Hello Castella!

My husband and I went to New Malden last Saturday, to check out the little Korean town in London.  (which I will write a bit more later).  We went to a Korean supermarket (it was huge!) and saw some Castella cakes (蜂蜜蛋糕) by the till - it looks so fluffy and suddenly my inspiration came - that's what on the baking itinerary for the weekend!

After browsing a few recipes online, I decided to go after Just One Cook Book's recipe - very detailed explained and the reviews were great.

The first cake was a little too sweet, but is super moist and soft.

The first batch was done on Saturday night, in the 'original' honey flavour.  But after my husband and  I tasted it, we think we might need to cut a bit on the sugar level.  So the recipe below is the 'updated' version, for the one just came out the fridge Tuesday morning.  And that is a 'Pandan' version.

Pandan Castella Honey Cake (1 pound loaf)

Ingredients

3 large eggs (chilled in room temperature for 24 hours)

90g sugar

100g bread flour

1 tbsp honey (2 tbsp honey if making original flavour)

1 tbsp warm water

2 tbsp Pandan extract (omit it for original flavour)

1 1/2 tbsp coconut milk (omit it for original flavour)

extra honey for glazing:  1 tbsp honey + 1/2 tbsp warm water

First of all, line a 1 pound cake tin with baking paper.  Use melted butter to adhere the all sides.

Line the cake tin with parchment paper

Preheat oven at 160C

Sift the bread flour twice, so it is super smooth with no lumps.  In a small bowl, combine 2 tbsp of honey with 1 tbsp warm water.

In a large bowl, use an electric whisk in medium speed to whisk the eggs until frothy.  Slowly add in the sugar and increase speed to high, keep whisking for about 5 minutes - until the egg batter is thick in texture, pale yellow in colour.  It will be 4 times bigger before it was whisked and leave a ribbon trail when you lift up the whisk.

Egg batter is ready when it looks pale yellow and leaves a ribbon trail when the whisk is up

Add honey and whisk in low speed until just combined.  Then whisk in pandan extract and coconut milk also in low speed.  

Whisk in honey, pandan and coconut milk - just until combined

In 3 addition, add in the bread flour, each whisk for 15 seconds in low speed.

Now pour the batter into the lined tin, run a stick through the batter to lead out any large air bubbles.  After that, jingle the tin against the counter, this will bring out more air bubbles from the batter and leave a very smooth texture for the cake.

2 steps to bring out air bubbles - run a stick along, then jingle it against the counter

Bake for 40 mins until it is fully set, and it should have a bouncy, fluffy texture when you touch it.

Remove from the oven, and spread on top with the honey glazing.  Then place a large piece of cling film on the counter, remove the cake and turn it upside down onto the cling film.

Wrap it tightly and put it in the fridge immediately to retain the moisture inside the cake.   It is ready to be served after sitting in the fridge over night (upside down!).

Turn it upside down and wrap with cling film.  

I had it this morning for breakfast, is so good to pair with fresh coffee!

Muffins Quartet

And breakfast is served!

Was brainstorming for breakfast ideas for my husbands and his team at work, a lot of them are having their new year resolution:: get fit after all those food fest over Christmas and New Year.  Humm... what could I bake to tempt them to dig in?

Here is the answer:  make the muffins light!  I got this blueberry muffin recipe from inspiredtaste and gave a little twist on the sugar level + add on ingredients.

One flavour to serve is a bit too boring, that's why I made 4 choices for them.

Below is the recipe - feel free to try some other flavours!

Muffins - make 16pcs

Ingredients

200g flour
80g granulated sugar
80g brown sugar
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
60 ml vegetable oil
2 large egg
160ml semi-skimmed milk

Preheat oven at 200C.

In a large bowl mix well flour, sugar, baking powder and salt by a fork.

Pour vegetable oil into a measuring jug than add in the egg.  Afterwards, pour in the milk until it reaches to 2 cup.  Mix well.

Now make a hole in the flour mixture, and pour in the oil mixture.  Combine carefully with a fork and that makes the basic muffin batter.

Now, separate the batter into 4 medium sized bowls, and add in the different flavours separately.
It should be quite dry and thick in texture, if it is too wet, add a bit more flour and more milk if too dry.

Below is the variations of the 4 flavours I made:

Very Berry Muffin

2 fresh strawberries, chopped
6 fresh raspberries, chopped
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1 1/2 tbsp raspberry jam
1 1/2 tbsp rolled oat
*On muffin top: small pieces of berries and sprinkle with a handful of white sugar

Seedy Morning

1 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1/2 lemon peel
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp rolled oat
*On muffin top:  sprinkle a handful of poppy, sunflower seeds and lemon peel

Cinnamon

1 tbsp Cinnamon powder
1/4 cup dried blueberries
1 tbsp honey
*On muffin top: sift in a handful of cinnamon powder, sprinkle with white sugar and dried blueberries

Oh! Coco!

1/4 dark chocolate chips
2 tbsp cocoa powder
*On muffin top, put small chunks of dark and white chocolate

Add the toppings before putting in the oven!

Pour in the batter in a lined muffin tray, bake for 20 mins.

Grind a little white chocolate on top as a finishing touch.

My husband took the box to work this morning, and told me they were all sold out by 10am!

Not too bad?