Enjoy this while watching the Olympics from Tokyo!
This is a sponge cake that is popular in Japan. It's called Kasutera.
1/2 cup milk
8 eggs
1 2/3 cup all-purpose or bread flour, double sifted
1/4 cup + 1 T. Honey
1 1/2 cup sugar, + a little extra for sprinkling
DirectionsStep 1: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch cake pan with parchment paper. (Smear pan with a little butter, shortening, or pan spray to help parchment paper stay in place.) Top paper with a sprinkling of sugar.
Step 2: Place the eggs in a bowl of warm water (about 100 degrees) until warm, approximately 10 minutes; drain. Heat a large pot of water to a boil; turn off the heat. Mix 1/2 cup of milk and 1/4 cup honey and set aside.
Step 3: Break 8 eggs into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Place over the steaming pot of water; mix with a hand mixer while slowly adding 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Beat 5 minutes. Move the bowl to the stand mixer; beat with the whisk attachment at medium speed for 5 minutes. Reduce speed by 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, while still beating. Whisking by hand, add the 1 2/3 cups flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time.
Step 4: Pour the batter into the pan up to the top. (Any leftover batter may be baked in cupcake papers in a muffin tin, for 20-25 minutes.) Bake about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Meanwhile, mix together 1 T. honey with a little hot water to make a glaze. As soon as the cake is out of the oven, brush the top with the glaze.
Step 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 ziploc bag. Seal; refrigerate several hours. (This step will keep the cake moist.)
Step 6: Cut off the sides of the cake with a very sharp knife. Cut and serve in small, neat slices. (Because everything Japanese people do is meant for the eye and is always very neat!
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Pros:
This cake would be great served with some strawberries or other fresh fruit.
It uses a few common pantry items, nothing fancy or special.
Even though I made a mistake and I don't own a whisk attachment, the cake still turned out good.
I didn't have a ziploc bag big enough to hold the cake so I used a Rubbermaid container.
Cons:
I dirtied every dish in the kitchen!
The steps seem complicated but reading through the directions a couple of times will help.
