Castella Cake

 ...I'm not glamorous like other cakes..I don't need any decoration to make myself stand out. But sponge-like myself is soft enough to melt in your mouth, and my simple looking is noble enough to be loved by everyone...(..Castella says)

 One day, I had a desperate craving for Castella cake. Unfortunately, finding Castella cake (not Finding Nemo :)) in London is out of question indeed.

 Although it's one of my beloved cake, well.. many people've never heard about it, so let me explain to help your understanding. The name derived from Castile in Portuguese. Long times ago, Portuguese sailors carried it during a long-haul trip since it could be preserved for a long time, even Portugal to Japan, it wasn't exception. Then Japanese began to popularise it, and call Kasutera.

 It doesn't required any special ingredients but only sugar, eggs, milk, butter, flour. You may think it would boring, but making moist, soft texture is not easy unless you keep an eye on every single step. Then you will be surprised at the joy of flavour!




You will need :

(for 500g)

Eggs 277g
Sugar 185g
Plain flour 147g
Melted butter 40g
Milk 21g
Liquor 15g

(2)

   (1) Whisk eggs and sugar over the bain-marie until no sugar granules left.

   (2) Transfer to a machine, whisk from slow to fast and then slow until the ribbon stage. (This is the stage which colour becomes pale, and when you drop the batter, it holds itself for a while rather than disperse straight away so that the air inside will give soft texture to the completed cake.)

   (3) Fold the sieved flour in.
 

(4)

   (4) Warm up milk, butter and liquor together, then Mix in the batter. The point is reducing bubbles a bit in the batter by folding over. Look it becomes more fluid than the ribbon stage!

(5)

   (5) Pour in the lined mould by dropping from top to remove big bubbles. And tab the mould against a table to remove more big bubbles again.

   (6) Bake for 10 min at 190'C, and then lid on top, bake for 90 min more at 150'C.

(7)

   (7) After taking out from the over, remove the lid and cover with a butter baking paper, then upside-down to cool.




   (8) All ready.. Try the next day as breakfast with milk when you get bored of having a croissant for breakfast!!

(a mould for Castella cake)

 
    **  At last, I want to introduce this special mould for a Castella cake as you can find a better result with this. This is made of Hinoki Cypress tree, which enable to keep the moisture gently while baking, and the scent can be spread into the cake nicely. Also, Castella should be as tall as mine! This mould will help to get the height! I bought 2 of them, and happily using it. :)