Rikuro's Cheesecake Cutting Challenge
There's no shortage of people travelling to Osaka to try Uncle Rikuro's Cheesecake! They're fluffy, inexpensive, and a joy to eat. Our store is only a few minutes walk away from their main Namba store, infact! We've certainly had cheesecake for staff lunches as treats from time to time.
The cakes they bake are fluffy delights, but making sure they're cut correctly really gives them the best texture. As Rikuro's sells their cakes whole, we wanted to try a few different knives and compare.
Let's see what we have that's best for nicely slicing into a freshly baked cheesecake!
Table of Contents
- Who is Uncle Rikuro?
- Freshly baked cheesecake
- How do you cut a fluffy cheesecake neatly?
- Test One: The Household Santoku Knife
- Test Two: The FV10-SWORD Santoku Knife
- Test Three: The Molybdenum Steel Bread Knife
- Test Four: The Tokujo Bread Knife
- Results and Further Thoughts
- Tips and Tricks
- Watch our cheesecake cutting video!
Who is Uncle Rikuro?
A cheesecake with the very cute Uncle Rikuro on top is one of the sweets that really represents Osaka and Osakan food culture; it's been loved by locals and travellers alike for many years! Their cake's fluffy texture has made it very well-known, with queues at their stores filled with both locals and travellers alike, ready to eat a sweet treat fresh from the oven.
Freshly baked cheesecake
While Uncle Rikuro's sells many different products like apple pies and breads, by far and large their signature item is the freshly baked cheesecake. They've been making these since June, 1984! That's over 40 years of cakes... And that's a lot of cakes!
When each batch is ready, the staff will call out「焼きたてですよー！」(They're freshly baked!) to let everyone know that now is the time to get the fresh ones - but people may be already waiting, so line up early! These cakes are baked through the entire day, so you don't have to be there first thing in the morning to get a freshly baked one. Cooled cheesecakes are available too for those who don't need it piping hot and want a shorter line.
Raisins placed on the bototm of the cake add a burst of sweetness, ultimately making a cheesecake that is easy to eat again and again... And again!
However, these cheesecakes are served unsliced, and they don't come with a knife! They sell plastic knives as an extra for those wanting to eat it straight away, but if you want to cut one up at home for serving... what should you use? That's what we're here to find out.
How do you cut a fluffy cheesecake neatly?
Our experiment uses four different knives to see which cuts through a freshly baked cheesecake best. What we are looking for is a smooth surface on the cake where it's sliced, but the knife itself also needs to be easy to use and feel good to cut with.
It's mostly the cutting edge that determines the difference, but other factors also exist! Here's what we tested with:
| A typical household Santoku knife
This is a common household Santoku knife that has been passed onto us from a customer for knife memorial services.
This is our most popular santoku, made of VG-10 stainless steel and heat treated differently to improve sharpness. We've fine tuned this one to have a particularly sharp edge. See how we make these here!
| Molybdenum Steel Bread Knife
This is our stainless steel serrated bread knife. Yes, cakes aren't bread. But, the serrations could work well with cakes, so let's give it a shot! This knife is longer than our santoku, so that may also impact the results as less strokes may be needed.
| Tokujo Steel Bread Knife (Flat Blade)
While this knife looks like a gyuto, it's significantly thinner. Developed to be used in Japanese kissaten coffee shops. it's a specialty knife designed to cut sandwiches and softer foods. This is a perfect candidate for our tests–even if the knife itself is a little uncommon. Unlike the other knives in this test, our flat-blade bread knives are carbon steel ones. It is a little hard to gauge with the scale of the photo, but like the serrated bread knife this is quite long.
Let's get to slicing!
Test One: The Household Santoku Knife
The household santoku performed better than we originally expected, but it left the cake a little crumbly and tattered. Remember, this knife is a household knife that was given to us for memorial services, so it is worn out and used. This shows just how soft some cheesecakes can be! This knife also needed a bit of downward force, which meant it couldn't pie or cut the serving paper.
As more inexpensive knives don't really "grip" to food very well, we did find this knife harder to cut with, relying on gravity to do more of the work than other knives. But, this shows that your knife at home can cut through for a semi-decent result, provided it's a multi-purpose one.
