Taiwanese Pandan Castella Cotton/Sponge Cake

If you love the Taiwanese cotton-soft and bouncy castella cake, you have to try this recipe out. It is incredibly soft and fluffy and infused with an amazing pandan flavor. Step-by-step instructions and a video recipe are included.

What is a castella cake?

Japanese castella

Castella (or Kasutera) cake was first introduced to the Japanese by the Portuguese merchants. The cake was known as Pao De Castela (A bread from Castile). Over the years the Japanese have adapted it to suit their taste. The Japanese castella is made with only bread flour, sugar, eggs, water, and honey. Honey Castella is one of the most popular flavors. The texture is more custard-like.

Taiwanese castella

Castella cake was then introduced to the Taiwanese during the Japanese rule in Taiwan. Of course, the Taiwanese have also adapted it to suit their taste and that’s how it’s known as Taiwanese castella. The Taiwanese castella is more souffle-like. It is made with cake flour (low gluten flour) instead of bread flour. It’s cotton soft and bouncy.
I love how fluffy and soft yet bouncy the Taiwanese castella is (I can’t stop “bouncing” the cake in the video LOL)

The recipe rundown

1. Taste: It’s not overly sweet and has that distinctive egg aroma, which I love. If you don’t like eggy cake, then you may not enjoy it. It may sound bad when I said “eggy”, but it’s really not that kind of eggy you imagine 🙂 Besides, this has pandan flavor, so the pandan contributes to that good aroma too. You can add other flavors like vanilla, or lemon, or orange extract for example
2. Texture: Soft, fluffy, and bouncy. It makes me happy just looking at it 🙂
3. Ease: Intermediate
4. Pros: The ingredients for castella cake is not fussy. It uses common ingredients you most likely already have in your pantry. I prefer to use oil to make a cake (it’s healthier), so this recipe uses oil instead of butter
5. Cons: Getting the meringue right can be a bit tricky especially if you never work with sponge/chiffon cake before, but it’s not hard really. It takes a while to bake this Taiwanese castella cake, but the result is satisfying

Ingredients

1. Eggs
I used large egg, about 55 grams with the shell
2. Cake flour
To achieve the softness, you need the cake flour. If you use all-purpose flour, it won’t be as soft and fluffy
3. Oil
You can use any neutral-tasting oil. I use grapeseeds oil and sometimes avocado oil
4. Milk
You can replace this with pandan juice. I didn’t use pandan juice because I was out of pandan leaves and I just use store-bought pandan extract
5. Pandan extract
I use this pandan extract. They are not the best, but it’s what available where I am.
6. Sugar
I use granulated sugar (also known as white sugar, regular sugar). You can substitute the same amount with caster sugar, which is much finer than granulated sugar.

How to make a really good Taiwanese castella sponge cake

1. Set up a double boiler
Put some water in a saucepan and set a heat-proof bowl sitting on top of the saucepan. The water shouldn’t be touching the bottom of the bowl

Pour milk and oil and heat until the mixture is warm, but not boiling. Remove from the heat and wipe the bottom of the bowl

2. Prepare the cake batter
Sift in cake flour and salt into the milk mixture. It will be a thick mixture

Add the pandan extract

Then add the egg yolk one at a time. Set aside

3. Prepare the meringue
Beat egg whites on low speed until foamy, then add vinegar and continue beating for another minute and then increase the speed to medium (speed 6 on KA) and add sugar in 3-4 batches and continue to beat until you get a medium-soft peak. When you lift the meringue up with a whisk, the tail will bent. Do not overwhip the meringue

4. Fold the meringue into the cake batter
Add 1/3 of the meringue into the cake batter. Swipe down and fold over to combine

Then pour the batter into the meringue

Then swipe down and fold over to combine until you no longer see the white meringue. Try to work fast and not to overfold the meringue and deflating it


Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bang the cake pan on the countertop a few times to pop large air bubbles.

Place the cake pan inside the larger pan. Pour in hot water about 1 inch height

5. Bake the cake
Very carefully transfer the cake pan into the oven, 3rd rack from the top (middle of the oven) and bake for the next 1 hour 50 minutes to 2 hours. Took me 2 hours with my oven. You can start checking on the cake at about 1 hour 30 minutes mark. The cake should bounce back when you gently touch. It should be dry to touch. A cake tester should come out clean with maybe a few crumbs but it shouldn’t be wet

6. Cooling down
Remove from the oven and immediately and bang on the countertop a few times to minimize shrinkage. Then immediately lift the cake out from the cake pan very gently by grabbing on the parchment paper. Place on a cooling rack

Gently peel off the parchment paper on the side of the cake and let it cools down completely this way before cutting

7. Serve
Use a serrated knife to cut the cake so you won’t be squishing the cake. It has a very soft bouncy texture

Now the best part is of course slicing and eating it. We were blown away by how soft and fluffy the Taiwanese castella cake was. It was pretty amazing!

