Japanese cake with roots in Portugal

Kasutera, also called castella, is a popular Japanese sponge cake that has Portuguese roots. This recipe is adapted from Makiko Ito’s Japanese food blog, “Just Hungry.”

The original recipe calls for whisking eggs and sugar together over hot water until thick with an electric whisk. Instead, we had good results starting with a handheld mixer over steaming water to warm the batter, then moving to a stand mixer. We also heated the eggs in warm water first. If you do not have a stand mixer, you can do all the mixing with a handheld mixer, again beginning over hot water.

Ito gives the sugar and flour amounts by weight, but we provide cup measures for cooks without scales at home.

Kasutera (castella)

Prep: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Cook: 50 minutes
Servings: 10

Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon honey
8 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar (10 1/2 ounces or 300 grams), plus a little extra for sprinkling
1 2/3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, double sifted (7 ounces or 200 grams)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch-square cake pan with parchment paper. (Smearing a little butter or shortening in the pan first will help the paper stick.) Top paper with a sprinkling of sugar.

2. Place the eggs in a bowl of warm water (about 100 degrees) until warm, about 10 minutes; drain. Heat a large pot of water to a boil; turn off the heat. Mix the milk and 1/4 cup honey in a small bowl; set aside.

3. Break the warm eggs into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Place over the steaming pot of water; mix with a hand mixer, adding the sugar slowly, 5 minutes. Move the bowl to the stand mixer; beat with the whisk attachment at medium speed, or level 3, 5 minutes. Reduce speed one level; beat, 5 minutes. Reduce speed to lowest setting, beat, 5 minutes. (You want to end beating at the lowest speed so that the batter has small bubbles. The batter is ready when it is thick enough to form soft peaks.) Slowly add the milk and honey mixture. Whisking by hand, add the flour 1 tablespoon at a time.

4. Pour the batter into the pan up to the top. (Any leftover batter may be baked alongside in lined cupcake or muffin tins; bake these for 20 to 25 minutes.) Bake until a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the remaining 1 tablespoon honey and a little hot water, to make a glaze. As soon as the cake is out of the oven, brush the top with the glaze.

5. Let the cake sit in the pan until cool enough to handle but still warm. Lift out of the pan, paper and all; place in a zip-close bag. Seal; refrigerate several hours. (This step will help keep the cake moist.)

6. Cut off the sides of the cake with a very sharp knife to expose the yellow interior. Cut the cake into small, neat slices. Count on one or two slices of cake per person.

Nutrition information:
Per serving: 282 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 170 mg cholesterol, 54 g carbohydrates, 7 g protein, 62 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.

— Bill Daley, Tribune Newspapers

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