Castella Cake (カステラ, Kasutera)

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

Preparation

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 wood 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 wood 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.