of calories in one go, do try this.
Japanese Cotton Cheesecake
Ingredients
A
- 160 g cream cheese, cut into small cubes
- 25 g butter
- 120 g whipping cream
B
- 40 g plain flour
- 30 g corn flour
C
- 4 egg yolks
D
- 4 egg whites
- ⅛ tsp cream of tartar
- 100 g caster sugar
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Grease and line the bottom and sides of a 20-cm springform cake pan. Wrap the outside of the pan with foil. Make sure the foil comes up all around the sides to about half the height of the pan. Pre-heat oven to 160 deg C. Prepare a water bath by filling a baking tray large enough to hold the cake pan, with water. Fill the pan up to a height between 2 to 2.5 cm, with water.
- Place A in a mixing bowl and stir over double boiler (read notes below) until mixture becomes thickened, almost like custard. Remove from double boiler.
- Add B and mix until well combined. Add C, one yolk at a time, mix until well blended.
- In a dry mixer bowl, whip egg whites in D until foamy. Then add the cream of tartar. Then add sugar in a slow, continuous stream, and lastly, salt. Continue whipping until soft peaks.
- Fold the egg white mixture from (4) into the cheese mixture from (3) above, until well incorporated.
- Pour the cheese filling into the prepared cake pan. Bake in water bath at 160 deg C for 45 to 60 mins. The cake is done when firm and golden brown. Test if cake has completely baked through by inserting a bamboo skewer in the centre of the cake. It should come out clean.
- Remove cake from the oven. Remove the cake from the mould immediately. Set aside to cool.
Notes
- In step (2), a double boiler or bain-marie is easily set up in any kitchen. Just fill a saucepan or small pot with about an inch of water. Make sure your mixing bowl containing the ingredients you wish to heat, can sit over the saucepan or pot, with the base of the mixing bowl about an inch ABOVE the water level. If the water level is too high or too low, just add or remove water as required, but you should have about an inch of water in the saucepan or pot.
- When heating the cream cheese mixture, the mixture will be somewhat lumpy. Just do your best to break down the bigger lumps but don’t worry about the smaller or tiny lumps. These will smoothen out when combined with the flours.
Hi Celia,
(1) At which rack level (bottom or middle) should the water-bath tray with cake tin be placed please?
(2) Do we need to line the sides of the cake tin please?
Thank you.
Hi ML, thank you for your questions! I recommend placing the water-bath on the rack that sits in the lower half of your oven. This way, when you place the cake pan in it, the surface of the cake is not too close to the top heating element. Yes, you should grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with baking paper. Then wrap the outside of the pan with a few layers of aluminium foil, to prevent water in the water-bath from entering the pan.
Hi Celia. May I reqyest if you can guide us with a blueberry cheesecake please❤ Thank you.
Hi Celia! Thank you for the recipe 🙂 I’ve tried it and it was fluffy and nice (except that it rose a bit too much and deflated slightly) – however, I noticed that the bottom of the cake was quite egg-like. Would you happen to know why and what I can do to solve this!
Hi KC, appreciate your sharing how this cake turned out for you! It sounds like the egg whites might have been whipped too much, so the cake expands (rises) more than it should because a lot of air has been whipped into it and hot air expands during baking. But then collapses as it cools, which could also be the reason that you see a denser bottom layer, or perhaps, could also be due to uneven folding of the whipped egg whites into the cream cheese mixture. Try whipping to soft peaks only, and when you fold into the cream cheese mixture, do it gently and incorporate evenly. Hope this helps on your next try! You’re welcome to share pics with me by email too if you like. Happy weekend!
Hi Celia. Success on my 4th attempt. No cracks and cake didnt deflate. Hurray! I kept the egg white to soft peak as you pointed out and the final mixture was perfect. Wish I cud attach the pic to show you. Thank you so much for your kindness.
Hi Doris, so so so happy to hear of your success! You’re awesome, persistence and patience always pays off! I’m always happy to extend and share in any way I can, you’re one of my best readers! Thank you so much for always taking the time to comment and share, it’s been invaluable for me too!
Hi Celia. In my previous question what I would like to seek your advice is why the cheescake rise nicely in the oven but then wrinkle and go down slightly after cool. Tks.
Hi Doris, I know I’ve replied to this query previously but due to some glitch on my site, it wasn’t published so I’m re-writing my response for all readers’ benefit, ha ha…? It sounds like the egg whites could have been over-whipped, so the cake batter will rise quickly during baking, but also deflate considerably when removed from the oven and as it cools at room temperature. In geberal, with most baked cheesecakes, the key is to whip the egg whites till soft peaks, and gently folding into the batter to minimise loss of trapped air whipped into the whites. It is a good sign when the cheesecake rises steadily, but slowly, during baking. Hope this additional info helps! Happy baking!
Hi Celia. My cake was rising beautifully until 40 minutes, then it deflated by 1 inch when I removed on the 50- minute. Should I take it out when it rises to good height?
Hi Celia, I just wanted to say it’s really encouraging how you reply to all comments! I definitely intend to give some of your recipes a try. I wanted to tap your experience – whether using Top Flour/Hong Kong Flour and Optima Sponge Cake Flour would yield similar or better results?
Hi J, thanks so much for your kind words. I’m thrilled you’re thinking of having a go at this cotton cheesecake. I can’t speak from experience specifically with regard to this cheesecake, as I’ve never tried using other flours different from those in the recipe. But I would think that cake flour, Top flour/Hong Kong flour could be suitable options given their protein level. Optima sponge cake mix is a flour mixture which includes leavening agents, sugar etc, so this would not be a suitable substitute. Hope this helps!
Hi Celia. I tried baking this type of cake before like in water baths. It always turned out the cake is heavy and moise. Feels like dish washing sponges. Not light at all. Is it suppose to be light this? Pls advice. Looking forward to your reply.
Thanks
Ling
Hi Ling, sorry to hear that. Japanese cotton cheesecake should be soft, light and airy. It could be that the egg whites were not beaten well enough. Try whipping up to medium peaks, meaning that when you lift the whisk from the beaten egg whites, the egg whites should hold its shape on the whisk but droops slightly at the tip. Then, the next most important step is to fold the whipped egg ehites very gently into the cream cheese mixture, so that you don’t lose the air. Finally, be careful not to overbake otherwise it will be firm up even more when it cool down. So it is okay to remove the cake when the centre has just set (though it may jiggle just a bit). The cake must be left to cool completely, then chill in the fridge to allow it to set, preferably at least for 4 to 5 hours. Could you try this and hopefully, it should work out! I’d love to know how it all turns out.?