JAPANESE COTTON SPONGE CAKE

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I’ve been slacking on my spongecakes. Although late at night, you will find me coveting different spongecake videos on social media; I’m quite lazy when it comes to making them. To be honest, cotton sponge cakes are the easiest or should be the easiest to make. This is because most sponge cakes are ready with a few steps and ingredients. But there is a thin, mostly ignored hustle when it comes to gaining up the energy to make them, one which I cannot point out; maybe it’s just me! I attribute it to the wait time, especially with this Japanese cotton sponge cake; which takes a while to bake but every jiggle, fluff and sweet vanilla cotton explosion makes it worth it! You know what they say about good things and wait.

I’ve made this Japanese cotton sponge cake quite a number of times, a predecessor to the (cream cheese version). Although made very similar to the standard sponge cake; there is always the jiggle and soft cotton texture which is so addicting. It should not be, baked crispy dry (besides the top part ) like a standard sponge cake. No- no, but soft, fluffy like cotton; a tad bit dense than a standard sponge with a jiggle.

And so while I’m set in the kitchen retesting my recipe for the second, third, not gonna say it a number of times, I’m hoping for a more reasonable result this time. Exhausted and glad about the outcome, glad because I finally got the hinge of it, exhausted because of the number of times I’ve retested this recipe for minuscule reasons.

What is the difference between a sponge cake and the Japanese Cotton Sponge Cake?

As the name suggests, a Japanese cotton sponge cake originates and is popular in Japan and Korea. It is a chiffon sponge cake on its own, light, moist and very soft with a slight jiggle. This is due to a number of reasons; from the ratios of the ingredients and primarily the baking method. While a normal sponge cake is mixed and baked dry, a Japanese cotton sponge cake has enough wet ingredients with plenty of eggs which makes it moist. In addition, it is also baked using the bain-marie, like flan (in a water bath) method which bakes slowly and evenly while remaining soft and moist.

A predecessor to the Japanese Cream Cheese Sponge Cake

This cotton sponge cake is baked quite similarly to the cotton cheesecake with one ingredient addition; cream cheese which is mixed in the egg yolk mixture.

Tips For Fluffy and Jiggly Japanese Cotton Sponge Cake

All about the eggs. The base of every sponge cake including this one is the meringue. The meringue should be stable, which later defines the structure and stability of the sponge cake. To successfully make a stable meringue;

1. Make sure the eggs are fresh.
2. Adequately separate the egg white from the yolks.
3. Whip in a clean bowl. Grease, usually present in plastic bowls or unclean whisks can hinder a stable meringue from developing. I recommend using a stainless steel or glass bowl when whipping the egg whites since they are easily clean and grease-free.

Remember to add flavour! Japanese cotton sponge cake batter uses plenty of eggs. This, in turn, can make the sponge cake taste somewhat eggy; to counteract this I recommend using plenty of vanilla; the good kind, please!

You do not need baking powder. The structure and texture of the cotton sponge cake as with any sponge cake depends mostly on the meringue.

Less flour is key. The primal structure of a jiggly Japanese sponge cake is the egg mixture in combination with a small amount of cake flour; (low gluten flour) in the cake batter.

Watch out for the gluten. The more you mix the cake batter the more the gluten is developed therefore, do not overmix.

Bake it slowly in a water bath. Slowly and longer, in a steamed oven will inhibit dry baking yielding a moist, jiggly sponge cake.

How To Make A Jiggly Japanese Cotton Sponge Cake

Mise en place.

Gather all the ingredients you will need for the sponge cake. All mixing bowls, whisks, and spatulas should be clean. Grease, yolk or other food particles may be present in the equipment and can inhibit a stable meringue from forming, which is the base for a sponge cake.

Preheat the oven, prepare the baking dish and boil the water.

Preheat the oven to 160C. Boil water that will be used in the oven for baking and set aside. The baking pan should be completely lined with parchment paper. I like to leave extra parchment paper above the baking pan, just in case the cake puffs above the baking pan.

Wrap the baking pan with aluminium foil around the bottom, especially if the pan has space at the bottom or is detachable such that water might seep in during baking

Mix the egg yolk mixture.

In a medium-sized bowl, thoroughly mix the egg yolks, then add milk, oil and paste of vanilla and mix. Add sifted flour and mix thoroughly to a smooth paste.

Make the egg white ( meringue) mixture.

In a separate mixing bowl, mix egg whites, castor sugar and a bit of lemon juice; whip on medium speed using a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. (You will know it’s ready when it’s stiff such that when you turn the bowl, the mixture does not fall out but remains stiff inside the bowl.)

Fold with the rest of the ingredients.

Very gently fold the egg-white mixture with the egg-yolk mixture. Start by gradually scooping the egg white mixture (meringue) into the egg yolk mixture and gently folding using a hand spatula. Be careful not to overmix at this point otherwise, you will completely deflate the meringue and the cake might come out dense. In the picture below you should observe traces of unmixed meringue which should be fine; as I said the meringue is responsible for the structure of the cake. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and tap the pan 2-3 times on the countertop or gently run a skewer throughout the batter to release large air bubbles trapped in the cake batter.

Bake.

In a larger slightly deep baking tray pour in the boiled water which should be warm at the time. Put the baking pan inside the baking tray with water such that the water reaches up to 1/4 level of the cake baking pan. (Please note that if you are using a pan with a detachable base the water might seep in during baking. If so, to avoid this, cover the outside of your pan with aluminium foil to prevent the water from seeping in). Bake in a preheated oven at 160C for 1 hr 20 minutes.

Serve

After removing the cake from the oven, it should slightly shrink down which should be fine. Set it aside and let it cool for about 10 minutes then overturn it on a wire rack and let it completely cool before cutting with a sharp knife.

RECIPE FAQS

Can I bake Japanese sponge cake without a water bath?

Yes, you can, but the texture will be different. Picture this, the purpose of the water bath is to bake the cake slowly while providing steam in the oven resulting in a moist, jiggly cake. Therefore, without the water bath, the cake will bake fast and will turn out a bit dry and stiff compared to a cake baked with the water bath. Note that; if you decide to forgo the water bath, the cake should bake pretty quickly compared to the time it takes to bake with a water bath.

Why does my Japanese sponge cake taste eggy?

The sponge cake is baked with plenty of eggs which can make it taste eggy, especially. To avoid this, add plenty of flavouring to the cake batter when mixing the egg yolk mixture. Although most times I’m tempted to drown it with vanilla extract this could alter the ingredient ratios, This is why I prefer vanilla paste and I use it plenty. However, if you have strong good quality vanilla extract, then you can also use it.

Do I need to wrap my baking pan with aluminium foil when baking a Japanese sponge cake?

The purpose of the aluminium foil is to prevent water from seeping into the cake during baking. If your baking pan is not detachable or does not have any space around the edges or at the bottom then there is no need to use foil. However, if the pan is detachable or has free at the bottom or around the edges then you must use aluminium foil for success.

Different Flavour Variations For Japanese Cotton Sponge Cake

• Macha-flavoured cotton sponge cake
• Coffee cotton sponge cake
• Chocolate sponge cake
• Cotton orange sponge cake
• Cream cheese cotton sponge cake

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