Chinese paper wrapped sponge cake is similar to the Japanese castella cake in that they are both egg based cakes. The only difference besides the way that they are prepared and presented is that the Chinese sponge has milk and fat added to it whereas the Japanese castella remains fat free. I had a lot of these little sponge cakes growing up because it was one of mother deer’s favorite things to bake since it required few ingredients and wasn’t too difficult to put together. So today, I’m going to share mother deer’s paper wrapped sponge cake recipe with you all so you can experience a little piece of my childhood treat!
Chinese paper wrapped sponge cake recipe
Ingredients:
5 eggs at room temperature separated (make sure no yolks get in the whites or it won’t rise!)
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup bread flour sifted
1/4 cup milk of choice
1/4 cup coconut oil or butter melted
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Whisk away into the kitchen:
1. Prepare your sponge cake tins by lining them with paper liners. If you have tulip muffin liners feel free to use them, if you don’t, here’s how you make some of your own! If you don’t have these specialty muffin tins, feel free to use regular muffin tins (I’ve never tried making them this way but I assume that the only difference would be how they’re shaped).
2. Whisk your egg whites until they reach soft peaks. Then add in the cream of tartar (this helps stabilize the egg whites) and the sugar 1/3 of the time until the egg whites achieve stiff peaks.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the melted coconut oil/butter, vanilla and milk. Then stir in the flour and whisk in the egg yolks one at a time.
4. GENTLY AND CAREFULLY fold the yolk mixture into the egg white mixture with a rubber spatula 1/3 at a time.
5. Fill each cake tin 2/3 full and place them onto a baking sheet.
6. Bake at 350F for 20 – 25 minutes until golden and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle.
Tips and tricks
DOs:
- Use room temperature eggs to help promote cake rising
- Make sure that the two mixtures are fully incorporated to avoid patches of baked egg white in your cakes.
- Remove the cakes from their tins immediately or the cakes will become soggy and sticky because of the condensation/steam that gets trapped in the tins during the bake.
- Make sure you allow the cakes to fully cool before storing them in an air-tight container or the moisture from the cakes will get trapped and the tops will be come sticky.
DONTs:
- Pour egg yolks into piping hot melted coconut oil/butter or parts of the yolks will end up cooking
- Skimp out on whisking the egg whites! They must be at stiff peaks!
- Fold the yolk and white batters together roughly; this can lead to dense unrisen cakes
love this!