Condensed Milk Castella Cake

Condensed Milk Castella Cake or Taiwanese soufflé castella is essentially a sponge cake baked in a water bath. It's has a caramelized surface and is super fluffy, soft, and makes that beautiful "sha-la-la" sound when you cut or tear a piece of it.

It was popularized in Taiwan from bakeries to street food cafes. And you'd often see Taiwanese castella cake baked in a meter long pan and sliced into large rectangles at those bakeries and cafes.

Taiwanese castella cake is an adaptation of Japanese castella cake, which was originally introduced to Japan by a Portuguese merchant. The name "castella" came from Pão de Castela, which translates to "bread from Castile."

This castella is made of bread flour, eggs, honey, and sugar, which made Japanese castella denser cake.

The Taiwanese adaptation is made of eggs, milk, oil, sugar, and low gluten flour (cake flour). This gives Taiwanese castella it's iconic jiggly, bouncy and fluffy texture.

I have wanted to try this Taiwanese Castella Cake for quite some time now and I am sorry I didn’t try it earlier. It is absolutely out of this world. This Taiwanese Castella Cake is a very delicate sponge cake with a soft, moist and fluffy crumb that is simply irresistible. Who could tell that with some basic ingredients you can create such a delightful treat.

The recipe is easy, but it is essential to follow some steps if you want your Castella cake to turn right. First of all make sure you let the eggs get to room temperature. Use cake flour for best results. Whip the whites to soft peaks not stiff peaks, otherwise cracks may appear. Use hot but not boiling water for the water bath so it won’t rise too fast and crack the top. If you take in count all these steps your Castella Cake should turn great.

Me and my family loved this cake so much that it will definitely turn into a family favorite from now on. Hope you will try it out and enjoy as much as we did. Enjoy!

This cake becomes most delicious and softer as each day passes. This cake requires a lot of eggs, to begin with, separate 12 egg whites from the yolks. 

Into a large mixing bowl, add the 12 egg yolks with 50 grams of sugar, a teaspoon of salt, and 70 grams of starch syrup. With the mixer on medium speed, beat the ingredients until they turn pale white then reduce the speed to medium and beat for a minute to remove any trapped air bubbles.

To know if your meringue is of the right texture, it should pile up on top of the meringue when you lift the mixer. In another bowl, add the egg whites of the 12 eggs together with 200 grams of sugar and start whipping on low speed. When the sugar is dissolved, increase the speed to high and beat to make the meringue soft. 

Beat until the meringue reaches a soft peak. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the meringue and use a spatula to fold to mix until the ingredients are well combined.

Sift in 290 grams of soft flour and 55 grams of cornstarch. Fold the flour gently but do not overmix the batter. Fold just until the flour is moistened. Mix 70 ml of milk and 60 ml of oil and 10 ml of vanilla extract then add a little of the batter into the mix. Mix them gently then add them to the batter and fold that if just until incorporated.

Prepare your baking tin by lining the bottom and sides with parchment paper then pour in the batter and run a skewer in to get rid of any trapped air in the batter. 

Bake in a preheated 190 degrees oven then reduce the temperature to 170 degrees C and bake for 15 minutes then lower the temperature to 160 Celcius and bake for another 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 150C and bake for another 30 minutes.

The total baking time should be 60 minutes. Bake until the top of the cake is golden brown. Once baked, grease a silicon sheet and top the cake then quickly turn it over and remove the parchment paper. Let the cake cool down for at least one hour before serving but the best way to eat this cake is after a day. 

Cut the edges and slice the cake into the shape you want. Serve the cake with tea or milk and enjoy.