Matcha castella with raspberries
Castella (カステラ) is a Japanese dessert similar to sponge cake that derives from the Portuguese pão de Castela, "bread of Castile". In fact, it was the Portuguese who introduced it to Japan during the 16th century. Over time it has become a very common sweet, often eaten together with green tea.
The recipe that I propose is that of the classic castella cake with the addition of green tea and raspberries. You can make it without raspberries and green tea, although an excellent variant is the one with matcha tea.
INGREDIENTS
-100 g of flour
- 3 whole eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 200 g of sugar
- 2 spoons of honey
- 1 1/2 tbsp powdered green tea or matcha tea
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- About 10 raspberries
PREPARATION
- Beat the eggs with the yolk using an electric mixer for 5 minutes. Combine all the sugar and whisk for another 5 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, dissolve the honey with a couple of tablespoons of hot water. Add to the eggs and sugar and continue beating.
- Mix the flour with the green green tea powder. Sift half of it into the mixture. Whip for a couple of minutes and add the second and last portion of flour and tea. Beat until the dough is uniform.
- Line a plum cake pan with baking paper. Arrange the raspberries along the edge. Dust the bottom of the pan with brown sugar. Pour the mixture. Tap the pan on the work surface to get rid of any air bubbles.
- Place the tray in a pre-heated oven at 180°C and cook for 5 minutes.
- After 5 minutes, spray the surface of the cake with plain water: this will prevent the formation of bubbles. Close the oven and cook for another 5 minutes, then spray the surface with water again. Place the tray on the lowest level of the oven and reduce the temperature to 150°C. Cook for 30 minutes.
- Turn off the oven without opening it: the cake must rest warm for 5 minutes.
- Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan at room temperature.
- Once cooled, remove it from the pan keeping it in the baking paper.
- Wrap the cake with phono paper in transparent film and keep it in the refrigerator overnight, keeping it upside down.
- The next day, remove the transparent film and the baking paper. Finely trim all edges of the cake.
