I have this fascination with a simple sponge cake I found in Japan. It is Castella or to the Japanese, Kasutera (カステラ). It is Portuguese in origin but the Japanese made it popular … or rather it originated from pão-de-ló, a portuguese cake. Most of the castella cake businesses started in Nagasaki, a port town in Kyushu, and which was naturally influenced by imports from foreign ships in its early days.
~ Original Castella Cake from Fukusaya ~
In my first few weeks at CIAML, I asked Chef Sebastien about this cake. I guess Castella is not popular outside Japan. The other country where Castella is popular is Taiwan, since the country was previously occupied by Japanese for years in her history. I wanted to know how the cake can be so evenly baked and cut. I passed Chef a cd containing a pix of the cake, and a summary of some information I found on the net, and I believed he has not viewed the file on the cd yet. Ha!
During my recent trip to Osaka, I bought one from Fukusaya for BK and myself, and another bigger one to bring to the hotel where I was last attached to. To many, it was just a 蛋糕，literally mean Egg cake. Oh well, it is. It is a sponge cake made of sugar, flour and eggs, and starch syrup(?). The original version is honey-flavoured. Now it comes with Matcha flavoured and Cocoa flavoured. Most of the pastry team at the hotel gobbled the cake before a second look, while a few appreciated the cake for the texture, taste, and simplicity. Do you have the recipe? The Pastry Chef asked. I believed it is widely available on the net, it was the precision in baking resulting in a evenly flat cake and the packaging that made this cake special, at least to me.
I simply love it ~ a simple, honest and perfectly baked moist piece of art.
~ Castella evenness ~
It is a perfect cut!
BK and I shared half the cake over supper one night with hot milo, a local chocolate drink. Then I got to finish the rest for breakfast over the last 2 mornings, because I got to wake up later than him to have a leisurely breakfast. A light sugar crunch on the bottom, a subtle honey flavour, a light evenly fluffy texture, with a perfect flat brown top.
And the packaging ~ yes, you can trust the work of Japanese packaging. Meticulously wrapped and boxed to keep the cubiod cake intact.
~ part of the packaging ~
~ Castella box ~
I didn’t manage to take a picture of the full packaging, I was all ready to taste a huge mouthful. Then another. And another.
~ Matcha Castella from Bunmeido ~
I searched in my digital pix collection and found a pix of the full packaging of a Matcha flavoured Castella I bought last year from Narita Airport, Japan. I was transiting at the airport enroute from California to Singapore, and found the matcha version from 文明堂, or Bunmeido. The Bunmeido version was pre-cut, also evenly.
It is definitely not going to be my last bite for this simple sponge cake. It was perfect-o! My fascination continues …
Hi nice blog
I can see a lot of effort has been put in.
wah, you are the first non japanese friend of mine that like this castella. i dont like japanese sweet personally,i think they have different kind of sweetness from western pastries and sweet but japanese bread and cakes is good.
honey sweetness instead of just sugar sweet? … I love the simplicity and innovative elegance in Japanese sweets. Tastewise, selective. But cakes, in general, are superb… think texture, complementary flavours and looks!
They sell this cake at the frozen food aisle at Hmart! I first found it when I was pregnant and craving cake and having to count carbs because of gestational diabetes. It has surprisingly low carbs for a cake and doesn’t make my blood sugar go crazy. The 4 year loves it. He doesn’t usually eat cake but he loves this rectangle cake.