Super Easy Taiwanese Castella Cake Recipe

Super Easy Taiwanese Castella Cake Recipe!! If you love soft fluffy cakes, this recipe is for you! This Taiwanese Castella Cake is light and soft like cotton. It is not overly sweet, perfect just plain. It also goes well with whipped cream, jam, or freshly cut fruit!

Learn to Make Taiwanese Castella Cake

Taiwanese Castella Cake is a souffle-like sponge cake. It is known for its soft, fluffy texture. It is very popular in Taiwan and some other countries. It’s also known as Taiwanese soufflé castella.

In bakeries and cafes, this cake is typically baked in large meter-long pans. And then slice the big cakes into large rectangular slices and place them in boxes to sell.

This Taiwanese Castella Cake is light and soft like cotton. It is not overly sweet, perfect just plain. It also goes well with whipped cream, jam, or freshly cut fruit!

If you love soft fluffy cakes, this recipe is for you! It’s super easy to make at home. You just need a few ingredients: oil, flour, milk, eggs, and sugar.

Follow my recipe with step-by-step photos. There is a lot of useful info and tips. You will be rewarded with a light, soft, fluffy sponge cake. It will become your next favorite.

Don’t give up! Try again!

One of the most satisfying things about baking Taiwanese Castella Cake is making a perfectly soft, light, fluffy, tall cake. It should have a crack-free, nicely browned, smooth surface.

The thing is, it’s tricky to make such a picture-perfect cake. To tell the truth, I failed a few times before making such an aesthetically pleasing cake.

In this post, I have put together the findings I have learned from my mistakes. These findings will help you to make a perfect Taiwanese Castella Cake.

But let me say this. Even if the castella cake has cracks on the top, it will taste just as good.

About Taiwanese Castella Cake RECIPE

This Taiwanese Castella Cake is made with oil. Oil helps to make lighter cakes. It also keeps the cake super moist. I always use rice oil in my baking as it’s a healthy type of flavorless ‘neutral’ oil.

It also uses a good amount of whipped egg whites. This contributes to its softness and lightness.

Taiwanese Castella cakes are commonly baked in square pans. I made this cake in a small round pan. The cake came out well.

Unlike regular sponge cakes, you need to bake this castella cake in a warm water bath.

What Kind of Pan is
a Taiwanese Castella Cake Baked In? 

In this recipe, I used a small (18cm/7-inch) round cake pan with tall sides. A pan with tall sides helps the cake to rise as it bakes. You can adjust the height of the pan with parchment paper.

You can also use a square pan or a loaf pan. But, make sure to use the right size pan. Adjust the baking time appropriately.

A pan with a removable bottom is preferable. It will help you to remove the cake easily without damaging it. This cake is very delicate.

If you use a removable bottom pan, wrap the bottom tightly with aluminum foil. Use as much foil as you can. Because you bake this cake in a water bath, you need to take precautions. This will prevent water from coming in.

If you use a pan without a removable bottom, you can use a few pieces of parchment. These pieces should protrude above the baking pan by an inch. This will later help you remove the cake more easily.

INGREDIENTS YOU’LL NEED

• Oil: I used rice oil but you can use any flavorless oil. Oil adds fat keeping the cake extra moist. You can also use melted unsalted butter. Alternatively, use a mix of oil and melted butter to give the cake a bit of richness.
• Flour: I used cake flour. Cake flour has less gluten content than all-purpose flour/plain flour and makes lighter softer cakes.
• Milk: I used whole dairy milk at room temperature. Milk is used to thin out the batter as well as to give a nice flavor to the cake.
• Eggs: I used large eggs. (each egg is about 60-65 grams with the shells). Make sure to separate the eggs when cold and keep the egg whites in the fridge. Egg yolks are used to make the batter and egg whites are whipped into a soft peak meringue. The meringue makes a soft fluffy cake while yolks add richness to the cake.
• Sugar: I used white fine granulated sugar. Sugar adds sweetness and helps strengthen the meringue.
• Cream of tartar: Cream of tartar is an acid. It helps stabilize the meringue. You just need a tiny amount of it. You can also use lemon juice or white vinegar as a substitute.
• Vanilla extract: I didn’t use it. Use it if you like to give it an extra flavor. If you use it, add it after mixing egg yolks.

Tips for Making
the Best Taiwanese Castella Cake

Tips for Making the Base Mixture

Heat the oil – Heating oil is one technique for achieving a cotton soft sponge cake. This method is known as the ‘cooked dough’ method. But, when heating oil keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t overheat. If it is too hot it can overcook the dough.

Keep the base mixture warm – Keep the base mixture made with oil, flour, and egg yolk warm. Do this until you mix it with the meringue.

Tips for making/folding the Meringue

Whip the egg whites to medium-soft peaks – It is a very important tip for making a perfect castella cake. These peaks should be stable enough to help the cake rise. They also give the cake a fluffy texture without cracks on the top.

How to test medium soft peak meringue – Medium peaks hold their shape fairly well. The tip of the peak curls down slightly at the ends when you lift up your beaters. (Please refer to the photo in the step-by-step guide to see what a medium peak looks like.)

What will happen if you use soft peaks meringue? Soft peaks of meringue barely hold its shape. The peaks flop over as soon as the beaters are lifted. So if use soft peaks meringue, your cake will over-rise creating cracks, and then shrink a lot after baking.

