Treat yourself to this super-moist, delicate, and bouncy Japanese sponge cake with a hint of honey! Made with only four ingredients, Castella Cake is a very popular tea-time confection in Japan that makes the perfect holiday or hostess gift, too.
Prep Time25 minutesmins
Cook Time35 minutesmins
Resting Time1 dayd
Total Time1 hourhr
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Japanese
Keyword: moist cake, sponge cake
Servings: 2Castella Cakes
Calories: 1116kcal
Author: Namiko Chen
Ingredients
1⅔cupbread flour(weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off)
2½Tbspwater(warm)
⅓cuphoney
6large eggs (50 g each w/o shell)(at room temperature—very important!)
Before You Start: Please note that this recipe requires a resting time of 1 day.I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scalefor this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
Gather all the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 320ºF (160ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the oven temperature by 25ºF (15ºC) to 295ºF (145ºC).
Cut the parchment paper to fit the baking pans (see the video for this process). You will need two loaf pans (8½ x 4½ x 2¾ inches, or 22 x 11 x 7 cm). If your pans are smaller, add the excess batter to another smaller pan and use a shorter bake time.
To Make the Batter
Sift 1⅔ cup bread flour twice with either a sifter or fine-meshed strainer. Holding the handle of the strainer with one hand and tapping it gently with the other, the flour will gradually sift through the strainer. Tip: Bread flour gives the cake an elastic, bouncy texture that you cannot achieve with all-purpose flour.
Add 2½ Tbsp water to ⅓ cup honey (5 Tbsp + 1 tsp) and whisk well.
Fit a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Crack 6 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell) into the bowl of the mixer and vigorously whisk until combined.
Add 1 cup sugar.
Beat the eggs and sugar on high speed (Speed 10) for 5 minutes. If you beat the eggs with a handheld mixer, it will take more time. The beaten eggs will quadruple in volume. The texture will be thick and the color will be pale yellow. When you stop the mixer and lift the whisk attachment, the mixture should fall in ribbons.
Add the honey mixture into the egg mixture and whisk on low speed (Speed 2) until combined, about 30 seconds.
Add the bread flour in three parts. Add one-third of the bread flour and whisk at low speed (Speed 2) for 15 seconds. Then, add another third and whisk for another 15 seconds. Finally, add the last remaining portion and whisk until just combined for about 1 minute. Do not overmix.
To Bake
Spray the loaf pans with oil and distribute it evenly with a pastry brush.
Put the parchment paper in the pans and make sure the paper sticks to the pans. If is does not, apply more oil to the pan, spread it evenly with a brush, and place the parchment paper again.
Pour the batter into the pans about 80% full.
Using a skewer, draw a zigzag line through the batter to remove the air bubbles in the batter.
Level the batter by holding each pan 2 inches above the counter and dropping it flat onto the counter. Do this several times to release the air bubbles.
Bake at 320ºF (160ºC) in the middle rack of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes (I bake my cakes for 35 minutes), or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Turn off the oven, at which point I open and leave my oven door ajar for a few minutes. Then, I take out the cakes. When done, the cake sides will pull away from the pan slightly; the top will be flat and feel spongy when pressed with a finger.
To Apply the Syrup and Chill Overnight
To make the honey syrup, mix 1 Tbsp honey and ½ Tbsp water in a bowl. Immediately apply the honey syrup over the tops of the hot cakes with a pastry brush.
For each cake, place a sheet of plastic wrap on the countertop. Take out the hot cakes from the pan and place them top down on the plastic wrap. Gently peel off the parchment paper.
Immediately wrap the cakes with the plastic film to retain moisture. Bring the cake to room temperature. Then, put the wrapped cakes in the refrigerator and store them overnight (or at least 12 hours), keeping the top side facing down. This will help the cakes develop a fine and moist texture.
To Serve
Remove the cake from the refrigerator. Bring the cake to room temperature. Slice off the four sides of the cake with a sharp bread knife. Then, cut the cake into ¾- to 1-inch-thick slices (you will get 7–8 slices total). Serve it with tea or coffee, if you‘d like.
To Store
To save for later, wrap individual pieces with plastic wrap. You can store at room temperature for up to 3–4 days, 5–7 days in the refrigerator, and 1 month in the freezer.