Castella (カステラ Kasutera 蜂蜜长崎蛋糕)

Today is a special day because I went to see a friend with her new born baby. It is indeed so excited to see a perfect creation of God, the little one is so pretty and sweet. I didn't know that I will love her so much at first sight. The way she sleeps and yawn...make me believe again on God promises. When finally there is chance for me to hold her in my hands, I can feel there is tears deep inside me. Is happy? is sad? I'm not sure. The deep wound in me still not able to forget.

Bake this Castella again after so long ... the last one was on 30 Mar 2012 Chance the recipe because wanted to try something new. This recipe is with maltose instead of just using mirin as in the previous one. I love the dense texture and I think this recipe is easier to handle because it doesn't shrink much. Anyway, love both of them!

Thanks Li Shuan for sharing her recipe.

Recipe from Li Shuan (original from Hunniebaby)

Ingredients:

4 whole eggs (separated & room temperature)

2 tbsp honey 

2 tbsp milk

1 tbsp maltose sugar ( Very important!, it makes the texture of the cake look nice, moist, and smooth )

120g bread flour

75g caster sugar
1 tbsp mirin （optional）

(lazy to type, copy from Li Shuan's blog)

Method:

1. ) Preheat oven at 160 C (for 20 mins, 140C for 30 mins for my oven). Fill 2 little loaf pans with water. Fill up 1/4 of the pan. Place them into the oven and place each pan on both sides of the pan so that the cake batter will be in the middle of the 2 filled pans with water.

2. )Put milk in a bowl and microwave for 10 seconds to warm. Stir in maltose sugar， honey and mirin until well melted and incorporated.

3. ) In a large mixing bowl beat egg whites till soft peak (KA speed 10). Then, slowly add in the sugar. Beat until stiff peak and the egg white batter will becomes thick and glossy.

4. )Next beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Beat well until mixture turns to a pale white color or approximately 6 minutes. (or fill the batter in a 100ml container, the batter should weigh around 23-25g).

5. ) Switch your mixer to the lowest setting (KA speed 4) . Then add sifted flour slowly until mixture well incorporated.

6.) Then , slowly pour the  warm honey mixture into the batter until well mixed.  Using a sifter, pour the batter into it and into the pan. Gently drop the baking pan on the bench top to minimize air bubbles.

7.) Place pan in between the two filled pans with water. Bake for about 60 50 minutes or until golden brown.

8.) Once the cake is done, remove from oven, place a non-stick parchment paper on top of the cake and follow by another cake pan, turn up side down the cake. Cool on a wire rack.

9.) When the cake is cool enough to handle but still warm (about 15mins), invert the cake again, remove the pan and wooden box. Continue to cool on a wire rack.

10.) Once cake is cooled, wrap nicely with paper and film. Refrigerate overnight. (This step is critical to ensure the Castella has a moist texture).