Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake (Cotton Cheesecake)
Cream cheese, butter and cream melted together, enriched with yolks and cake flour, folded into a firm meringue and baked slowly in a water bath at 320°F, then cooled in the oven so the tall, wobbly, cottony cake doesn't crack, with an apricot glaze.
Japan's first cheesecake was nothing like this one. Metropolis, the Tokyo magazine, says a recipe book published in 1873 first mentions cheesecake, as a mixture of cheese and rice, and that tastes only changed after the war, when American forces stationed in Japan brought baked American cheesecake with them. Metropolis tells the best-known origin story: on a trip to Berlin in 1969, Tomotaro Kuzuno, the owner of Kobe's Morozoff confectionery, tasted a local käsekuchen and decided it had to be made available in Japan. In the 1970s women's magazines turned cheesecake into a national boom, and Osaka's Rikuro Ojisan was among the first chains to sell the soufflé style.
Just One Cookbook, the Japanese home cooking site run by Namiko Hirasawa Chen, gives a different first name: it says soufflé cheesecake was first created by the pastry chef Yasui Juichi at Osaka's Plaza Hotel. Either way, the method is clear: cream cheese instead of quark, egg whites whipped like a chiffon cake, and a water bath. The result is the lightest cheesecake in this hub, a cake that rises to 4 inches in the oven and settles to 2 as it cools.
Why it works the kitchen science
Meringue folded into a warm batter
The whipped whites hold the cream cheese batter up like a chiffon cake, and the gentle fold keeps enough of that air to make the cake cottony instead of dense.
A low oven, a water bath and a slow cool
The water keeps the heat moist and gentle so the eggs set without cracking the top, and cooling in the turned-off oven lets the soufflé settle from 4 inches to 2 without collapsing.
Step by step
- Step 1
Butter a 9-inch round cake pan at least 4 inches deep. Crisscross two 2-by-30-inch parchment straps in the bottom, then line the bottom with a 9-inch parchment circle and the sides with a 4-by-30-inch strip, buttered side against the pan. Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and bring 2 inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.
- Step 2
Set a bowl with the cream cheese, butter, cream and 4 1/2 tbsp sugar over the simmering water. Mash and then whisk until smooth, and take it off the heat. Whisk in the yolks one at a time, sift in the cake flour and whisk until no dry streaks remain. Strain the batter into a clean bowl and whisk in the lemon zest and juice.
- Step 3
Put a large rimmed baking sheet in the oven and pour in hot water about 1/2 inch deep. Close the door.
- Step 4
Beat the cold whites in a clean, dry metal bowl on low speed 30 seconds, then medium about 2 minutes until foamy. Add the 1/2 cup sugar in three additions, then beat on medium-high to firm peaks whose tips curl over when you lift the whisk.
- Step 5
Whisk one third of the meringue into the batter, fold in another third, then pour the batter over the last third and fold just until no white streaks remain. Pour it into the pan in one spot and tap the pan on the counter a few times.
- Step 6
Set the pan in the water bath, lower the oven to 320°F (160°C) and bake 70 to 75 minutes without opening the door. Lower to 300°F (150°C) and bake 10 minutes more, until the top is golden brown, the whole cake jiggles gently like a soufflé when you nudge the pan but the center is not liquid, a skewer in the center comes out clean and the center reads at least 160°F.
- Step 7
Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside 15 to 20 minutes with the door slightly open. Lift it out by the straps, peel off the side paper, mix the jam with the hot water and brush it over the top.
- Step 8
Cool to room temperature (no more than 2 hours), then refrigerate at least 4 to 6 hours or overnight. Take it out 10 to 15 minutes before slicing with a warm, dry knife.
Japanese Soufflé Cheesecake (Cotton Cheesecake)
Serves 8 · one 9-inch round cake · 2 hr 10 min total
Batter
- 10.6 oz (300 g) full-fat cream cheese
- 3/4 cup plus 4 tsp (200 ml) heavy cream, or whole milk for a lighter cake
- 4 tbsp (60 g) unsalted butter, plus 1 tbsp for the pan
- 4 1/2 tbsp (60 g) sugar
- 6 large eggs (50 g each without shell), separated, whites kept cold
- 2/3 cup (80 g) cake flour
- Zest of 1/2 large lemon and 2 tbsp lemon juice
Meringue
- 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
Apricot glaze
- 2 tbsp apricot jam
- 2 tsp hot water
Method
- Butter a 9-inch round cake pan at least 4 inches deep. Crisscross two 2-by-30-inch parchment straps in the bottom, then line the bottom with a 9-inch parchment circle and the sides with a 4-by-30-inch strip, buttered side against the pan. Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and bring 2 inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.
- Set a bowl with the cream cheese, butter, cream and 4 1/2 tbsp sugar over the simmering water. Mash and then whisk until smooth, and take it off the heat. Whisk in the yolks one at a time, sift in the cake flour and whisk until no dry streaks remain. Strain the batter into a clean bowl and whisk in the lemon zest and juice.
- Put a large rimmed baking sheet in the oven and pour in hot water about 1/2 inch deep. Close the door.
- Beat the cold whites in a clean, dry metal bowl on low speed 30 seconds, then medium about 2 minutes until foamy. Add the 1/2 cup sugar in three additions, then beat on medium-high to firm peaks whose tips curl over when you lift the whisk.
- Whisk one third of the meringue into the batter, fold in another third, then pour the batter over the last third and fold just until no white streaks remain. Pour it into the pan in one spot and tap the pan on the counter a few times.
- Set the pan in the water bath, lower the oven to 320°F (160°C) and bake 70 to 75 minutes without opening the door. Lower to 300°F (150°C) and bake 10 minutes more, until the top is golden brown, the whole cake jiggles gently like a soufflé when you nudge the pan but the center is not liquid, a skewer in the center comes out clean and the center reads at least 160°F.
- Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside 15 to 20 minutes with the door slightly open. Lift it out by the straps, peel off the side paper, mix the jam with the hot water and brush it over the top.
- Cool to room temperature (no more than 2 hours), then refrigerate at least 4 to 6 hours or overnight. Take it out 10 to 15 minutes before slicing with a warm, dry knife.
Adapted from Namiko Hirasawa Chen, "Japanese Cheesecake (Soufflé Cheesecake)", Just One Cookbook (first published December 11, 2016; updated December 11, 2024; republished May 20, 2026), one 9-inch cake, 8 servings. We follow it as written: 300 g cream cheese, 200 ml cream, 60 g butter and 60 g sugar softened over simmering water; 6 large eggs (50 g each without shell), separated; 80 g cake flour and the zest and juice of half a lemon; a meringue of the cold whites and 100 g sugar beaten to firm peaks; a 9-by-4-inch pan lined with buttered parchment and lifting straps; a baking sheet of hot water 1/2 inch deep; preheating to 350°F, then 70 to 75 minutes at 320°F and 10 minutes at 300°F; 15 to 20 minutes in the turned-off oven with the door ajar; an apricot jam glaze; and 4 to 6 hours in the refrigerator. Just One Cookbook's doneness test is a golden top and a skewer that comes out clean; the 160°F check is ours. History from Metropolis, "A Short History of Japanese Cheesecake" (Jessica Thompson, first published May 24, 2017; updated June 2026). Just One Cookbook. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Just One Cookbook says cracking or collapse usually comes from an oven that runs hot, opening the door during baking, cooling too fast, or overwhipping or overfolding the meringue. Check your oven with a thermometer.
- Use hot water for the bath, not boiling, and enough of it that you never need to open the oven to refill it.
- No cake flour? Just One Cookbook's swap: 1 cup all-purpose flour minus 2 tbsp, plus 2 tbsp cornstarch, sifted 3 to 4 times.
- Just One Cookbook suggests 1 to 2 tbsp matcha or hojicha powder, or a swirl of 2 to 3 tbsp black sesame paste.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Japanese cheesecake was invented by Morozoff's Tomotaro Kuzuno after a 1969 trip to Berlin. Disputed: Metropolis tells the Kuzuno story; Just One Cookbook says soufflé cheesecake was first created by the pastry chef Yasui Juichi at Osaka's Plaza Hotel.
- Japanese cheesecake is a German cake with cream cheese. Folklore: Metropolis says Kuzuno set out to bring a Berlin käsekuchen to Japan; the exact recipe change is not documented in the sources we read.
- Japan's first cheesecake was made with rice. Documented as Metropolis's account: an 1873 recipe book.
- Opening the oven makes it fall. Documented as Just One Cookbook's warning.
- Japan calls no-bake cheesecake "rare cheesecake." Documented as Wikipedia's account and Metropolis's (set with gelatin or agar).
Every other cheesecake
Crostata di Ricotta (Italian Ricotta Cheesecake Tart)
A lemon-scented shortcrust shell filled with drained whole-milk ricotta, sugar, egg yolks, orange zest, a pinch of cinnamon and dark chocolate chips, closed with a second sheet of pastry and baked low on the rack at 350°F for 70 minutes until deep golden.
Käsekuchen (German Quark Cheesecake)
A buttery shortcrust base and rim filled with low-fat quark, lemon juice and cornstarch, lightened with whipped egg whites and whipped cream, baked low and long at 320°F and cooled in the turned-off oven so it stays tall, pale and tangy.
Sernik Krakowski (Polish Lattice-Top Cheesecake)
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Basque Burnt Cheesecake (San Sebastián Style)
No crust and no water bath: cream cheese, eggs, sugar, a spoonful of flour and cream stirred together by hand, poured into a crumpled parchment-lined pan and baked hot at 410°F until the top is nearly black and the center still trembles.
Ube Cheesecake (Filipino Purple Yam Cheesecake)
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New York Cheesecake (Lindy's-Style, Graham Crust)
Two and a half pounds of cream cheese beaten with sugar, sour cream, lemon, vanilla and eight eggs over a graham cracker crust, blasted at 500°F for 10 minutes, then baked low at 200°F until the center reads 150°F for a tall, dense, creamy cake.
Brooklyn Sponge-Crust Cheesecake (Junior's Style)
A thin, golden sponge cake baked in the springform as the crust, covered with two pounds of cream cheese beaten with sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, eggs and heavy cream, and baked in a water bath at 350°F until the top is lightly tanned and the center still jiggles.
No-Bake Icebox Cheesecake
No eggs and no oven: cream cheese beaten with sugar, lemon juice, sour cream and vanilla bean, lightened with whipped cream, spread into a brown sugar graham crust and chilled overnight, then finished with whipped cream and fresh berries.
Mini Cheesecakes (Muffin-Pan Cheesecakes)
Twelve little cheesecakes in a muffin pan: a pressed graham crust under a smooth cream cheese, sour cream and lemon batter, baked at 325°F for 15 to 18 minutes, 30 minutes of hands-on work and about an hour start to oven-off, then chilled at least 3 hours and topped with berries or jam.
Original-Style Restaurant Cheesecake (Inspired by The Cheesecake Factory, Not Official)
Inspired by The Cheesecake Factory's Original, not its official recipe: a thick graham crust up the sides, a filling of a full pound of sour cream with two pounds of cream cheese baked in a water bath at 325°F, and a sweet sour cream layer baked on top for a clean white finish.
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Swedish Meatballs (Köttbullar)
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