Quick and Simple Castella Pancake

castella pancake in a black skillet top with a piece of butter. cups, plates, coffee maker, fork, knife, sifter and plates on the side.

5 from 10 votes

A soft and fluffy pancake baked in a cast iron skillet ready in less than 30 minutes. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. The recipe is designed being baked in a 6.5 inch cast iron skillet, double the recipe if using 8 inch skillet.

Prep Time10

Cook Time18

Total Time28

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: Japanese

Calories: 450kcal

Author: Edwina

Ingredients

For the pancake

2 large eggs
30 g milk 2 tablespoon
15 g honey 1 tbsp
40 g cake (or all purpose) flour ¼ cup. I personally prefer the texture of using cake flour
¼ teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice
30 g fine sugar 2 tbsp

Other

butter for greasing the pan and topping
powder sugar
maple syrup

Instructions

Prepare the skillet

Grease a 6.5 inch cast iron skillet (see note for other sizes) with a thin layer of butter and set it aside.

Make Pancake Batter

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C)
Separate egg yolk and egg white into two mixing bowls. Make sure the bowl for the egg white is dry and clean without any oils on the surface. If you accidentally drop some yolk in the white, fish it out with egg shell.
Mix egg yolk with milk and honey, whisk until well combined before adding the sifted flour. Mix until smooth but don't over mix. Set it aside.
Add vinegar/lemon juice in egg white, beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until foaming. Add sugar in two batches while beating and continue until soft peaks form when you remove your mixer. When the mixture starts to form ribbons in the wake of your mixer, turn the speed to low and continue to beat until egg whites can form soft peaks, that way, the larger air bubbles can be eliminated.
Scoop about half a cup of the egg white into the yolk mixture and mix with a spatula until it's well combined before pouring this mixture into the bowl with the egg white mixture.
Mix with a spatula from bottom to top in the motion of writing "J" while turning the mixing bowl, so the mixture can be well combined. Don't stir in a circular motion or over mix, as it will cause the mixture to deflate,
Pour the mixture into the skillet, and smooth out the surface with a spatula.

Baking

Bake for 8 minutes, remove skillet and cut a big "+" on the surface of the pancake and return it back to the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes until the top becomes golden brown and the middle part puffs up. If you double the recipe and make it in an 8 inch skillet, you will need to bake for 5-10 minutes longer until an inserted toothpick can come out clean.
Top the pancake with butter (I prefer to use salted butter) and any other topping of your choice and enjoy right away!

Notes

The recipe is designed being baked in a 6.5 inch cast iron skillet, which is about 2 cups in volume. If you would like to make it in a 8 inch skillet (about 4 cups in volume), you can choose to double the recipe, or use the same amount and get a thinner pancake. Likewise, if you would like to make it in a baking tray or a skillet of a different size, simply measure the volume and see how to adjust the recipe. The baking time will need to be adjusted accordingly.

If you are new to making cakes that require beating egg white and are not confident that your whites have been beaten correctly, you can add 2g (¼ tsp) of baking powder.

Finally, if you want to take a picture of this pancake, note that it is natural for it to deflate very quickly (within a minute). While this won't affect the taste, it will affect your presentation, so make sure you're camera is ready to go!

Nutrition