Kasutera/Castella Cake

Heard so much about this Kasutera/Castella cake or Japanese Cotton Sponge cake/Honey Cake and was really eager to try it out. Of course, before I bake it, I did a little homework by surfing the net for recipes and methods.

I found a lot of information about this cake and also found that I did not have the wooden mould to bake this cake. Anyhow to achieve the effect of the wooden mould, I fully lined the cake pan and wrapped the exterior with 3 layers of baking sheet and lined the wire rack with 5 sheets of white papers before baking.

Another thing that intrigued me was that, the Kasutera cake that I ate has got no butter taste but the most famous recipe from the net uses about 60g of melted butter. Curiosity sets in and I went to several Japanese site to check this out. True enough, there's no melted butter involved, however to give the cake enough moisture, I added in 2 tablespoons of corn oil.

What is Kasutera or Castella Cake?

Kasutera or Castella (カステラ) is a sponge cake made of sugar, flour, eggs, and starch syrup. It is popular at festivals and as a street food in Japan. Now a specialty of Nagasaki, the cake is thought to be originally from Spain, brought by way of Portuguese merchants in the 16th century. The name is derived from Portuguese pão de Castella, meaning "bread from Castile". Castella cake is usually sold in long boxes, with the cake inside being approximately 27cm long. It is somewhat similar to English madeira cake, also associated with Portugal.
Information extracted from: Wikipedia



Photo to show the consistency of batter before adding in the flour.


After 15 - 20 minutes in the oven, I put a baking sheet over the top of the golden brown cake and top it with a heavy pie dish to keep the cake surface flat.


Just out of the oven, see the surface of the cake is flat!


Ingredients: (17cm square pan)
100g cake flour
4 eggs
85g sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp maltose
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp corn oil

Method:
1. Fully line cake pan and wrap a few pieces of paper around the exterior of the cake pan, secure it with a piece of cotton cord/string. Preheat oven at 180C.
2. Put honey, maltose and oil in a microwave safe vessel and microwave on High for 30 seconds to dilute maltose. Keep warm.
3. Whisk eggs and sugar on high speed in a big mixing bowl immersed in warm water till thick and double in volume - about 10 minutes. Do the "8" test, that is draw out the whisk and write the number 8, it should stay for awhile before disappearing.
4. Whisk in honey mixture and milk on low speed till well combined.
5. Whisk in sieved flour by thirds. Should be all done in 30 seconds.
6. Pour batter into prepared cake pan, bang it and remove surfacing bubbles. Place cake pan on a wire rack lined with 5 sheets of white paper.
7. Bake at 180C for 1.5 minutes, remove from oven, remove all bubbles on the surface with a scraper or cake tester, spray with water and remove all surfacing bubbles with cake tester (Ytower instructed to do this step for 3 times but I did it only once).
8. Bake for another 15 - 20 minutes or till top is golden brown, place a piece of baking sheet over the surface of the cake and top it with a metal pie dish (this is to ensure that you get a nice and flat cake surface).
9. Reduce temperature to about 170C and bake till cake is cook, about 15 - 20 minutes.
10. As soon as cake is out of oven, remove from cake pan and remove all papers to cool the cake.
11. Cut the cooled cake with a sharp knife, serve and enjoy with a nice hot cup of maccha.

Notes:
Ytower, a Taiwanese site has detailed illustration of this cake.

The above recipe is my concoction but you may try those recipes found in the net by doing a search using "Castella Cake" or "Kasutera Cake".

Some net friends suggested to wrap warm cake in a plastic bag so as to trap in the moisture of the cake.