카스테라 - Sponge Cake

I remember growing up in Korea, loving this sponge cake. I would eat it whenever I could, and savour the taste of soft cake melting in my mouth, and wash it down with a gulp of cold milk.

When my family immigrated to Canada, I didn't know the translated name of this cake, and the sudden change in food and culture made me forget about this cake. It was when I got into highschool and discovered the existence of korean grocery market in Toronto, that I rediscovered this sponge cake.

Recently, I bought a stand mixer, and this was the first cake I baked. And I was so pleased at how easy it was to make this cake with the stand mixer. It was always the meringue that was so labour intensive, and time consuming, with all the beating of the egg whites that it requires. I always got sore arm from beating the egg whites into stiff consistency.

Now with the stand mixer, I can bake this cake and enjoy the cake with ease. Why did I not purchase this mixer earlier? And to make it even more convenient, I make this cake in the pressure rice cooker, and the cake turns out very soft and moist! The wonders of technology even extends into the kitchen and I am loving it!

If you don't have a rice cooker, you can use a cake pan and bake it in the oven, at 374F for 30-45 minutes. I put 30-45 minutes, because the cooking time can vary depending on how small or big your cake pan is. The thinner the cake, the shorter baking time it requires and vice versa. You'll know that the cake is ready when the top of the batter turns golden brown.

I like to enjoy the sponge cake plain with a cup of black coffee, but you can put icing sugar on top, or put some almond slices on top just before putting it in the oven.

Enjoy!


Ingredients
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flour 2 cups
sugar 1 cup
eggs 6, separated into white and yolk
milk 1 cups
baking powder 2 tsp
olive oil 1 cup (or butter)
vanilla extract 2 TBSP

Instructions
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1. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and baking power.

2. In a smaller bowl, whisk milk, egg yolk, olive oil together. If you have a mixer, whip this mixture in speed 6 until it turns creamy. Add vanilla extract and whip a little longer just to mix the vanilla into the mixture.

3. In a larger bowl, whisk egg whites and sugar, until a stiff peak forms when you take the beater out. If you have a stand mixer, beat the egg whites and sugar at whipping setting (speed 8) until the meringue turns stiff, and a peak forms when you take the whipper out of the bowl. This should take anywhere between 11-15 minutes. Make sure that the bowl is completely dry of any water or oil, otherwise the meringue will not turn stiff. Any drop of water or oil prevents the trapping of air bubbles during whipping.

3. Pour milk mixture from #2 into the bowl containing beated egg whites (#3), and mix well. Add the flour mixture (#1) into the bowl and mix well. Do not overmix, otherwise you run the risk of losing all the fluffiness of the mixture.

4. Add a coat of butter to the inside of the rice cooking bowl or a cake pan if you are using the oven. (I use butter flavour oil spray). If you are uisng a cake pan and an oven, it's also a good idea to line the inside of the cake pan with baking sheet (or parchment paper) to prevent the cake from sticking to the pan. Fold the paper and fit it over the inside of the cake pan like a glove. This cake is a light, fluffy cake so it can be difficult to separate the cake from the pan even if you coat the inside of the pan with butter.

5. Pour the complete mixture into the rice cooker bowl (or a cake pan).

6. Cook using the multi cook setting for 40 minutes. If you are using the oven, bake at 375F for 30-45 minutes.

7. When the cake is done, flip the rice cooker bowl upside down onto a cooling rack, and let cool.

8. Slice and serve with milk, coffee, or your favourite beverage.