Suddenly, I craved for a Matcha Japanese Cheesecake, full of matcha flavored, fluffy, cottony soft, fine texture, light & heavenly cheesecake. The one similar to my Japanese Cheesecake but in matcha flavor.
I bake one by adapting my famous Japanese Cheesecake (aka sponge cheesecake or cheese sponge cake) without thinking much. One and a half-hour later, here is my version of delicious Matcha Japanese Cheesecake. Not only does this delightful cheesecake cure my craves, but it is also packed with excellent health benefits.
Watch “How-To-Bake” Video
Matcha Japanese Cheesecake
Delicious Baking Recipe
Matcha has skyrocketed in popularity lately, with matcha shots, lattes, teas and even desserts appearing everywhere from health stores to coffee shops. Like green tea, matcha comes from the Camellia sinensis plant. However, it is grown differently and has a unique nutrient profile.
Amongst its many health benefits, matcha…
It is packed with antioxidants, including the powerful EGCg
Boosts metabolism and burns calories
Detoxifies effectively and naturally
It calms the mind and relaxes the body
It is rich in fiber, chlorophyll, and vitamins
Enhances mood and aids in concentration
Provides vitamin C, selenium, chromium, zinc, and magnesium
Prevents disease
Lowers cholesterol and blood sugar
Matcha tea is an easy and simple way to add powerful health benefits to your everyday diet.
So, what actually Matcha powder is? Matcha is a fine powder made of green tea leaves from the tea plant Camellia sinensis. Green tea is a kind of unfermented tea; it is processed solely by steamed and dried. The finest matcha comes from Japan, where it has been grown for centuries and forms part of the traditional Japanese tea ceremony1. The word Matcha comes from Japanese: “ma” translates to rubbed or ground, while “cha” means tea.
Besides its health properties, Matcha is famous for its unique flavor and brilliant color intensity. For this reason, Matcha powder has been used to flavor and dye foods too. There are matcha mochi, soba noodles, matcha ice cream, matcha lattes, and a variety of Japanese wagashi confectionery from the Japanese. Others, you will find matcha flavors in pancake, swiss roll, cookies, waffle, pudding, pasta, jelly, muffins, and more. Matcha powder can be sprinkled onto food as decoration too, just like the four-leaf clover I decorated on the Matcha cheesecake.
Matcha Japanese Cheesecake Recipe
scroll ⬇️ to get the recipe
If you have tried the Japanese Cheesecake recipe that I have shared previously, this Green Tea Matcha version is slightly modified from the original recipe.
It is quite a straightforward adaptation, that is, by substituting part of the flour with matcha powder. I used the matcha powder bought from an ingredient shop, and it is intended for use in baking. You may also use ordinary matcha powder for making matcha green tea. However, the color from regular matcha powder might not be as vibrant as shown in the picture. If this bothers you, you could add some green food coloring into your batter.
Let’s bake the healthy yummy delicious Matcha Japanese Cheesecake!
In case you are new to this 2-part batter recipe, it is crucial to read through the recipe and the notes given, not forgetting to watch the video repeatedly. Once you are confident enough to try it out, grab all the ingredients and go go go…
For those who are in a keto or low carb diet, you may try adding the matcha powder to the low carb Japanese cheesecake. And, if you like basque burnt cheesecake, you may add one to 2 tablespoon of matcha powder into the keto burnt cheesecake recipe.
Happy Baking and enjoy this “Oishi” fluffy Matcha Cheesecake!
Oishi means delicious in Japanese 😊
Matcha Japanese Cheesecake
Delicious Matcha Japanese Cotton Cheesecake recipe for a soft, fine texture, light & heavenly cheesecake you will want more. Best fluffy Matcha Cheesecake to bake.
