‘The Great British Baking Show’: What is a Cotton Jiggly Cake? All About Lottie’s Japanese Week Cake

The Great British Baking Show challenged the bakers like never before on this week’s all-new episode, “Japanese Week.” The bakers were all tasked with making steamed buns and matcha crepe cake, but the big showstopper of the episode was something called Cotton Jiggly Cake. No, the bakers weren’t specifically asked to make the Japanese cake, but Lottie Bedlow decided to take the risk for her kawaii Showstopper. Not only did it pay off for Lottie, but it helped her become this week’s Star Baker.

Every season of The Great British Baking Show follows a similar format. The early weeks challenge bakers on the fundamentals of cake, bread, biscuits, and pastry, but after that, things get tricky. There’s always a chocolate and patisserie week, but in recent years, judged Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith have asked the bakers to conquer the classics of a foreign nation. This season The Great British Baking Show introduced “Japanese Week.” The Showstopper? An adorable kawaii cake that celebrated Japanese flavors and the crazy cute kawaii style. (Confused about what kawaii is? Think anything past favorite Kim-Joy might make.)

Perhaps realizing that she was flagging in the rankings, Lottie pulled out all the stops. She decided to bake cotton jiggly cake, a cake that even Paul Hollywood had only ever had (and enjoyed) in Japan. It was a huge risk, but Paul loved it. But what is cotton jiggly cake? And where can you find a cotton jiggly cake recipe online? Here’s what you need to know about Lottie’s Japanese week cake…

WHAT IS COTTON JIGGLY CAKE? THE SHOWSTOPPER LOTTIE MADE IN THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW “JAPANESE WEEK”?

Jiggly cake, or cotton cheesecake, or Japanese cheesecake, or cotton cake, or Ogura cake, or Taiwanese old fashioned sponge cake, or Lottie calls it, “Cotton Jiggly Cake” is a type of Asian dessert known for its trademark jiggle.

So how does it get that jiggle? Well it’s kind of a cross between a cheesecake — which means, yes, it traditionally has cream cheese in it — and a soufflé. It reportedly originated in Hakata, Japan in 1948 and was popularized by Uncle Tetsu’s Cheesecake in the 1990s.

WHERE CAN I FIND A JIGGLY CAKE RECIPE ONLINE?

Good news! Lottie’s own recipe is online at the official British website for The Great British Baking Show (known as The Great British Bake Off across the pond). Note, as with all British recipes, you might have to make your own metric-to-American conversions and they list oven temperatures in Celsius and not (the correct) Fahrenheit. (I kid. I understand that Celsius is actually more scientifically precise or whatnot, but I’m an American, damnit!)

If Lottie’s toadstool-esque recipe is a little intimidating, you can use philandmama.com’s recipe — which comes with American measurements, to boot. However, if you’re cream cheese averse, there is apparently a “fool-proof” jiggly cake recipe at yireservation.com.

Watch The Great British Baking Show on Netflix