What will happen if you use stiff peaks meringue? When you use stiff peaks meringue, it can cause the cake to rise rapidly while baking. It can also create some cracks on top.  

Fold the meringue correctly – Folding egg whites into the batter creates a light and fluffy texture. If you stir them into the batter incorrectly, you end up with a deflated cake.

Tips for Making Medium-soft Peaks Meringue

Use chilled egg whites – Chilled egg whites whip up to a more stable meringue.

Use some cream of tartar – Adding cream of tartar helps to make a stable meringue. To substitute, use 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar for every ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar.

Add all of the sugar at once – Add the sugar when the egg whites are just foamy.

Beat the egg whites on medium-high speed – After adding the sugar, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed. It aerates the meringue without creating large bubbles.

Tips for Baking the Cake

Bake the cake at a lower temperature – Baking the cake at a lower temperature keeps the surface smooth. This prevents cracking.

Every oven is different – Every oven is different in some ways. Make sure to adjust the oven temperature and baking time as needed.

Bake the cake in a warm water bath – Bake the cake in a warm water bath. This helps keep the baking temperature even. Use warm water around 60 C but not too hot or boiling water. Put enough water into the water bath to cover 1/2 to 3/4 of the cake pan.

How to test the doneness – Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. Check if it comes out clean. If it’s not clean, bake the cake for 5 to 10 minutes more as needed.

Serving Suggestions

I love this cake when it is fresh out of the oven while still warm, soft, and fluffy. You can also enjoy it at room temperature. You can eat it after chilling it in the fridge. Another choice is to toast it in the oven or toaster. Frozen castella cake also tastes good. You can top the slices with whipped cream and fresh fruit or jam and peanut butter. It also goes well with red bean paste and whipped cream.

Storing Suggestions

You can keep this cake for up to 2 days at room temperature in an airtight container. It can stay in the fridge for about 5 days in an airtight container. You can also keep it in the freezer for up to 2 months. Make sure to wrap it well and place it in freezer-friendly bags.

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Taiwanese Castella Cake
Step-by-Step Guide

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 to 60 minutes
Servings: 2 to 4

Equipment

• 18 cm round pan with a removable bottom is preferable

Ingredients

• 60 g rice oil
• 70 g cake flour or all-purpose flour
• 60 ml whole milk
• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar or 1 tsp lemon juice
• 80 g sugar

Prep

1. Prepare some hot water and a pan or tray that’s larger than the round cake pan for the water bath.
2. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
3. Separate the egg white and egg yolk into two different bowls. Place the egg whites in the refrigerator to chill. Eggs can be easily separated when cold.
5. Grease and line the pan with parchment paper. Then cover the bottom of the pan with a few pieces of aluminum foil.

Gather the ingredients.

Make the egg yolk batter

• Sift the flour to remove any clumps. Set aside.
• Pour the oil into a clean dry small pot and heat until the oil reaches 75-80°C (but not smoking)
• Place the hot oil in a clean dry bowl.
• I used a warm water bath (around 50°C) to place the bowl with oil.

Add the sifted flour into the heated oil and mix well with a balloon whisk or spatula. The heated oil cooked the flour slightly making a sticky batter. This is one of the crucial steps of this recipe.

Pour milk (at room temperature) into the flour mixture and mix well.

Add all the egg yolks (at room temperature) and mix until smooth. Set aside.

Whip the egg whites

• Place the cold egg whites in a clean large bowl.
• First, beat the egg white on low speed for about 30 seconds.
• Add the cream of tartar and beat for about one minute until foamy.
• Next, add all the sugar at once.
• Continue beating on medium-high speed for about 3 to 4 minutes or until medium-peaks form.

How to test medium-peak meringue? Medium peaks hold their shape fairly well. The tip of the peaks curls down slightly at the ends when you lift up your beaters.

Combine the two mixtures

Add about one-fourth of meringue to the yolk mixture and whisk well until no streaks are seen. This step helps the rest of the meringue to combine smoothly.

Very gently fold in one-third of the rest of the meringue into the yolk flour mixture to lighten the batter. At this stage, I usually use a balloon whisk. Be as gentle as possible not to deflate the air bubbles too much.

Transfer the base batter into the large bowl with the rest of the meringue. Gently scoop the batter from the bottom to the top with a spatula. Rotate the bowl until the mixture is even with no white streaks. Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.

Bake the cake

Pour cake batter into the prepared pan at a height of 10 cm to break any air bubbles. Gently shake the pan to level the batter out. Don’t pour the cake batter that sticks to the spatula and bowl.

Next, pour warm water (around 60°C) to cover ¾ of the cake pan in water. Bake at 150°C for about 60 minutes until the cake is golden brown on top. A toothpick inserted should come out clean. If it is still wet, bake for another 5 to 10 minutes as needed.

Remove the water bath. Take off the foil. Then, leave the cake in the oven for another 5 minutes or so to dry up. Take the cake out of the oven and cool it on a wire rack for about 5 minutes.

Then carefully remove the cake from the pan and peel off the parchment.

THANK YOU FOR STOPPING BY
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If you make any of my recipes, I’d love to see pics of your creations
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