Tips to prevent cracks on sponge cake

1. Don’t overbeat the meringue
   Meringue should be medium-soft peak, the tail bends when you lift the whisk up. If you beat until firm, the surface of the cake cracks during baking
2. Bake at a low temperature in a water bath
   Baking at 300 F (150 C) in a hot water bath gives me a perfect cake without any crack on top. The key is to bake it low and slow. I have a convention oven (heat source from the bottom).  The cake doesn’t deflate much at all when I took it out of the oven
3. Lift the cake out of the pan immediately
   Once it is out from the oven, don’t leave the cake to cool down in the pan, this will cause the cake to shrink and also wrinkles on the surface

Sponge cake is dense and flat

There can be a few reasons:
1. The meringue
Please do not cut down on the amount of sugar. This cake is not overly sweet. The sugar is needed to give you nice glossy and sturdy meringue. Make sure you don’t overbeat the meringue too. Once you reach a stiff peak, stop.
2. Overfolding
When you fold the meringue into the batter, you may have overworked it and lose most of the air that makes this cake rise high and fluffy
2. Make sure the water you use for the water bath is hot
If the water is not hot enough, the bottom will form a dense layer because the batter slowly separates

How to store Taiwanese castella cake

Let the cake cools down completely. If you don’t plan to serve it on the same day, don’t slice it yet. Simply wrap it up in a cling wrap and put it in a cake container if you have one. When ready to serve, just slice into the desired size. The cake can be kept at room temperature for 3 days.

Did you make this incredibly soft Taiwanese castella sponge cake recipe?

I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!

Taiwanese Pandan Castella Cotton/Sponge Cake

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Servings 7 inch square cake (3-inch depth)

4.9 from 11 reviews

REVIEW & RATE PRINT

Ingredients

0.5x1x2x

US CustomaryMetric

To double boil:

• ▢ 80 gr oil
• ▢ 120 ml milk

Cake batter:

• ▢ 105 gr cake flour
• ▢ ¼ tsp salt
• ▢ 1 tsp pandan extract
• ▢ 6 egg yolks (room temperature)

Meringue:

• ▢ 6 egg whites (room temperature)
• ▢ 1 tsp vinegar
• ▢ 100 gr sugar (please don't cut down on sugar)

Instructions

 

Things to prepare before you get started:

• Preheat oven to 300 F (150 C) for conventional oven. If you use convection oven, lower the temperature by 20 degrees. Get the eggs out from the fridge for about 15 minutes, to let them come to room temperature
• Line your cake pan with parchment paper on the bottom and the sides. I used two parchment paper overlapping. So I can lift the cake out from the pan for cooling down later. If you use loose-bottom pan, double wrap the outside with aluminum foil to prevent water from sipping into the cake during baking
• We will bake the cake in a water bath. Get another larger pan so you can put the cake pan in for a water bath. Boil some water for the water bath

Set up double boiler (bain marie):

• Put some water in a saucepan and set a heat-proof bowl sitting on top of the saucepan. The water shouldn't be touching the bottom of the bowl. Pour milk and oil and heat until the mixture is warm, but not boiling. Remove from the heat and wipe the bottom of the bowl

Prepare cake batter:

• Sift in cake flour and salt into the milk mixture. It will be a thick mixture. Add the pandan extract and then add the egg yolk one at a time. Set aside

Prepare egg white meringue:

• Beat egg whites on low speed until foamy, then add vinegar and continue beating for another minute and then increase the speed to medium (speed 6 on KA) and add sugar in 3-4 batches and continue to beat until you get a medium-soft peak. When you lift the meringue up with a whisk, the tail will bent. Do not overwhip the meringue

Fold the meringue into the cake batter:

• Add 1/3 of the meringue into the cake batter. Swipe down and fold over to combine and then pour the batter into the meringue and then swipe down and fold over to combine until you no longer see the white meringue. Try to work fast and not to overfold the meringue and deflate it
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bang the cake pan on the countertop a few times to pop large air bubbles. Place the cake pan inside the larger pan. Pour in hot water about 1 inch height

Bake the cake:

• Very carefully transfer the cake pan and put it inside the larger pan with water that you prepared earlier. Bake for the next 1 hour 50 minutes to 2 hours. Took me 2 hours with my oven. You can start checking on the cake at about 1 hour 30 minutes mark. The cake should bounce back when you gently touch it. It should be dry to touch. A cake tester should come out clean with maybe a few crumbs but it shouldn't be wet

Cooling down:

• Remove from the oven and immediately and bang on the countertop a few times to minimize shrinkage. Then immediately lift the cake out from the cake pan very gently by grabbing on the parchment paper. Place on a cooling rack and gently peel off the parchment paper on the side of the cake and let it cools down completely this way before cutting. The cake will jiggle when you pat on it. It will stop jiggling once the cake has cooled down completely

Serve:

• Use a serrated knife to cut the cake so you won't squish down the cotton soft cake. The castella cake can be kept in room temperature for 3 days in an air-tight container

RECOMMEDED TOOLS

Kitchen Aid Standmixer

7 inch square cake pan

Parchment Paper

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