Chefkoch@Shanghai

These days I’m practicing to cook Japanese food for a change. While reading some cook books and searching the web for beginner recipes, I stumbled upon Maki-san’s highly recommended blog Justhungry.com. I especially liked her Kasutera (かすてら) recipe, a slightly sweet Japanese style sponge cake with a light honey flavor - A perfect match for afternoon tea.

Ingredients

Adapted for an 8-9 inch square pan or loaf pan

• 5 big eggs (鸡蛋)
• 180 g caster sugar (白沙糖)
• 125 g plain flour (面粉)
• 60 ml milk (牛奶)
• 3 tbs honey (蜂蜜)

Preparation

Maki-san already has perfect instructions for the preparation on her blog, so just follow her instructions. I’m just adding some general advise here:

• Whisking eggs and sugar over a pan of hot water is really important. The sugar crystals won’t completely dissolve otherwise.
• Whisk the batter for as long as you can. 15 minutes is the absolute minimum, 30 is better.
• For me the baking time of 50 minutes was too long. The Kasuera came out fine after about 40 minutes already, so better keep an eye on it
• Keep the cake refridgerated over night if possible. It will be much more moist and fluffy the next day.