Comments on: Castella Cake – How to make (with detailed instruction)

By: Miro

Miro — Sat, 06 May 2023 19:18:55 +0000

I followed it with a minor modification; I added the zest of a lemon to eliminate eggy flavour. It reduced it but didn’t eliminate it. That said, I had no shrinkage. I don’t think it had to do with the lemon. I think it’s your pan. It looks like a loaf height on an 8×8. I used a regular 8×8 with parchment liner. No cardboard no water bath. When I took it out, I immediately flipped it on to a bamboo chopping board and left the baking pan on the board as a cover.

By: Edith

Edith — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 07:35:18 +0000

Very detailed recipe, tried and it came out perfect. Thanks for the good work. My family loved it so much.

By: Jocelyn Loke

Jocelyn Loke — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 15:37:09 +0000

In reply to Amanda. @Amanda, Hi, may I know by changing it to hot water bath baking, do I need to adjust the baking time and oven temperature from the original recipe? Thanks.

By: KP Kwan

KP Kwan — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 00:41:40 +0000

In reply to Christine. I never tried to make such a small one, but the principle is the same. Generally, I will use higher heat and shorter time for smaller cakes. I like to know the result too.

By: Christine

Christine — Sun, 25 Apr 2021 20:34:13 +0000

In reply to KP Kwan.

Hello KP!
Thanks for sharing your experience and tips. Thanks to the readers who shared inputs as well. It saves valuable time from making the same mistakes. Anyways, I want to ask if the same recipe can be used in making small or baby castella cakes using Takoyaki mold?
Thank you.

By: KP Kwan

KP Kwan — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 06:44:30 +0000

In reply to Amanda. Thank you for trying the recipe and sharing your experience using the water bath. I hope other readers will read this and benefit from it too.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 01:20:08 +0000

wow this recipe came out perfectly for me 🙂 I’ve tried and failed to make egg-white based dishes for years but this one actually came out! banging on the countertop was a great tip. There was some shrinkage after it came out, but minimal overall.

I didn’t have the time to make the cardboard insulation or get one of those wooden dishes so I baked it in the water bath. The recipe reminds me somewhat of the “japanese cheesecake” or chiffon cake which often bakes in a water bath, and my theory was that it would similarly accomplish what it needed to with this recipe. Theory proven correct! you can bake the pan in a cookie sheet filled with hot water (set empty tray in oven, heat up water in microwave, pour hot water in cooke sheet, give it 5 minutes to come up to a high temp).

By: KP Kwan

KP Kwan — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 05:52:58 +0000

In reply to Pham Le.

Hi Pham,
Thank you so much for your generous sharing of your experience. I hope all the readers here will read your comment.
Thanks.
KP Kwan

By: Pham Le

Pham Le — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 03:07:46 +0000

Hi KP Kwan,
Thank you very much for such good and detail instructions. I think the slamming tip does keep the cake from over shrinking. I baked this cake once couple weeks ago follow another recipe and would like to contribute some small tips in the final steps in hope that it would be helpful for everyone here.
Just after removed from the oven, brush the surface with a honey wash (a little honey dissolve in warm water). Then immediately flip the cake upside down onto a nylon film, wrap it tightly while it still hot and place it in the fridge upside down at least 8-12 hours before serving. The heat trapped inside the nylon wrap will keep the cake moist, the honey wash not only give the cake surface a really nice deep brown color, but also protect the surface from the nylon film. Lastly, the upside down placing will keep the cake from being too dense at the bottom. They called this the “cake aging procedure” and said that the cake would definitely taste a lot better after aging.
Hope those would contribute some nice tips to our bakers community here. : )

By: KP Kwan

KP Kwan — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 01:26:33 +0000

In reply to Mei. All the best!