Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease the baking pan and then line the bottom and sides with parchment paper.

Sprinkle the sanding sugar at the bottom of the mold.

Sift the bread flour with salt and set aside. It will aerate the flour while removing the lumps making it easier to mix into the batter at a later step.

Put the eggs in a large bowl. Place it over a deep tray with warm water (around 40C). Beat the eggs for about one minute at low speed. You can do this using a hand or stand mixer with a whip attachment.

Then increase the speed to medium-high and add sugar in 3 batches, about 1-minute intervals each time.

Beat until the mixture is tripled or even quadrupled in volume. This may take about 10 minutes or so if using a hand mixer.

It is very important to beat the eggs to the “ribbon stage”. You can test the consistency by lifting some of the batter with the whisk and the batter should drop down in the trail and remain visible before disappearing into the batter.

Mix the honey with warm water. Add the honey mixture to the egg mixture and whip on low speed until combined about 20 seconds or so.

First, sieve 1/3 of the flour into the batter and mix over low speed. You can incorporate the flour either with the mixer or manually. If you use the mixer, make sure to beat on low speed until just combined, about 20 seconds or so. Do not overmix.

Then add the next 1/3 and then the remaining flour and continue mixing. The flour may not be thoroughly combined and you will still see some on the side of the mixing bowl. Don’t beat them until they are combined.

Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula to ensure all the flour has incorporated evenly with the batter. Once it is smooth without lumps, stop mixing as over mix will deflate the batter causing the cake to have a dense texture.

Pour the batter into the pan from a high point above the base. It should be only about 3/4 full to let the cake have enough space to rise in the oven. Tap the pan on the counter 3-4 times to break the air bubbles. Use a skewer or toothpick to draw a zigzag to pop any smaller bubbles inside the batter.

Put the pan in a preheated oven, middle rack. First, lower the temperature to 180C and bake for 10 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 160 C. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes or until the cake is no longer jiggly and the top is dry to the touch and feels bouncy. If you are not sure if it is cooked or not, insert a wooden skewer from the side to the center, and no undercooked batter is sticking to the skewer, it’s done.

Remove from the oven and drop the pan on the counter 2-3 times to minimize shrinkage. Spread a parchment paper on a counter. Brush some oil on the parchment paper. Flip the cake upside down on top of it. (Trim off excess parchment paper that extends up so it won’t ruin the surface of the cake when you flip it over later) Remove the loaf pan and let the cake cool down for about one hour. When you leave it with the top facing down, it will become flat due to its weight.

Once it has cooled down, wrap it in plastic wrap (If you don’t want the plastic to touch the cake directly, do not peel the parchment paper off the cake) to prevent it from drying out. Leave it in a cool place at room temperature or the fridge for 1 day or so.

Carefully remove the plastic wrap and parchment. Trim the browned sides and slice with a serrated knife to serve. Wipe the knife with a damp cloth after each use.