Studio Ghibli Month, Spirited Away Sponge Cake
Prep time: 30 minutes Bake time: ~22 plus cooling
I have always loved Studio Ghibli and their movies are some of the first animated flicks I remember. Their breath taking animation and stories magnificently with their ambiance and music. The food has always been good enough to pluck out of the screen and eat. So I wanted to try recreating it. Luckily I have recipes others have put together and we followed along.
Ingredients
1 1/2 tbls butter
1 tbsp milk
~3/4 cups (90g) cake flour (different than all purpose flour, less protein/gluten in it)
3 eggs
~1/2 cup sugar (90g)
1 tsp vanilla extract
7 inch pan (SUPER IMPORTANT)
Prep
Preheat oven to 350 F
Grab a pot and fill with water. Set on low heat to simmer the water (we’ll get to this)
Line the 7 inch pan with parchment paper on the bottom and sides. I lined the bottom, then cut strips that could curl around for the sides. This mostly worked.
In a small bowl, use a sifter or strainer that is small enough to sift the flour two times
In another bowl (if you have a stand mixer use that bowl. I still do not, and my newly ripped right arm equal parts hates and was alright with this. It’s not the worst if you don’t have it, but it’ll add about 15 extra minutes to this step) add the eggs and sugar
Place this bowl over the pot of simmering water (told you!) and whisk the crap out of it. You need the eggs to get to a lukewarm temperature and all the sugar to dissolve
When the sugar has dissolved and the eggs are luke warm, remove your bowl from the pot and back to your prep area.
If you have a mixer, whip the eggs and sugar until they turn a light cake batter beige color and thicken where lifting the paddles ribbons or pours it and keeps a bit of it’s shape. Be careful not to overdo this or you’ll lose the air
If you don’t have a mixer, you’re in for a long ride. Use the whisk and keep going. Just keep whisking. It’ll change from soup eggs to a thicker cake batter eventually. Good luck, take breaths, don’t tense up too much. Change hands if you can to give breaks. You’ll get there.
Add the vanilla and stir in
Split your flour into 3 parts visually.
Add the first third to the eggs and use a spatula to fold it in
When all the flour is mixed in, add the next third
Add the last third and fold in that flour
Grab another bowl and add the milk and butter. Melt this however you see fit. I used a microwave
Add to the egg mixture and fold it in as well
Pour into your prepared 7 inch cake pan
Bake for 20-25 minutes
Cool for at least 15 minutes
Afterthoughts
So the reason I keep saying 7 inch cake pan is because I had a 9 inch cake pan. This means my batter was spread too thin and over-baked. It was a flat, clagy, tough mix. The flavor wasn’t the worst but tough. I need to redo this with the correct size pan. The parts of taste outside texture were good though! I recommend making something like a strawberry puree or so to go with it to take it to new levels.
