Castella is a Portuguese sponge cake made of sugar, flour, eggs and starch syrup. Originally introduced to Japan by Portuguese merchants in the 16th century, castella is now a Nagasaki specialty. Nagasaki castella is distinct for its granulated sugar at the bottom that gave it its unique flavour and consistency.

Quite by coincidence, our hotel in Nagasaki — Hotel Belleview Nagasaki Dejima — was located next to the main store of Bunmeido, one of Nagasaki’s most famous confectioners and castella brands in Japan. Baked instore, we had the luxury of smelling the moreish combination of egg and sugar baking in the oven during the early hours of the morning. This is the Bunmeido Castella Plain.

Bunmeido makes its castella with specific attention to the ingredients that gave the product its distinct appearance and flavour, using:

• Nanban egg. These eggs are laid by chickens ‘grown in a rich nature of Mt. Taratake mountain range and fed with natural feed, herb, pasture, and high quality corn [which] gave rich flavour, scent, savor, and substance only available from fresh eggs, and the original golden color to castella’.
• Starch starch syrup from 100% glutinous rice produced in Japan. ‘Starch syrup made only with natural ingredient gave moist consistency and rich flavour to castella’.
• Granulated sugar. ‘Bunmeido specially select the optimal size granulated sugar for the right crunch and consistency.’
• Flour. ‘Bunmedio selects flower that contained less gluten, which is optimal for Castilla and age it with our unique method’ to create ‘the high quality melt-in-the mouth castella’.

This box contained 5 slices of cut and individually wrapped castella.

Each slice is about 8 x 6 x 1.5 cm in size with a bright yellow colour with browned ends.

The castella has a fragrant sweet, egg aroma that smelled just as amazing as the whiffs we’d caught in the early hours of the morning. Upon tasting, the starch syrup brought a strong, yet clear sweetness to the cake that pairs well with the richness of the egg flavour. The cake has a relatively dense crumb that holds its shape yet retains an incredibly moist and light mouthfeel.

The granulated sugar at the bottom adds a delectable crunch that complements and contrast the softness of the sponge. Unfortunately, subjecting the cake to the Australian heat — a situation Bunmeido cautions about — meant that most of granulated sugar had already melted on three of the five slices. Even so, we enjoyed this castella and green tea would balance its sweetness well.

This Bunmeido Castella Plain contained 5 slices. It was produced in Japan and purchased in Nagasaki, Japan in 2019.