Which Japanese Castella Cake Should You Buy From Tokyo?

It's nothing like the Taiwan-style castella common in Singapore

Unlike the feathery, fluffy texture of Taiwan’s castella (which is prepared almost like a chiffon cake), the Japanese castella — introduced by Portuguese merchants to Japan around the 16th century and adapted by perfectionist Nippon bakers — is soft but tighter crumbed, more sturdy, dense and bouncy thanks to its interesting use of higher gluten bread flour. It contains no dairy (milk didn’t feature in the Japanese diet back then). It’s also sweeter and stickier as it’s baked with a Japanese starch syrup called mizuame, made from malt and rice — it adds much needed moisture to the oil-free cake. Some castella cakes are also brushed with honey. 


Selected photos: Florence Fong

So few ingredients yet difficult to get right

This sponge is tricky to master as it contains no oil, butter or leavening agents — just bread flour, syrup, sugar and enthusiastically whipped eggs to lend volume and structure. It’s traditionally baked in a wooden box instead of a tin for gentler heat distribution so it doesn’t dry out before it’s cooked. The cake is then covered in plastic and chilled as soon as it’s out of the oven so the trapped steam moistens the sponge.

Why the moniker? While the original recipe came from the Spanish kingdom of Castile (hence christened Pão de Castela; bread from Castile), it was the Portuguese who later introduced the dessert to Japan while trading at the southern port city of Nagasaki, the only port in Japan open to foreigners in the 16th century. As usual, Japanese bakers refined the recipe and turned it into a gastronomic masterpiece.

What makes fab kasutera?

A good Japanese-style castella cake is delightfully springy, slightly gooey, with deeply eggy notes and an immaculate, caramelised dark crust. All achieved with a few simple ingredients and prodigious skill. It’s almost Zen-like in its beautiful simplicity — which is why the Japanese adore it.

So many confusing options to choose from

Okay, so now you know why the seemingly plain (but so complex and delicious) Japanese castella cake is worth buying home as a souvenir. However, with so many brands in Tokyo, which one should you get? It doesn't help that the various castella shops usually don't provide any tasting samples. And you can't possibly buy them all since each preservative-free loaf has a maximum shelf life of only a week (usually less).

Also, even after you zero in on a castella brand you fancy, things remain confusing. There are at least two, up to even four types of castella cakes sold per shop. And most of them appear to be of the same golden-brown hue with the same eggy flavour, only differentiated by price due to the various baking methods and ingredients used. However, unless you’re fluent in Japanese or if the shop assistant is proficient in English, good luck with telling what’s what.

So, what's a clueless foodie with limited luggage space to do? We made a few educated guesses while castella shopping in Tokyo and chose these four loaves. Here’s our verdict.

NAGASAKI CASTELLA, FUKUSAYA

Price: 1188 yen (S$14) for 600g; 1890 yen (S$23) for 1kg

The entry-level signature loaf from Fukusaya

Fukusaya Castella opened its first bakery in Nagasaki in 1624. According to its website, its founder “learned the secrets of making castella from a Portuguese visitor, and over the years it has evolved into a Japanese treat representing a perfect fusion of Eastern and Western cultures”. This cake is the brand’s signature offering. It’s handmade with “carefully selected eggs, sugar, thick rice syrup and flour”. The pre-sliced loaf looks so perfect it’s almost like toy food: bathed in a golden glow, fine, perfectly even, tight crumbs, and the signature sultry dark brown of a kasutera’s crust.

We loved this the first time we tried it when a friend bought us the 1kg loaf as a gift (wrapped in adorable bright yellow paper) last year. It had a lightly bouncy texture and an alluring stickiness from the rice syrup. It was sweet but not cloyingly so, and perfumed with the gentle fragrance of eggs. However, during this trip, we bought the smaller 600g cake. Somehow, this one was a touch dryer and less luscious than we remember it to be. Also, skip the insipid "Hollander" option, tinged with a barely-there hint of cocoa and topped with walnuts and, ugh, raisins.  

Available at various department stores in Tokyo, including Isetan Daimaru Tokyo and Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi. Visit www.fukusaya.co.jp/store/east.html#tokyo for more info.

SPECIAL GOSAN-YAKI CASTELLA, FUKUSAYA (8 DAYS PICK!)

Price: 2916 yen (S$35) for 1kg

Fukusaya's premium castella (right in pic)

Judging from the steeper price tag and classier origami-style box it’s housed in, this is Fukusaya’s more premium castella offering. What exactly makes it more special? “Old-style, handmade”, explains the sweet-faced shop girl in halting English. Luckily, the brand has a website in English, so it explains, albeit cryptically that “the unique flavour and fragrance of castella are richer than ever in this special cake. Handmade by master bakers, it is a unique Fukusaya creation that cannot be mass-produced. Sure to delight people who insist on the real thing.” Colour us confused since the entry-level castella here is also handmade, but perhaps not by “master bakers”.

