Taiwanese Castella Cake

This Taiwanese castella cake is moist and cottony-soft. It's delicate and subtly sweet, and makes for the perfect everyday cake.

📝 Ingredients

• 1 cup (125g) cake flour
• 1/2 cup (114g) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (125ml) milk
• 7 large egg yolks (room temperature)
• 1 Tbsp (15ml) vanilla extract
• 7 large egg whites (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Preheat oven to 300F. Boil a large kettle of water for the water bath. Line an 8" square pan with parchment paper with 2" excess on the sides.
2. 2Sift the flour into a large bowl and set aside.
3. 3In a small saucepan, heat the butter and milk until the butter is just melted, not boiling.
4. 4Pour the butter mixture over flour and whisk together until smooth. Then whisk in the egg yolks and vanilla.
5. 5In another large bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Continue beating and gradually add in the sugar until medium peaks form.
6. 6Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the egg yolk batter to lighten the mixture.
7. 7Pour the egg yolk batter into the meringue and gently fold until just combined and no yellow streaks remain.
8. 8Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan. Place the cake pan into a larger pan and fill the larger pan with 1" of hot water.
9. 9Bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
10. 10Remove from water bath and let cool completely before serving.