Inspired by Japanese bakeries, Souflée or Cotton Cheesecake is a delicious combination of cheesecake and soufflé, resulting in a soft, delicate and light cake that almost melts in your mouth.
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The recipe is simple enough, with easy-to-find ingredients.
I adpated the following recipe from Diana's Desserts to fit my 18 cm cake pan, and the procedure follows I Eat's super useful tips for baking the cheesecake to perfection, so make sure to check it out as well!
I adpated the following recipe from Diana's Desserts to fit my 18 cm cake pan, and the procedure follows I Eat's super useful tips for baking the cheesecake to perfection, so make sure to check it out as well!
Total time 1 hour 20 min
Ingredients:- 125 g cream cheese
- 25 g butter
- 70 g granulated sugar
- 50 ml milk
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 30 g flour
- 10 g cornstarch
- A pinch of salt
Procedure:
Before starting, prepare a round cake pan by lining the bottom with parchment paper and
spreading butter on the sides. If you only have a springform pan, you'll need to use a silicone mold or something similar below it, so water doesn't seep through when baking. My springform pan is 18 cm in diameter (roughly 7 inches) and 6 cm high (almost 2.5 inches).
1. Boil water in a medium saucepan on the stove. On a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and butter, put the mixing bowl over the saucepan (this is the double boiler method), turn off the stove, and mix with a spatula until both ingredients are melted and thoroughly combined and creamy. Put aside to cool down to room temperature.
2. In a smaller bowl, sift together both cornstarch and flour. I use all purpose flour and it turns out just fine, although cake flour is recommended in the original recipe.
3. Take the cream cheese mixture, add in the egg yolks one by one, stirring gently with a whisk. Warm a bit the milk if it isn't at room temperature and add it slowly into the mixture.
4. Next, add half of the sugar (just eyeball it) and a pinch of salt and mix well until you can't see the sugar. Finally sift in the flour (this would be the second sifting), and mix everything cutting through the batter with the whisk, until there are no lumps.
5. In a separate bowl, put the chilled egg whites and beat (I use a hand mixer) on low speed until foamy, add the lemon juice and start beating on high speed. Add the other half of the sugar little by little, beating continously just until glossy soft peaks form.
6. With a spatula, fold one third of the beaten egg whites into the batter, always use gentle movements to combine the egg whites without losing too much air, keep adding the egg whites one third at a time until the batter looks smooth and combined.
7. Pour the batter into your cake pan, tap it firmly to release some air bubbles and put it into your preheated oven (make sure there's still plenty of water on the tray). Bake without the fan function with both top and bottom heat. Time it to 18 minutes and keep an eye on it.
8. When 18 minutes have passed or the top of your cake is nicely tanned and domed, turn down the temperature to 160º C and bake for about 12 minutes (don't open the oven door!).
9. After 12 minutes, or just until you see your cake has risen nicely, almost looking like a balloon top, turn off the oven and let the cake finish baking with the remaining heat for 30 minutes. Be patient at this stage! It's crucial to let the cake slowly cool down, or it will deflate (although it's normal for it to shrink a bit while cooling down).
10. After 30 minutes you can open the door just a bit to let some of the hot air escape, and leave it ajar for another 10 minutes or so. You may also leave it longer to cool down completely. Take your jiggly cake out, unmould it and you'll have to refrigarate it overnight to fully enjoy its taste.
This cheesecake is heavenly if you get it right, definitely try it out at home!
If it didn't turn out as expected, don't worry! It took me 4 tries to get it right (my two errors were using a springform pan without the silicon mold and the wrong temperature and baking time - I underbaked it so it deflated, remember that in this case it's okay to overbake). Keep trying and read the following tips to avoid mishaps!
Troubleshooting
* Remember ALWAYS to check temperature! I cannot stress this enough, this cake is very sensitive to temperature changes, so double check temperature and never open the oven mid-baking!
a) If the cake is too dense and/or soggy on the bottom, water probably leaked in your cake pan. Avoid using springform pans, I have tried covering mine with layers of aluminum foil and it still turned out dense. The most effective way to bake it without this issue is with a My quick fix was placing the springform pan inside a silicon mold to completely waterproof it.
b) If the cheesecake rises quickly and it deflates, you'll need to adjust your temperature and baking times. Do not use the fan function in your oven, though you do need both top and bottom heat. Start with high temperature, and slowly decrease it. Usually Japanese cheesecakes take a little bit longer than an hour to bake properly, so be patient! Don't open throughout the baking time or it will shrink!
c) If the cheesecake's top breaks, the temperature is too high, or you are pouring way too much batter in your cake pan. Leave about two centimeters from the cake pan's rim so the cheesecake has space to rise. Also, make sure to grease the sides of the cake pan generously.
d) All the recipes list cake flour, if you can't find it, you may substitute cake flour with all purpose flour (as I did) and the cheesecake turns out just fine. Some recipes claim that replacing two tablespoons of the all purpose flour with cornstarch works as a substitute for cake flour. Although I haven't had issues using all purpose flour, you may give the substitute formula a go!
e) The brand of cream cheese that worked best for this Japanese cheesecake is the original Philadelphia, it has a mild and creamy flavor which works very well for most desserts. If Philadelphia cream cheese isn't available where you live, you may want to find a spreadable cream cheese that is low in sodium (if not, the cheesecake may taste too salty), also avoid using low fat cream cheese.
