Taiwanese Peanut Butter Castella Cake

I know, you probably have never heard of peanut butter cake…once you try this cake, I can guarantee that you will be in love with it…

Being in the kitchen take my mind away from the surreal reality and for a few hours I forget the circumstances that we are all living now, therefore I have been coming up with many different recipes using what I have available in the kitchen.

– Have you ever heard of peanut butter castella cake?

Well, there is always the first time for everything right? It was for me and my husband…and yes, this one of the products of the lock down…

– How come peanut butter castella cake?

Here at home my husband is peanut butter fanatic…and I am more like an almond butter, and we both like the chunky ones…

We got the peanut butter at Costco and just realized that it was creamy…as you know everything at Costco is humongous…he finished one jar and gave up on the second one as we went back to his chunky peanut butter…

After starring at the jar for a while I had one of those “AHA” moments…how about cake? I will use in the same way I used to bake the Taiwanese Cream Cheese Castella Cake, by substituting the cream cheese for the peanut butter…so this is how I came up with this cake.

– How the peanut butter castella cake taste?

Well, I must admit, my husband loved it…the cake has a very delicate texture, light, soft, almost melting in your mouth, and yes, tasted like peanut butter, nutty and almost creamy…with cake texture…

– Peanut butter in the cake batter?

Yes…yes, you read it right…there is peanut butter in the cake batter…

– Should we explore the recipe?

Ingredients:

• 6 large eggs, separated
• 120 g organic creamy peanut butter
• 50 g vegetable oil
• 150 g milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 90 g cake flour, sifted
• 110 to 120 g sugar
• 10 g vinegar
• 75 g water

Method:

Preheat oven at 285^oF

In a small pan, mix together the peanut butter, oil, and milk.  Place in a low heat until small bubbles appear on the side of the pan. Remove and add the sifted cake flour, mix well to form a thick paste.

Add the egg yolks 3 at the time, mixing well into the batter each time.

Add the vanilla extract, the batter will be very thick, add the water to the mixture. Mix until well combined, at this point the mixture will resemble a pancake batter.

In a large bowl of a hand-held mixer or stand mixer whisk the egg white with the vinegar until large bubbles form.

Add the sugar slowly into thirds. Whisk until soft peaks form (very important that the egg whites are SOFT PEAKS). Do not over beat, the meringue should be shiny and form soft peaks.

Add about ⅓ of the meringue to the peanut butter/egg yolk mixture and mix gently until all the egg white is incorporated to the batter.

Pour the peanut butter/egg yolk mix to the remaining meringue and fold gently until all the egg white is combined to the batter. Do not over mix.

Pour the batter into 2 loaf pans (20 cm x 7 cm or 7 ¾ x 2 ¾ inch) lined with parchment paper.  Tap gently the pan to remove excess of air bubbles.

Place the pan into a tray and fill with approximately 2 cm or ¾ inch of room temperature water and place into the oven.

Bake for approximately 60 minutes or until a wooden stick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Increase the temperature to 300^oF and bake for another 5 minutes, to brown the top of the cake.

Remove the pans from the oven and the cake from the pans. Let is sit on a wire rack.

Gently remove the parchment paper and let it cool completely on the wire rack.

Serve at room temperature or cold.

Keep the cake in the refrigerator for up to 7 days, but I guarantee you that it will be gone way before the 3 days.

– More cake recipes? Check these out…

Did you know that peanut is a legume? Peanut butter contains saturated fat and unsaturated fat, with similar ratio to olive oil.  Studies have been shown that consumption of nuts or peanut butter are healthy and lower the development of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Due to its high fat and caloric content nuts should be consumed in moderation.

Thank you for visiting Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week!