Authentic Kasutera Recipe Nagasaki, Japan

This Japanese sponge cake is made with just flour, eggs, sugar, and a sugary syrup, such as honey, which also flavors the sponge. Today, castella can have a myriad of different flavors, such as matcha, chocolate, and brown sugar, but in Taiwan and some other South Asian countries like Singapore, a cheese castella cake is very popular. To prepare, eggs are first whisked with sugar to a ribbon stage, and the honey is stirred in next, followed by flour which is gently folded in. The prepared batter is poured into, traditionally, a wooden frame, and baked up to 50 minutes. If baked to perfection, kasutera should be moist, light, and with a very fine texture. There are two main preparation methods, the traditional one where eggs are beaten in a double boiler and the one where eggs are not beaten in a double boiler. There is also a third, less common, method where yolks and egg whites are first whisked separately and then combined. Most recipes today also include additional ingredients ... Read more