Cheesecake is not fluffy
By Oli
At 11:03 PM · Thursday, 1 January · 2004
To Japan · Life
For some reason almost every slice of cheesecake I’ve eaten in Japan has not actually been what I understand to be cheesecake. For me cheesecake has…
- a hard base (normally made from cookie crumbs)
- a filling based on cheese (baked or not)
- and a glazed fruit topping
For Japanese cake shops, cheesecake has…
- a hard-ish base
- a ‘sponge-style’ filling that seems to have nothing to do with cheese
- a glaze topping completely lacking in fruit
Even worse, the base is usually not crunchy, and neither the base or the topping are thicker than about 2mm. This makes the majority of the “cheesecake” the fluffy ‘sponge-style’ filling, which is the bit that seems so non-cheesecake to me.
So to prove to everyone (well, to Miwa and Kei-chan) that real cheesecake involves cheese, I made a western-style cherry cheesecake to prove it. It was not light and fluffy; the filling alone contains 600g of three kinds of cheese. But it tastes great! We ate it on New Year’s Eve. Happy new year and merry cheesecake to you all!
Discussion...
- 1. Comment by Daphne · 8 Jan, 2004 · 6:12 PM
Mmmm…I’m hungry! Happy New Year to you and your family! Looking forward to reading your site throughout the year (even though it’s too geeky for me)….
- 2. Comment by oli · 11 Jan, 2004 · 10:53 AM
Thanks Daphne! However I can’t quite understand how cheesecake can be too geeky for anyone (!) No computer terms were used in the writing of this article ;-)
I’m hoping to write more about life in Japan this year, now that I have a digital camera to document things. Stay tuned for my recent blowfish-eating experience!
