Vanilla Pudding (store bought or homemade, recipe below)
Castella Cake (homemade or store bought, recipe below)
Whipped Cream (300 ml heavy cream, 40 g white granulated sugar)
1. Create a layer of castella, then fill the sides with half cut strawberries. Then dice some strawberries, enough to create a whole new layer.
2. Top with the pudding, then add another layer of castella. You can add strawberries again but I didn’t.
3. Add your whipped cream and top with whole strawberries. Serve and enjoy!
1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 tablespoons corn starch (I used 7 tsp of arrowroot flour)
In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups of half and half to a simmer (do not boil). Add both sugars and vanilla. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring constantly to prevent scalding. Stir in the butter until melted. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining half and half with the cornstarch. Slowly add the cornstarch mixture to the half and half whisking constantly. Continue cooking until the mixture has thickened and coats the back of a spoon. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap being sure the plastic wrap is touching the top of the pudding. (This will prevent a skin from forming.) Refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
6 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell) (at room temperature - very important!)
200 g bread flour (1 ½ cup + 2 ½ Tbsp) (See Notes)
80 ml honey (⅓ cup; 5 Tbsp)
Honey Mixture for Brushing Castella
Gather all the ingredients.
Cut parchment paper to fit the baking pans (See the video for this process). https://youtu.be/a2vaM_aRHv4
Preheat oven to 320 ºF (160 ºC). (I always do this before I bake the dessert)
Sift the bread flour with the sifter or a fine-meshed strainer twice. Holding the handle with one hand and tapping the strainer gently with the other, the flour will gradually sift through the strainer.
Add 2 ½ Tbsp warm water to honey and whisk well.
Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment. Crack eggs into the bowl and vigorously whisk until combined.
Beat the eggs and sugar on high speed (Speed 10) for 5 minutes. The volume of the beaten eggs will increase about 4 times. The texture will be thick and the color will be pale yellow. When you stop the mixer and lift the whisk attachment, the mixture should fall in ribbons.
Add the honey mixture into the egg mixture and whisk on low speed (Speed 2) until combined, about 30 seconds.
Add the bread flour at three separate times: add 1/3 of the bread flour and whisk on low speed (Speed 2) for 15 seconds, then add more flour and whisk for 15 seconds. Add the last remaining portion and whisk until just combined for about 1 minute. Do not overmix.
Spray the loaf pans with oil and spread out evenly with pastry brush.
Put the parchment paper in the pans and make sure the paper sticks to the pans. If not, add oil and spread out evenly with a brush.
Pour the batter into the pans (about 80% full).
Using a skewer, draw a zigzag line to remove the air bubbles in the batter.
Level batter in each pan by holding pan 2-inches above counter dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles.
Bake at 320 ºF (160 ºC) in the middle rack of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Mix 1 Tbsp honey and ½ Tbsp warm water in a bowl and apply the honey mixture on top of the cake with a pastry brush.
Place a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter top. Take out the cake from the pan to the plastic wrap, top facing down. Gently peel off parchment paper.
Immediately wrap the cake with plastic wrap to keep the moisture and while it's hot store in the refrigerator overnight (at least 12 hours), keeping the top side facing down. This will help the cake have more fine and moist texture.
To serve, slice off the sides of the cake with a sharp bread knife and cut into 3/4 to 1 inch thick slices (you get 7-8 slices total). It's better if you bring the cake to room temperature before serving.
