Wobbly Taiwanese Castella Cake: The Hot Flour Secret | Chef Luigi’s Recipe

📘 The Home Pastry School, my ebook with 90 Italian and international desserts, explained one detail at a time, including a sheet genoise, an everyday vanilla milk cake and Japanese soufflé pancakes: https://luigimutti.com Taiwanese castella, maybe the softest cake in the world, the one that wobbles like a pillow. Five ingredients, and a strange first step: hot butter poured onto the flour. Today I take you through five checkpoints: the hot flour, a meringue with a bent peak, a gentle fold, a slow bake in a water bath, and the drop that saves the shape. Plus why this cake shares its name with our Italian pan di Spagna. Ingredients (7 in / 18 cm square pan) 100 g cake flour (or all-purpose) 100 g unsalted butter 100 g milk 6 egg yolks 1 tsp vanilla extract 6 egg whites, cold 100 g sugar Bake in a water bath at 150°C / 300°F for about 60 minutes. Smaller version (6 in / 15 cm square or 7 in / 18 cm round): 4 eggs and 65 g each of flour, butter, milk and sugar, 50–55 minutes. #castella #taiwanesecastella #spongecake #softcake #italianchef