Ingredients
Matcha Cream Cheese Mixture
- 250 gram Philadelphia cream cheese
- 6 egg yolks
- 70 gram castor sugar
- 60 gram unsalted butter
- 100 ml full-cream milk or whole milk
- 60 gram cake flour / superfine flour
- 12 gram matcha powder (bakery grade for enhanced color)
- 8 gram cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
Meringue
- 6 egg whites
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar or 1/2 tsp lemoin juice
- 70 gram castor sugar
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 200°C / 392°F (Top and bottom heat, no fan force), for at least 20 minutes before sending your cake for baking. An in-oven thermometer is good to check the actual temperature of your oven.
Gather all the ingredients and tools, measure, and prepare them in advance before getting started. All ingredients are at room temperature.
Next, mix all the flour (cake flour, corn starch & matcha powder) in a bowl to become matcha flour. This will help the matcha powder to blend into the mixture better.
- Grease 8″ x 3″ cake pan with butter, line the base with baking or parchment paper.
- Whisk cream cheese till smooth over a warm water bath,
Add yolks and whisk, 2 at a time.
Add half the sugar (70 gram) and whisk.
Warm milk and butter in microwave (high, 1 min) or stove, whisk into batter.
Add salt and whisk.
Remove from the cream cheese mixture from the water bath.
Sift 1/2 of the matcha flour into the mixture, mix well. Add the balance and mix until they are well blended together. Take note that matcha powder is a bit difficult to dissolve in the mixture.
Set the matcha cream cheese mixture aside and prepare the meringue.
- Whisk egg whites at low speed till foamy.
Add cream of tartar and beat at high speed till bubbles become very small but still visible.
Gradually add the sugar and beat till soft peaks. In order to achieve a silky smooth texture, slow down your mixer speed towards the end of beating. Beat for a few more seconds to get a fluffy smooth silky meringue.
- Fold meringue into the matcha cream cheese mixture, 1/3 at a time. Carefully fold both mixtures together into a smooth fluffy batter.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and tap the pan on the counter to release big air bubbles that are strapped in the batter.
Then set the pan into a water-bath setting before sending it to the oven.
- Bake with water bath on the bottommost rack in a preheated 200°C / 392°F for 18 mins, then lower to 140°C / 284°F for another 30 mins (let the heat in the oven to drop gradually with the door closed) and turn off the oven and leave the cake in the closed oven for another 30 mins. Remove water bath and open the door of the oven slightly for another 30 mins for the cake to cool slowly.
Watch the cake being bake at 4:14 mins in the video.
- Once the cake is cooled in the oven, release it from the pan by flipping it out. Watch the video at 4:34 mins.
- Decorate it and chill before serving.
The matcha powder stenciled pattern will turn darker after absorbing the moisture from the cheesecake.
Chill before serving the Matcha Japanese Cheesecake!
Enjoy the awesome goodness and yumminess!
Notes
- Egg – Size: large, I measured mine, it was about 118g in total for the yolks. Separate the yolk and white by using cold eggs. By the time you’ve finished preparing the cream cheese batter, the egg whites are just nice to beat into the meringue.
- Cream Cheese – I used Philadelphia throughout all my Japanese cheesecakes, hence, I am not sure how other brands of cream cheese work for this recipe.
- Sugar – Caster sugar is slightly finer than fine granulated sugar if you cannot find caster sugar, lightly grind the fine granulated sugar to break them smaller. Do not use powdered sugar as it contained cornstarch.
- If you prefer a stronger matcha flavor, you may increase the matcha powder up to 20 gram to replace part or the total corn starch weight. Alternatively, you may reduce the matcha powder and replace it with the same weight of corn starch if you prefer lighter matcha flavor. Total weight of matcha power + corn starch in this recipe is 20g.
- Cake pan – I recommend that you use a 3″ tall non-black round cake pan of an 8″ (maybe this cake pan is a good fit, found in Amazon). If you cannot find a 3″ high cake pan, then replace it with a 9″ round cake pan with at least 2.5″ tall. Use a 1-piece punch out cake pan, not springform pan or any other seamed pan.
- Grease & Pan Lining – grease the side of the pan with butter and line only the bottom of the pan. If you want to line the side of the pan, please grease the parchment paper after lined.
- Batter – the cream cheese batter after adding flours and before folding into meringue should be a little warm, about 40-50 °C.