If you have had any other problems, let me know!
2. In a smaller bowl, sift together both cornstarch and flour. I use all purpose flour and it turns out just fine, although cake flour is recommended in the original recipe.
3. Take the cream cheese mixture, add in the egg yolks one by one, stirring gently with a whisk. Warm a bit the milk if it isn't at room temperature and add it slowly into the mixture.
4. Next, add half of the sugar (just eyeball it) and a pinch of salt and mix well until you can't see the sugar. Finally sift in the flour (this would be the second sifting), and mix everything cutting through the batter with the whisk, until there are no lumps.
5. In a separate bowl, put the chilled egg whites and beat (I use a hand mixer) on low speed until foamy, add the lemon juice and start beating on high speed. Add the other half of the sugar little by little, beating continously just until glossy soft peaks form.
6. With a spatula, fold one third of the beaten egg whites into the batter, always use gentle movements to combine the egg whites without losing too much air, keep adding the egg whites one third at a time until the batter looks smooth and combined.
7. Pour the batter into your cake pan, tap it firmly to release some air bubbles and put it into your preheated oven (make sure there's still plenty of water on the tray). Bake without the fan function with both top and bottom heat. Time it to 18 minutes and keep an eye on it.
8. When 18 minutes have passed or the top of your cake is nicely tanned and domed, turn down the temperature to 160º C and bake for about 12 minutes (don't open the oven door!).
9. After 12 minutes, or just until you see your cake has risen nicely, almost looking like a balloon top, turn off the oven and let the cake finish baking with the remaining heat for 30 minutes. Be patient at this stage! It's crucial to let the cake slowly cool down, or it will deflate (although it's normal for it to shrink a bit while cooling down).
10. After 30 minutes you can open the door just a bit to let some of the hot air escape, and leave it ajar for another 10 minutes or so. You may also leave it longer to cool down completely. Take your jiggly cake out, unmould it and you'll have to refrigarate it overnight to fully enjoy its taste.
This cheesecake is heavenly if you get it right, definitely try it out at home!
 |
| Jiggly and fluffy Soufflé Cheesecake, with a perfectly golden dome, right off the oven |
If it didn't turn out as expected, don't worry! It took me 4 tries to get it right (my two errors were using a springform pan without the silicon mold and the wrong temperature and baking time - I underbaked it so it deflated, remember that in this case it's okay to overbake). Keep trying and read the following tips to avoid mishaps!
Troubleshooting
* Remember ALWAYS to check temperature! I cannot stress this enough, this cake is very sensitive to temperature changes, so double check temperature and never open the oven mid-baking!
a) If the cake is too dense and/or soggy on the bottom, water probably leaked in your cake pan. Avoid using springform pans, I have tried covering mine with layers of aluminum foil and it still turned out dense. The most effective way to bake it without this issue is with a My quick fix was placing the springform pan inside a silicon mold to completely waterproof it.
 |
| One of my disastrous mishaps, this dense and deflated cheesecake was because of using a springform pan without the silicon mold, and because of the wrong baking time and temperature. |
b) If the cheesecake rises quickly and it deflates, you'll need to adjust your temperature and baking times. Do not use the fan function in your oven, though you do need both top and bottom heat. Start with high temperature, and slowly decrease it. Usually Japanese cheesecakes take a little bit longer than an hour to bake properly, so be patient! Don't open throughout the baking time or it will shrink!
c) If the cheesecake's top breaks, the temperature is too high, or you are pouring way too much batter in your cake pan. Leave about two centimeters from the cake pan's rim so the cheesecake has space to rise. Also, make sure to grease the sides of the cake pan generously.
d) All the recipes list cake flour, if you can't find it, you may substitute cake flour with all purpose flour (as I did) and the cheesecake turns out just fine. Some recipes claim that replacing two tablespoons of the all purpose flour with cornstarch works as a substitute for cake flour. Although I haven't had issues using all purpose flour, you may give the substitute formula a go!
e) The brand of cream cheese that worked best for this Japanese cheesecake is the original Philadelphia, it has a mild and creamy flavor which works very well for most desserts. If Philadelphia cream cheese isn't available where you live, you may want to find a spreadable cream cheese that is low in sodium (if not, the cheesecake may taste too salty), also avoid using low fat cream cheese.
If you have had any other problems, let me know!
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