A LOAF WE DESERVE: 蜂蜜蛋糕 Japanese Honey Cake

Some call it castella (カステラ.) But it seems that the original castella contains no honey. It's a kind of sponge cake made from eggs, flour, sugar, and syrup.

Whatever, we like honey cake. This homemade honey cake is made without emulsifier (sponge cake stabilizer.) I'm not in the mood to learn whether emulsifier is good for health or not. Just simply believe that the more natural it is, the better.

有些人說這種蛋糕是「卡斯特拉」（カステラ），但有些資料指出最原始的卡斯特拉蛋糕並沒有蜂蜜，長崎蛋糕也是來到台灣才變成蜂蜜蛋糕；原本的卡斯特拉蛋糕是用蛋、麵粉、糖、糖漿做成的海綿蛋糕。

不管怎樣，我們都喜歡蜂蜜蛋糕。這條自製的蜂蜜蛋糕不加 SP（乳化劑），我不想深入研究 SP到底對健康好不好，只是單純的覺得愈天然的食物應該愈好。

I tried once making delicate version of this cake in a soy milk carton. It is edible but not beautiful. This time I made a box from a small shipping box, just as the recipe calls for. And made this ordinary version. Our home was filled with aroma of honey when baking. (The original honey cake is baked in a wooden box to slow the heat conduction.)

This cake uses bread flour instead of cake flour, for its unique taste. It's dense but soft and moist. A little bit chewy.

And slicing it is not easy. Some say that it's better done with a damp knife, some say better not use a bread knife, and some say you should wipe the knife clean after each cut. In my case, I wiped the bread knife clean after each cut (and this made the knife damp,) and found it better with a little sawing motion.

之前我用豆漿盒試做過一次超細緻蜂蜜蛋糕，成果吃起來還不錯，但很醜。這次我用小紙箱做了一個 Carol的原食譜裡面所教的方形紙盒模子，做了這個一般版本的蜂蜜蛋糕。在烘烤的時候家裡充滿了蜂蜜的香氣。（正規做法上蜂蜜蛋糕要用木箱烘烤，以減慢熱的傳導速度。）

蜂蜜蛋糕很特別的是它用高筋麵粉，不是一般蛋糕用的低筋麵粉，就是為了那紮實有彈性、但又柔軟濕潤的特殊口感。

烤好放涼之後的切片並不是很容易，Carol老師說刀子要沾濕，周老師說不要用鋸齒麵包刀、每切完一刀都要把刀子擦乾淨。我最後是用麵包刀，每切一刀就擦乾淨，擦過的刀子也略沾了水氣，用一點前後鋸的動作會切得比較漂亮。

Original recipe: Carol Easy Life (in Chinese)

原始食譜：Carol自在生活

Japanese Honey Cake (20x20x8 cm box, lined with 2 layers of foil)

Ingredients:

eggs 6, at room temperature
sugar 150 g
milk, 2 tablespoons, warm at 105F
honey 60 g
bread flour 150 g (can be substituted with all-purpose flour)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 340F. Prepare a pot which is bigger than mixing bowl with water heated to 120F.
Mix honey with warm milk. Set aside.
Beat the eggs with sugar on high in a mixing bowl put in the warm water until the mixture reach 105F.
Keep beating on high until it starts to thicken. Gradually add 1/3 of honey milk, beat to combine. Repeat until all the honey milk is added.
Beat on high until the batter ribbons. Sift 1/2 of the flour into the batter. Beat on low for 30 seconds. Sift in the other 1/2 of flour and beat on low for 30 seconds to well combine.
Pour batter from a higher position to reduce big bubbles. When all the batter is poured in, use a chopstick or skewer to carefully run through the batter in a manner like writing letter S endlessly. Do it twice lengthwise and widthwise to even small bubbles.
Bake on middle-lower rack in the oven at 340F for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 305F and bake for another 45-50 minutes.
Cover the cake with high-temperature safe wrap or parchment paper, then invert the cake. Take the box off, leave the foil with inverted cake to completely cool before turning it back and slicing.
When the cake is completely cool, put it in an air-tight bag or container. It will tastes much better overnight!