Test Two: The SWORD-FV10 Santoku
While the SWORD-FV10 did not perform perfectly, the cross section is significantly smoother compared to the second-hand santoku.
The biggest improvement is how this knife grips the cake as it cuts. The higher sharpness and superior cutting edge directly converted into a smoother cutting experience, so we didn't need to rely on gravity nearly as much.
This kireaji helps create a relatively flat and even surface as the knife easily slices through, which makes for a good cutting experience. Again, it's not perfect as you can see some slight crumbling on the left, but it's a very good end result!
As santoku knives are multi-purpose knives, they can do many different cutting jobs to a high standard, so we're happy with this result. A gyuto might have yielded a different result, as it's a multi-purpose knife that handles slicing a little better. You can read our article comparing santoku and gyuto knives here!
Test Three: The Molybdenum Steel Bread Knife
We thought a bread knife might perform well here, but we really got it wrong!
The serrated blade couldn't but through the serving paper at the bottom, and the cross-section completely fell apart.
While the knife gripped well and the cutting experience was easy, the cross-section is incomplete, crumbly, and messy overall. Both presentation and mouthfeel suffer from the rougher surface that was created. Of course, it is still delicious, but the full potential of the cheesecake can't be realised when it isn't a smooth cut.
We think it's better to use a non-serrated knife for soft and fluffy items like cakes. Save the serrated bread knife for baguettes, sourdoughts, and low-hydration breads!
Test Four: The Tokujo Bread Knife
Much like the SWORD-FV10, you can see some slight split-level markings on the cake's surface. Nevertheless, this knife cut through very smoothly and cleanly. Remember, Rikuro's cakes are extremely soft! It will be very hard to get a perfect cut, no matter what knife you use or skill level you have.
The major difference is how easy it was to cut the cake using this knife. This longer knife cut through the cake in a single cut. This meant less interruption, and a better knife grip on the cake itself.
By far this was the best feeling knife to use in this experiment! As this is a carbon steel knife, it is also considerably less expensive than the SWORD-FV10.
This is our favorite choice, but it does come with an extra cost of needing more maintenance. Thankfully, we have many maintenance guides for those who need them!
Results and Further Thoughts
We need to keep in mind that there are variables with this experiment. Temperature of the cake, and time since it was baked may impact the results. Uncle Rikuro also sell cheesecakes that were baked two hours prior, so we may re-experiment with that in the future. No complaints here, because then we get to eat more cake!
Our team's impression overall is that both the SWORD-FV10 Santoku and Tokujo Bread Knife cut very cleanly, and left a lovely cross section. While the Tokujo Bread knife did the best job, the SWORD-FV10 Santoku is a more multi-purpose knife, so which knife is best to buy would come down to how often you cut soft breads and cakes.
The other important takeaway is that while serrated bread knives are wonderful for tougher, crispier breads like baguettes, they don't work well on softer items like this. This is why sometimes people have multiple bread knives, and why non-serrated bread knives exist. It's also good to remember that even an inexpensive knife can cut well, provided it's well maintained and looked after. As with any tool, maintenance is crucial.
Our other conclusion is that Uncle Rikuro's cheesecake is delicious. We may need to eat more to confirm our findings, though.
Tips and Tricks
There is a simple technique you can use to improve the end results of cutting any soft pastries like cake. It makes cutting easier to do, and creates a better looking finish. All you need is water and a heating element.
Try warming the knife a little before cutting with it. This allows for a much cleaner cut. Do not do this with fire though, it will break your knife. Use water instead!
Prepare some hot (not boiling) water, and pour it over the blade. Dry it off quickly, then cut with it. This will cause the knife to move through the cake more easily, creating a flatter surface at the end. The image above shows what happens if you do not use this technique on the left, and if you do on the right! It's a massive difference.
Watch our cheesecake cutting video!
Our Japanese video team ran this experiment starring our company president, so naturally they made a video about it too! Watch along and enjoy a more indepth version of this guide. While the video is just in Japanese, use this article as a reference point as it is effectively a summary and recap of that video.
Or, you can just enjoy watching our team eat cake. We may make a global version of this video in the future, if you're interested! Message us and let us know.