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Food lovers are being served up a slice of Japanese culture in the form of fluffy cheesecakes made with love by Lisa Sugita.
During her years in Japan, her auntie Fumiko taught her how to cook and bake several Japanese dishes and desserts. Now, the 54-year-old mother-of-two is sharing her family recipe for authentic Japanese soufflé cheesecake with people in Bahrain in the hope of shedding light on her heritage as well as transport them back to Japan through food.
“This Japanese cheesecake recipe was handed down from generation to generation in my family,” said Lisa, who is married to a Bahraini and comes from Japanese- Filipino households. “Oftentimes, my Japanese family members come for a visit and they bring Japanese delicacies as presents along with a few of my favourite ingredients.
“I usually bake it at home for my family to savour and to enjoy real Japanese taste. I also bake it as gifts for friends and for my husband’s family members.
“I hope that this cheesecake will remind people who visited Japan of the beautiful memories they experienced there from people and culture.
“Japan is anime to the younger generation and is sushi or ramen to foodies. I hope to create such an impact that people will think Japan is cheesecake too!”
Japanese cheesecake, also known as cotton cheesecake or light cheesecake, is a type of sponge cake originated in Hakata, Fukuoka, Japan in 1947. It has a less sweet flavour and fewer calories than standard cheesecakes do as it contains less cheese and sugar. The cake is made with cream cheese, butter, sugar, whipped cream and eggs.
There are three types of cheesecakes found in Japan including the baked cheesecake, the rare cheesecake and the soufflé cheesecake. Apparently, that is the one you will want and the one that Lisa makes.
The Japanese souffle cheesecake differs from a traditional New York-style baked cheesecake by incorporating a meringue egg white batter to the cream cheese mixture, which is cooked in a bain-marie to produce a soft, chiffon-like consistency. It may or may not have a molten centre, depending on the cooking time, and is also sometimes topped with a smear of apricot jam. Its fluffy, sponge-like texture is due to the Japanese technique of whisking the egg whites separately before incorporating them by hand for aeration. It can be consumed cold or fresh out of the oven to melt in your mouth.
Lisa, who worked in hospitality in Bahrain, started her home baking business called Cake by Saki on Instagram last year. It is named after her daughter Misaki, a 32-year-old nursery school teacher living in Osaka, Japan. She hopes her son Akira, 19, who is currently enrolled in the Culinary Arts School in Bahrain and often assists her in baking, will eventually take over the business.
For now, she is bustling away in her Saar kitchen to create cheesecakes (six inch in diameter) to be shared by a maximum of six people. It takes her a total of two hours to bake and she gets a special ingredient shipped in from Japan which she says makes the dessert ‘amazingly delicious’.
She explained: “Baking a Japanese soufflé cheesecake is very time consuming and I would say that it is literally a work from the heart. Also, Japanese food is usually served in small amounts. It is half a kilo and it cannot be served more than that because it is very delicate and easy to break. Each slice contains 0.77 grams of calories, thus is guilt free. I always remind customers to keep the cake refrigerated before serving because it will not hold its form and consistency in a warm environment.”
Aside from being both fluffy and wiggly, her cheesecakes carry sweet messages to motivate and put smiles on people’s faces. She aims to build a community where cakes are used to express emotions and calls them ‘Cake with a Voice’.
“Cakes do not need to be sent only on birthdays or for a special occasion,” she added. “I dream that this will be another way for people to express themselves whether to tell a loved one they miss them or just wishing a colleague a nice day.”
Lisa has also introduced another one of her favourite pastries, that she could not do without whilst living in Japan, which is the Japanese choux crème. It is a Japanese dessert that translates to “cream puffs.” It is based upon the French choux pastry where the puff pastry is baked to light and airy perfection with a thin yet slightly crisp exterior shell. The shell is then filled with a sweet, creamy, delectable custard filling and is gently dusted with sweet powdered sugar.
According to Lisa, she often asks her family to bring this pastry down when they visit.
For details, follow @cakebysaki on Instagram.