- Meringue is in soft peak stage, do not overbeat it. I shared a video at my facebook page about the stage of peaks from Marth Stewart page, watch it and follow Craft Passion’s Page if you haven’t done so.
- Meringue folding *** VERY IMPORTANT *** – folding egg white meringue to cream cheese batter needs to be gentle to minimize the deflation of tiny pockets of air in the meringue. Make sure both batter and egg whites are well incorporated and come together.
- Batter filling – only fill Japanese cheesecake batter about 15mm (1/2″) from the rim, if you have extra batter (it shouldn’t be a lot left), discard it.
- Water bath- Use a roasting pan of about 2″ high and at least 11″ diameter. Place a small towel on it to act as a layer of thin insulation for the cake pan so that the bottom is well protected from direct heat. Fill hot water to about 1″ high after placing the cake pan on the roasting pan and send into the oven.
- Oven – this is crucial and very important. The temperature stated in the recipe is in-oven temperature. Each oven is different so if you are not too sure if the temperature inside your oven is accurate as what you have set at the control panel, get an oven thermometer to check. The brand of my oven is Electrolux (model EOB307X-1), it is measured with 10 °C shy, so I have to set 10 °C higher at my control panel in order to get the required baking temperature.
- Cool-down – After the cool down period with the door closed for 30 mins, I open the oven door to remove the water bath, put the cake back into the oven and open the oven just a tiny bit (about 10mm). I use a mitten to stop the door from closing back. Removing the water bath is optional but I find that it will prevent the bottom of the cake being wet by the condensation. *Note: if you want a jiggling cake and do not bother to have a cake with wrinkle top and sides, you may take the cake out without having sitting for this extra 30 mins cool down time.*
- Unmold cake – The cake pan should be able to handle by bare hand after cooling off in the oven with door slightly open for 30 mins. Use a cake board to cover the cake pan, invert the pan and carefully remove the pan. Remove the bottom liner and place another cake board or plate on the bottom of the cake, invert it back. The cake should be soft and fluffy and jiggly when it is still warm. Leave it to cool before sending it into the fridge. The final cake size after shrinkage is about 7.5″ x 3″ (highest point)
- Cake serving – Decorate the top with snow powder sugar then with matcha powder. Cut the cake with a warm knife, wipe the knife clean before the next cut. Buy Congratulation Cake Stencil, or other designs.
Recommended Products
Purchase the exact same material used in this pattern from Craft Passion Shop. As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 276Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 129mgSodium: 174mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 0gSugar: 14gProtein: 7g
This is an estimated value based on my ingredients, it may be different if you are using different brands. This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix on 5/3/2019.
Hi, I have a quick question. In the ingredients list, you listed 12 grams of Matcha powder two times. Was that a Typo or this recipe calls for a total of 24 grams of Matcha powder? Thanks!
It is a typo, it should be only 12 grams in total and I have amended the recipe. Thanks for highlighting it.
The texture and fallout of the cake is amazing. Not too sweet. I’ve made it twice and the tops of mine keep cracking. Any ideas on what to do to prevent that? I’ve tried beating the meringue less and slightly lowered the oven temp, but still a big crack. Help!
Hi,
Can I use plain flour instead?
I wasthinking 20g cornstarch and 20g matcha with plain flour will that work in a 9″ round tin?
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!
Tried it today with doubled ingredients, best matcha cheesecake ever hands down, so fluffy and cloudy. I left the oven on a bit long cuz the size but it is amazing with a bit burnt on the top, adds extra flavor contrast
Hi. How do you quantify ingredient for different sizes of round pans like for 7″ and 6″. Thanks!
Do some maths to calculate the volume of the pan will give you an idea of how much to proportion from the ingredients for your choice of pan. As a rule of thumb, to convert an 8″ pan ingredient to 6″ pan, halve the ingredients; 75% for 7″ pan of a similar height. Hope this helps.
