Let's Bounce - Powered By Keki

Let's Bounce - Powered By Keki.  That's an awkward mouthful of a business name. I think? it is the evolution of a previous bakery, Keki Modern Cakes.

"After traveling Asia and savoring pastries, founders Moul Kim and Lawrence Wai returned to New York determined to recreate those flavors. Teaming up with Executive Chef Kevin Kim, they founded Keki, sourcing fresh ingredients from Upstate NY and Amish Country, PA.  Chinatown, NYC, with its cherished memories, was the perfect location for their flagship. In April 2017, Keki opened on Mott Street, revitalizing the neighborhood and attracting visitors from near and far."

That's all the info I can find on Keki, of either business name.  These days, they make mostly cheesecakes in several styles, and also cream puffs, which I think were their most popular items from the previous incarnation.

Packaging.

We ordered for delivery. The cakes came attractively boxed up, tied with strings.

Let's Bounce - Powered By Keki makes 3 main styles of cheesecake: bouncy (per their namesake, several flavors), basque (with or without yuzu glaze), and "fancy" (several flavors).  I didn't get to try the basque this time, but tried several of the other styles.

Bouncy Cheesecake

"Hailing from Osaka Japan, Keki’s famous bouncy cheesecakes are light and silky in texture and melt in your mouth! Made with locally sourced fresh ingredients, our cheesecakes feature Organic Grass Fed Milk, Amish Cream Cheese, and Organic Free-Range Eggs. All this fresh goodness makes our cheesecakes bounce and dance with delight!"

Their signature cake, or at least the one they seem to be named after, is the bouncy style cheesecake.  If you are unfamiliar, the name comes from the fact that it jiggles a bit.  It is a lighter style cheesecake, sorta hybrid cheesecake-cake-souffle.  Some people call them souffle cheesecakes.  I first had this style from Uncle Tetsu in Sydney when it was ultra popular (2018), and wasn't quite as wowed by it as some people, but I still wanted to give this a try, as it had been years since I've had this style.  I believe they only make two flavors of the bouncy style, I tried both.

Original Bouncy. $18.

Just like Uncle Tetsu, this came with a nearly burnt looking top, and branding of the bakery name.  

It was fine.  Yes, a sorta lighter, less dense, less decadent, somewhat cakier cake, that still did taste like cheesecake.  Certainly not too sweet.  It made me think of angel food cake, one of my least favorite styles of cake, but, an angel food cake that had been crossed with cheesecake.  I found it kinda underwhelming flavor wise, and needed to add fresh berries and whipped cream to make it really into an appealing dessert.  3/5.

Ube Bouncy. $20.

The ube one actually looked pretty unattractive on top.  Brown does not really draw me in.  But inside was relatively vibrant purple from the ube.  It didn't taste all that ube unfortunately.

I felt basically the same way about this one as the previous.  It was fine, but I'd prefer another style of cheesecake, or another style of cake.  It was just soo cakey of cheesecake, or too dense of cake. 3/5.

Fancy Cheesecake

"Bottom layer of thin sponge cake, middle layer of American-style cheesecake, top layer of mascarpone mousse with a flavor."

Then there are the "fancy" ones.  These really were an adventure with three different distinct layers within.  Interestingly, these cakes are purchased frozen and requires 2-3 hours to defrost.  I actually liked them considerably more not fully defrosted.

The Fancy ones are available in original, green tea, or strawberry flavors, I tried all but the original.

Fancy Strawberry. $45.

First, visually, this didn't seem that actually "fancy".  The layers weren't even at all either.  

I actually had this after only an hour or so of defrosting time because our host didn't realize they needed to defrost for several hours.  It was rather hard to slice, as the strawberry hunks within were still very solid, but I actually liked it considerably more this way compared to once I let it properly fully defrost.

The base cake was whatever, barely noticeable, which was fine with me.  The cheesecake layer, when still pretty frozen, was just like cheesecake ice cream.  I liked it.  But the real draw for me was the strawberry top layer, which I guess was a strawberry mascarpone mousse.  It was sooo bright and fruity, and again, because quasi-frozen, it was sorta like ice cream or semifreddo.  I don't generally like strawberry ice cream, so this surprised me, but I really, really enjoyed this.  4/5 in semi-frozen form.

Once I let my other slice defrost properly, I liked it considerably less.  The mousse was almost too strongly flavored, and just an odd consistency, airy in a strange way.  The cheesecake seemed to almost melt, and didn't hold up like a regular cheesecake, even though they say it is American-style cheesecake.  So properly defrosted (but still chilled), I wasn't really into it, low 3/5.

Fancy Green Tea. $40.

"Total fanciness, now with extra pop. Kick dessert into high-gear with everyone’s favorite Asian pick-me-up and dance-about: matcha."

I also had the matcha version semi-frozen.  It was much the same as the strawberry, although easier to slice since it didn't have the big frozen strawberries within.  The bottom two layers, which made up about 1/3 of the cake, were exactly the same as the previous strawberry cake.  The green tea mousse was really enjoyable as green tea ice cream basically, such strong pure flavor, not too sweet.  I really liked this too.  4/5.   I didn't try this one defrosted properly.