green tea castella

Castella is a Japanese sponge cake. Absolutely delicious and I always end up getting one (as well as a red bean bread) when I go to Korean bakeries. I often use it in my baked Alaskas or trifles - it's a very versatile cake. It's not leavened by baking soda/powder or yeast but it's the eggs that act as the leavening agent.

I did a little deviation from the normal honey castella and added matcha (green tea) powder to mine. It adds a hint of green tea to the cake that doesn't overpower it with an herby taste but adds an extra, natural sweetness of the tea. Castella takes a little extra effort and time compared to other cakes to make but the end result is something quite delicious. Here is the Green Tea Castella.

Green Tea Castella
Original, Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons milk, warm (% based on preference, obviously higher the fat content the richer)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 0.75 cup AP flour
- 1 tablespoon matcha
- 4 eggs, @ room temperature
- 0.75 cup sugar

1) Add the honey to the warm milk and stir until combined. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Sift in flour and matcha until you get a well distributed, green flour mixture.

3) In a heat-proof bowl over simmering water (bain-marie), add the eggs and beat w/ an electric mixer until the eggs triple in volume and turn into a pale, creamy color.
4) Gently fold in the dry ingredients. You want to retain as much air bubbles from the eggs as possible.
5) Pour batter into a buttered pan (I used a 9' round) and bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.

6) After the 10 minutes, turn down the oven temperature to 280 degrees F and bake for 40 minutes more or until a skewer comes out clean in the center.
7) Cool at 15 minutes.

8) Cut into slices, dust with powder sugar and serve. I accompanied mine with some of the red bean paste I made the other day.
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I'm finally finished with school (for the year) and I'm stoked about being able to bake/cook/blog more often and in a real kitchen!