Sponge Cake is specialty of Nagasaki and you’ll find that there are stalls on almost every lane in Nagasaki. This cake is not only famous among children but also adult as well. I have noticed one good thing about japan. Animation, food and many other things which western or eastern region claims as “for kids” is also enjoyed by adults as well.
Sponge Cake – Cake is said to have origin from Spain which got popular because of portuguesse missionaries who learned it from the dutch. Nagasaki castella tastes a lot different than the Spanish or other European sponge cake recipes.This is because original recipe is modified by locals. There are many locals out there who rarely modify the traditional recipe and always present the original castella cake. If you ever visit those stalls then don’t forget to ask for traditional recipe instead of modern castella cake.
Image Credit : at-nagasaki.jp
There are also some flavors of the castella sponge cake like- chocolate, cheese, raspberry and black sugar. There are some tea flavored sponge cake that can be seen during tea ceremony or other events. Tea flavored cake looks like brown-green in appearance and is quite popular among tourists.This cake is made with the malty syrup. This cake appears to be moist with typical golden brown surface with a sweet aroma. Purely traditional japanese recipe is made from – eggs, flour and sugar mixed with flavors inside the rectangular or circular pot.
If you like sponge cakes then you should definitely check this out when you go to nagasaki. I don’t know if they can be shipped from nagasaki to other worldwide stores but for now i guess they can be only tested here. 