By Hafsa 
This is a super soft and delicious cake made with cream cheese. Baking this cake is a labour of love but you are going to enjoy it once it is out of your oven. In a large mixing bowl, gently loosen cream cheese with a spatula then add 25 ml starch syrup or honey. Switch to a hand whisk and mix it evenly then add room temparature milk and continue mixing until you have a uniform consistency.
Add cooking oil and mix again until smooth then set it aside. Separate 4 egg whites from the yolks then in a bowl, add the egg whites and beat it ubtil foamy then add 120 grams of sugar in three additions at one-minute intervals and beat on high speed for 4 minutes. Add the 4 egg yolks to the beaten egg whites (Meringue) and mix at low speed for one minute. Sift in cake flour and gently fold it in until you have a smooth batter with no lumps.
Pour a portion of the dough into the cream cheese dough and mix it for about 30 seconds then pour it in the batter and mix it. Prepare a baking tin or moulds by greasing then lining the bottom with parchment paper. Pour the cake batter into the mould/pan then bake at 180C(350F) for 10 minutes then reduce the temparature to 150C(300F) and bake for an additional 45 minutes.
Once baked, remove the cake and place it on a wire rack and let it cool completely. This castella cake tastes better with time so it’s better made a day earlier and let it stay at room temparature. Enjoy.
Ingredients;
- 100g / 3.5Oz room temperature cream cheese
- 25ml starch syrup (can be replaced with honey)
- 35 ml of room temperature milk
- 25 ml cooking oil at room temperature (excluding olive oil)
- 120g/ 4.2Oz/ 1/2 Cup sugar
- 4 eggs (1 piece without shell 54g)
- Cake flour 120g/4.2Oz/ 1cup (can replace all-purpose flour)