Castella Cake(カステラ, Kasutera) 长崎蛋糕

This is Castella Cake (カステラ, Kasutera) 长崎蛋糕 that I made two days ago. But first of all I must thank Irene of MyMeLoves for sending me the wooden mould when she saw I left a comment on Sonia's blog post and she told me immediately she got an extra piece for me. Lucky me and really appreciate your kindness, Irene 真的好感动! Without this mould I would've never thought of making this cake. There are also a few times I saw Jane posted this delicious cake on her blog and I told myself that I must make this cake as soon as I could get the mould. So here is my first Castella cake! Let me tell you, you'll love this cake at first bite. The cake is moist and soft with the combination scent of honey and mirin. (You can omit mirin if you don't have it). It is also a great gift for anyone, just wrap with a parchment paper (as shown here) or a nice decorative paper and tie a pretty little knot over it.

As I'm using the wooden mould for the first time, I soaked the mould in water overnight, dry and bake for 30 mins at 160C. This step would eliminate odour from the wood. To use the wooden mould, put it on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil as the mould has no bottom, then line the inside with another baking sheet. Don't worry if you don't have a wooden mould, you can always use a loaf pan to bake this cake like my friend Biren of RotinRice.

Actually I baked two Castella Cakes on the same day. You may be curious how come the cakes came in two colours. Because the cake on the first picture was added with a darker honey and this one here with a lighter one. I also wanted to get a smooth surface for the second cake as the first one has little wrinkled surface after the cake was inverted but I'd completely forgotten about it and overturned the cake on a wire rack so there are marks on the cake...aiyah!

Castella Cake (カステラ, Kasutera) 长崎蛋糕

Ingredients:

• 250g Eggs (4 large eggs) at room temperature
• 80g Caster sugar
• 50g Honey
• 75g Milk
• 10g Cake emulsifier (SP)
• 55g Bread flor
• 90g Plain flour
• a pinch of salt
• 50g Melted Butter
• 10g Mirin

Preheat oven to 160C.

Sieve bread flour, plain flour and salt together twice.

Whisk eggs and sugar at medium speed for about 8-10 minutes until batter is thick and creamy white.

While whisking the batter, at the same time add warm milk (microwave 30 seconds), honey and SP in a small bowl and stir mixtures till smooth with a hand whisk. (after mixing for a couple of minutes, I found the SP is not easily dissolved in the liquid, so I put the mixtures through a sieve to make sure the SP is thoroughly smooth)

Scrap bowl and switch machine to low speed, slowly add in the milk mixture, mix well.

Then add in flour bit by bit (about one tablespoon at a time) until well combined.

Lastly add in melted butter and mirin in two batches and mix well.

Pour batter into prepared wooden mould and bake for 50-60 mins on middle rack of the oven or skewer inserted comes out clean. (I baked for 50 mins)

Take the baked cake out from oven. Let it rest for a while and cover with a parchment paper on top then invert mould and remove the wooden mould.

Let the cake cool down slightly and wrap it up with cling wrap and parchment paper. Store the warmed cake in the refrigerator overnight. This is to ensure the castella cake has a moist texture. If you let it cool to room temperature before wrapping, it will end up a bit dry.

Trim the sides of the cake before serve.

Kitchen note from Jane: The batter should be thick enough to form soft peaks when you draw up your whisk. To test it, you can write a letter "O" on the surface of batter and it should stay there for few seconds. (Thank you Jane for all the useful tips) ♥