Japanese Cheesecake

This has been a pleasantly accidental International week on A Bee Bakes. We started in Scandinavia with a Swedish Almond Meringue Cake, headed to the East Coast where the first colonies to America brought over Pear Cobbler-Cake, then we turned up the heat in preparation for Cinco de Mayo with Mexican Dulce de Leche Oatmeal Bars and Mexican Brownies. Now we’ve arrived in Japan. 🙂

I’m not sure if it’s because of the Japanese influence in California, or if this is widely popular everywhere now, but Japanese cheesecake is as trendy as it gets in the food world today. It’s a cross between cheesecake and angel food cake. It’s as light and airy as a soufflé or chiffon cake, yet it has a cup of cream cheese in it and six egg yolks, so it’s actually rich, despite it’s texture. I’d say it’s more like an angel food cake than cheesecake so toss out any idea of dense, New York style cheesecake, because it’s really not like that.

It’s also refreshingly unsweet. It’s sponge-y and wiggle-y. And it’s beautiful. While you’re welcome to add whipped cream and/or fresh berries, I like to dust it simply with powdered sugar. The more powdered sugar the better because it’s aesthetically light, reinforcing the sort of angelic-ness of this cake.

I’m excited for you to try! I should note, that I’ve omitted the steps for baking in a water-bath. I have absolutely no patience for “bain-marie’s” when baking. Shhh, don’t tell anyone! If you choose to do that (for a more even bake), then follow same baking steps but place cake pan in water bath. My pictures show what the cheesecake will look like without the water-bath steps.