DISH RESEARCH · Dish
Nagasaki Castella
Also known as: カステラ
Nagasaki-style honey sponge cake with a moist, fine and springy crumb.
About Nagasaki Castella
Castella, or kasutera, is a Japanese sponge cake closely associated with Nagasaki and the city's historic Portuguese links. This profile follows Namiko Hirasawa Chen's Japanese honey castella, using bread flour for its characteristically elastic crumb.
Honey gives the cake a mellow floral sweetness, while eggs and sugar provide its rich, clean sponge-cake flavour. A small layer of coarse sparkling sugar beneath the batter adds occasional concentrated sweetness at the base.
The loaf has a smooth golden-brown top and a pale yellow, fine-grained interior. It is moist and dense for a sponge cake, yet soft, springy and gently chewy rather than airy or crumbly.
Allergens in this recipe
Contains: Wheat, Egg.
Other allergen details are unconfirmed.
Ingredients vary by restaurant. Confirm your allergens with staff before ordering.
Ingredients in Nagasaki Castella
Namiko Hirasawa Chen's Japanese Castella Cake.
- WaterHoney-mixture liquid
- HoneyMellow sweetness and moisture
- Bread flourElastic sponge structure
- EggsWhipped sponge base
- SugarBatter sweetness and coarse base sugar
Ingredient details & uncertainties
Allergen information is incomplete. Unconfirmed details do not establish that an allergen is absent.
- Water:
- Honey:
- Bread flour: . Ordinary wheat bread flour confirms Wheat
- Eggs:
- Sugar: . The recipe uses granulated sugar in the batter and white sparkling or zarame coarse sugar beneath it; both are consolidated under the established sugar record
Origins & food traditions
Japanese recipe author Namiko Hirasawa Chen identifies castella as a moist, bouncy Japanese honey sponge and specifies bread flour for its elastic texture; the Japan National Tourism Organization independently identifies castella as a Nagasaki confection shaped by Portuguese contact and traditionally made from flour, sugar and eggs. Handed-down Portuguese influence is described without claiming that the modern Japanese cake is unchanged from an original recipe.
Countries
- Japan
- JapanCatalogue link pending review
Cuisines & regions
- Japanese Cuisine
- Nagasaki Cuisine
- Kyushu CuisineCatalogue link pending review
AI-generated illustration of one possible presentation. Recipes and ingredients vary; the image does not establish allergen content.