Mirakuru Guri-n Ti- Ke-ki (trans: Miracle Green Tea Cake) - What's so special about Japanese Castella Cake?

So you thought castella was just a normal pound cake that the Japanese seem to fancy, right? (At least, I used to…) Authentic castella and its closest relative pão-de-ló are probably about the only cakes I know of that don’t use butter or any form of oil, but I should think the latter is somewhat hard to find commercially in this part of the world, so that just leaves castella. Check out this awesome margarine/veg oil-free ingredients list for a green tea castella I bought from Westgate Isetan (Singapore):

Cool fact 

It means that if you pick up a piece with your hand or use a knife to cut it, you only need to wash these with water – no soap – for a completely clean rinse. That was exactly how I first discovered this unique trait of castella…

This locally-bought green tea version stayed true to form, once again providing the complimentary thrill over the miracle of soapless hand-washing.

Weird fact

The other flavours – chocolate and marble – in this particular local castella range contained margarine. How strange. I had thought most food manufacturers would be too lazy to modify their formulas for each flavour, but just use one standard recipe and only change the flavouring.

Or maybe it’s some food science chemical reaction that causes the green tea flavour to turn out wrong when margarine is used. Anyone care to enlighten me?

And oh yes, before I forget, yes, the green tea castella was nice... I think. To be honest, I can't remember how it tasted for my excitement over the hand-washing... 

Acknowledgements: Wikipedia, Food.com

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