Posted by Rachel
February 23rd, 2018
Recipe: Osaka style cheesecake
Photo: Laura Edwards Food styling: Frankie Unsworth
Note: These are recipes inspired by my trip to Japan in 2014 (Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka-Chibu). The trip inspired me on many levels. I’ve had a lot of lovely messages from you guys who live there asking for Japanese inspired recipes so I thought I’ld republish these. Arigato!
Osaka-style cheesecake
Improbable as it may seem, cheesecake is hugely popular in Osaka. It’s cloud-like in its airy texture, meaning you can easily munch a fair few slices at a time; I am speaking from experience here.
100ml full fat whole milk
280g cream cheese
35g cornflour
35g plain flour
4 eggs, separated
zest of 1 lemon
120g caster sugar
20cm springform tin
Preheat the oven to 150c. Take a 20 cm springform tin and line the base with parchment and grease the sides. Wrap a large piece of aluminum foil around under the base and up the sides of the tin. Repeat this 3 more times. Place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl. Heat the milk in a saucepan to boiling point and pour over the top of the cream cheese. Beat with a whisk to remove all the lumps and whisk until totally smooth. Add the cornflour and flour, followed by the egg yolks and lemon zest.
Place the egg whites in a free-standing mixer and whisk to frothy soft peaks before adding the sugar bit by bit until fully incorporated. Keep whisking, then lightly fold the whites into the cream cheese mixture. Pour into the lined tin and place in a baking tray. Pour cold water half way up the sides and bake in the oven for 1 – 1 hour 10 minutes, or until golden and puffy on top and light and airy in the middle. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
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27 thoughts on “Recipe: Osaka style cheesecake”
Sorry I am American. What do you mean by cornflour? Is it what I would call cornstarch? I found several different interpretations on the internet.
Thank you for helping me translate!
Hi Jennifer,
Cornflour is indeed the same as cornstarch. Happy baking!
Hi Jennifer,
Cornflour is indeed the same thing as cornstarch. Happy Baking!
I Bake in pounds, cups , tablespoons , teaspoons, etc. I love your recipes, but I’m having a crazy time converting them…could you please❣️
Thanks so much
Ah sorry, Susan! I do recommend trying using scales. You really won’t regret it. It’ll save you on washing up and buying a digital set isn’t that expensive.
hi do you think I could use soured cream instead of creamed cheese in this recipe ? x
Hi Angela. You could try it but I don’t think it would work as the fat content is different.
Hi…can you clarify is the oven temp 150c conventional or fan forced please
Hi Susan, It’s fan forced. Thanks
Hi! I’m guessing this should be served cooled/chilled? Does it keep for a day or two (If it hasn’t been scoffed by then)? Thanks
Hi Becki, You can eat it warm out of the oven which I personally think is best but cooled/chilled is fine. It’s best eaten the same day but can be kept for a day or two in the fridge. Make sure cover well as otherwise it might take on other odours in the fridge.
Hi Rachel, I have just discovered your web because of the Zumbo just desserts program and it is great! I couldn’t resist the pleasure of baking this Osaka Style Cheesecake, really light and soft. I felt a little sad because it went down when I put it out of the oven, maybe a temperature problem (?), but the taste worth it!!! Thank you for cooking and sharing, kisses from Spain!
Hi Maria, Great to hear you made the cheesecake. It will deflate a little when it comes out of the oven simply because it’s a bit like a souffle.
Hello Rachel, I have found out about your website due to the Zumbo’s Zust Desserts show and I thing that you have done an amazing job. I want to ask you if we can use baking powder instead of cornflour. Thank you. Looking forward for new things!
Hi Vaggelis, Thanks for stopping by. Definitely can’t use baking powder instead of cornflour. Baking powder is a raising agent and cornflour is a thickening agent.
I didn’t get the reason why we have to use the aluminum foil.
I use aluminium foil as I’ve found that my springform tin sometimes leaks. It stops the batter from coming out.
Hi Rachel. I have read this recipe and I want to ask you something. Is there anything that we can use instead of cornflour?
Hi Vaggelis, Any reason you need to replace the cornflour? Cornflour and cornstarch are pretty much interchangeable.
Can I use mascarpone cheese?
Hi Ana, I haven’t tried it myself. Mascarpone is slightly sweeter and a lot higher in fat which will probably make for a more denser type of cake rather than light and fluffy. If you do try it out, let me know how it goes. Thanks!
Hi Rachel, this look delicious!
Is the zest enough to make this quite lemony or just give a hint? Wondering if you could add the juice if you wanted it a bit more lemony?
Thanks, Kate. The lemon flavour is more subtle but if you want it more lemony add finely grated lemon zest (organic or non treated lemon).
I made this for my work colleagues today and they loved it. Some mentioned that it was not sweet enough. Would it be possible to add more sugar without upsetting the recipe? Also I wanted to add more citrus flavour by adding some lemon juice. Could I substitute some lemon juice in fit the milk?
Hi Camielle
Lovely to hear you made the recipe. In terms of sugar, it depends how much you add. I think a tbsp should be ok but anymore then the cake could start to ‘weep’. If you want to up the lemon flavour, freshly grated lemon zest from an organic or non treated lemon will add more zing. The acid in the lemon juice will affect the consistency of the cake and also doesn’t have such a strong lemon taste.
Hello, Rachel! I have just made Osaka Style Cheesecake and I am very happy with results for my first try😊. It took sometime to find out cooking cheese (I used Quark) and added blueberry on the bottom of the cake. Next time I am thinking to blend strawberry into it so hopefully it will colour to pink. Thank you, Rachel! I enjoyed watching your Paris program sometime ago too😘
Hi Hideko, I love the sound of your additions. It must have been delicious. Thanks for making the cake.