I AM TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH THIS RECIPE THANK U
It’s amazing but How I remove egg smell from cake
Would it be very bitter if I don’t add any sugar to the cream cheese mixture? Also, would it affect how the cake rises? Thanks 🙂
It will affect one way or the other if the recipe is modified.
Looks like a fabulous cake. I want to do it. However I have a question regarding the baking time. It says at the beginning of the recipe: Bake time: 58 minutes. But in the text, it says: 200C for 18 minutes, then 140C for another 30 minutes . That’s 48 minutes. For the last 2 “ 30 minutes ” periods , the oven is off. Did I get this right?
You are right, it’s a typo. Thank you for the feedback, we have got it corrected.
Hello! I can’t wait to try out this recipe, but was wondering what the difference in cook time and ingredients would be for 6 inch round pans? Also, do you think replacing the same amount of match with cacao powder would make for a good chocolate Japanese cheesecake? Thanks!
The cook time is almost the same since it is a water bath baking method. You may replace the matcha with cacao powder.
Thanks for recipe, if I use fan forced oven , should I reduce the heat to 180C instead of 200c , and 120c instead of 140c ? Thanks a lot x
You may try 190 and 130 respectively, monitor the cake to adjust the temperature and timing. Every oven is different so you will need to monitor it until you get it right.
Tried this recipe and it is amazing. the instructions are very clear and the cake rise beautifully although mine cracks a little, probably due to my oven setting. Love the taste and texture. Thank you for this recipe.
Hi, many cakes contain baking powder or baking soda. This recipe does not have it. Does the cake flour you use, contain it?
The cake flour is a superfine flour or low gluten flour, without any baking powder added into it. The leavening is from the beaten egg white with sugar (meringue).
Thanks. I will surely try out your recipe
Hi! I just made it and it didn’t rise as much as yours did, why is that?
There are many possibilities but the most common one is that your meringue has been deflated when you fold in the cream cheese batter. Another reason could be inappropriate temperature in your oven.
Thank you for sharing the information about It. I learned a lot from it. I appreciate you the detail you went into it. I am grateful for the amount of time and effort you put into this helping us. Your insights and summary are beneficial.
Hello! This cake looks delicious! Your notes say that I do not need to let the cake rest for the additional 30 minutes if I want a jiggly cake and do not mind if the top is wrinkled – does that mean that if I leave the cake in the oven for the additional 30 minutes, it will not be jiggly? Thank you
Once it is cool, it won’t jiggle as much as it can.
I am going to bake a bigger cake for a birthday party. I am using a 9” square cake tin, how do I adjust the recipe and the baking time?
You may multiply the ingredients by 1.5 for 9″ square pan (3″ height). If your pan is lower than 3″, say 2.5″ then multiple ingredient measurement with 1.3.
Thanks for your reply but what about baking time & temperature? Same as 8” round cake?
Yes, keep them the same.
Thank you so much
You are most welcome. 🙂
Great. What are the possible solution for the crack
How much of the flour are you replacing with matcha? Thanks! Can’t wait to try this recipe.
The recipe has the full measurement of matcha powder used in the cake.
Hello!
My oven only changes in increments of 5°F Can I bake at 395°F them 285°F?
Hi Kimberly, yes, you definitely can bake at this temperature settings. But, I would recommend to bake it at 390°F then 285°F.
Hi…besides 8″ round baking tin, can I use 7″ square tin?
Yes, you may use 7″ square pan, the volume is almost the same to cater the batter meant for 8″ round pan.
Oh ok…thanks for your reply
Looks great! How do I make this matcha low carb version? Thanks!
Please use the low carb Japanese Cheesecake Recipe then add the same amount to matcha powder to the heavy cream, mix well before adding it to the batter.
Great! Where would you recommend I get the matcha powder? I’m in California
I used matcha powder bought from bakery ingredients shop, I find it has a better green color that I like, you may opt for pure matcha powder if you are concern about if there is any coloring added in those sell in ingredient shop.
Thanks for the recipe. It looks great. Do you think i can replace matcha with cocoa powder to make chocolate japanesse cheesecake?
Yes, you can 🙂