Upon unravelling this beauty from its elaborate packaging, it instantly appears more rustic than the cheaper one (left in pic). The crumbs are coarser and less flawless, with a handmade quality to it. The crust is also a shade darker. However, one bite and the difference in quality is obvious. There’s a magnificent dampness to this loaf, as if it were brushed with a hint of what seems like honey — or maybe just better quality rice syrup. The crust has a pleasant suggestion of caramel and the sponge's trademark springy chewiness is even more pronounced here. Way more luscious than the basic version — spend your money on this instead.   

Crunchy bottom 

Another hallmark of a traditional Japanese castella cake is the coarse, crunchy sugar crystals on its bottom crust. This is done by sprinkling rough grains of sugar in the baking tray before pouring the batter in. And this premium loaf has plenty of it. Personally, we don’t need the extra sweetness, but guess you can't mess with tradition. 

Basic (left) vs premium (right) castella from Fukusaya

Available at various department stores in Tokyo, including Isetan Daimaru Tokyo and Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi. Visit www.fukusaya.co.jp/store/east.html#tokyo for more info.

CASTELLA CAKE, QUOLOFUNE (8 DAYS PICK!)

 
Price: 378 yen (S$4.60) a single serving; 1404 yen (S$17) a larger block 

Think of this as a cross between a chiffon cake and a Japanese-style castella. It’s not a true kasutera as it contains milk and cream. Quolofune, after all, styles itself as a contemporary cake brand compared to the other more old-school castella bakeries. It was established in 2003 in Osaka, and is owned by confectionary brand Nagasakido that was founded in 1919 in Nagasaki. This signature sponge cake is made with fresh eggs from Iwate Prefecture, domestic sugar, flour and has no additives.  

Photo: Quolofune

Quolofune's signature cake is puffier than old-school kasutera

It's paler and airier than its kasutera brethren. This one comes conveniently packed in petite portions called the “Bebe”, about a quarter the size of the regular block — great for a snack on the plane ride home. It’s the only castella in this lineup that's unsliced and simply wrapped in minimalist waxed paper instead of a fancy box. Truthfully, we thought it was a tasty but unmemorable fluffy sponge cake when we nibbled on a sample at the supermarket (Quolofune was the only castella brand we came across that provided samples). However, the hunk we bought home and ate days later tasted mysteriously more delicious. The cake is tall and feathery, infused with a light eggy aroma and creaminess, its crust faintly dewy and sticky. It’s less sugary and dense than the other cakes on this list, which may appeal to more Singaporean palates.

Available at various department stores in Tokyo, including Matsuya Ginza, or 1-24-11 Jiyugaoka (this branch boasts a chic café). Visit www.quolofune.com/en for more info.

Photo: Quolofune

Quolofune's full-sized version

Photo: Quolofune

Light and easy to pack

But you'll have to pay extra if you want it packed in a sturdy box. We simply hand-carried this loaf wrapped in Quolofune's signature waxed paper.  

Quolofune sells a sweeter, more traditional version too  

Aside from its “No.1 selling” fluffy castella sponge, the brand also offers a pricier version made with what seems like honey. It's packed in a sleek black box. We didn’t have enough luggage space to buy this too, so it'll have to wait till our next trip.

ORIGINAL CASTELLA, BUNMEIDO

Price: 675 yen (S$8) a half-sized block (pictured); 1350 yen (S$16) a regular block with 10 slices 

 

Photo: Bunmeido

Bunmeido's signature offering

Bunmeido, founded in 1900 in Nagasaki, is arguably one of the most, if not the most, ubiquitous castella brands in Japan. It was purportedly the first company to popularise castella cake in the country and make it a common teatime treat because of its famous TV commercial in 1962. It also offers several tiers of castella (including a matcha flavour), but we got the basic one. All its cakes are said to be handmade and sprinkled with coarse tokushima wasanbon sugar at the base, supposedly a more complex-tasting Japanese sugar. Ironically, we liked this bake the least. It was quite dry, rougher-textured and lacked the full-bodied lushness of the other options.

Available at 1-13-7, Nihonbashi Muromachi, or various malls like Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi. Visit www.bunmeido.co.jp/shop/list.php for more info.

Photo: Bunmeido

BOTTOM LINE

Get the "special gosan-yaki castella" from Fukusaya for a taste of truly authentic Japanese kasutera. If you prefer a lighter middle ground option — Quolofune's elegant, pillowy castella is worth the calories, too.  

Buying tips

Castella cakes have a short shelf life and taste best fresh — so if you're bringing them home, try to buy them on the day of your departure. Store leftovers in an airtight container and finish asap (it tends to dry out over time). Otherwise, wrap it up and freeze. Defrost at room temperature before eating.

Photo: Quolofune