Korean Gold Citron Spongecake 烫面韩国香柚蛋糕

My first attempt using solely the Korean citron tea concentrate ended up with a nice soft cake, but without much flavour. Therefore, in my second attempt I not only increase the quantity of the Korean citron tea concentrate, but also added Japanese yuzu drink, as well as some lemon zest. To make the citron flavour more distinct, a thin coat of Korean citron tea concentrate was apply to the face of the cake. Viola, I finally brought out the flavour of the cake. It's refreshing but not strong. 

This Korean citron tea concentrate and Japanese yuzu drink flavoured spongecake best enjoy cold after refrigeration ^^

Yield: one 14cm diameter round cake

Cake mould: 6" round mould, 7.5cm tall

Ingredients

All ingredients in room temperature 

Using 60g eggs

40g coconut/vegetable oil* 椰油/植物油*

50g top/cake flour 低筋面粉

1/2 tsp lemon zest 柠檬削

30g Japanese yuzu drink 日本柚子果汁

20g Korean gold citron tea 韩国柚子茶

3 egg yolks 蛋黄

1 egg 全蛋

1/8 tsp salt 盐

3 egg whites 蛋白

30g fine sugar 细砂糖

* use mild flavour vegetable oils, avoid using olive or peanut oil which have a stronger flavour.

Direction 

1. Line a 6" round cake pan with a small piece of parchment paper if you are using a fixed base cake pan. This is to facilitate removal of cake from the pan.

You may omit this step if you are using a 6" removal base cake pan. 

2. Use a pair of kitchen scissor to cut the citron peels in the tea concentrate into smaller bits. Longer and heavier citron peesl are prone to sinking to the bottom of the batter.

3. Loosen the flour using a hand whisk. Set aside.

4. Heat coconut/vegetable oil till you see some slow moving current starting to appear at the bottom of the oil (about 82~85 degree Celsius). 

Do not over heat the oil as we don't want to fry the flour.

5. Remove the bowl of hot oil from the stove, add in the flour and stir till smooth.

Followed by the lemon zest.

6.  In a separate bowl, blend the egg yolks with one egg.

7. Stir in the Korean citron tea concentrate and yuzu drink to the yolk batter.

8. Add the cooked dough from (5) to (7). And mix into a smooth dough.

9. Mix in a pinch of salt. Cover and set aside.

10. Beat egg white till frothy, for about 30 seconds. Add in the sugar, in 3 batches.

11. Beat at medium high speed at the start and reduce to low speed towards the end of the process. Beat the meringue till almost reaching the stiff peak stage. The standing meringue has a slight dip at the tip.

12. Scoop about 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk batter in (9). Fold to mix.

13. Pour the yolk batter back to the remaining meringue and fold to mix into a smooth batter.

14. Pour the batter into the 6" round cake mould. Lightly bang the cake mould a few times to remove any trapped air bubbles in the batter.

15. Place the cake pan in a tray of 1cm-deep hot water. 

Steam-bake the batter in a preheated oven set at 170 degree Celsius with only the upper heating coil for 35~40 minutes at lower rack of the oven. 

After 35 to 40 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 150 degree Celsius with both upper and lower heating, for another 20 minutes.

If the cake brown too fast, cover it with an aluminum foil.

End of baking.

Oven temperature and baking duration may differ based on individual oven.

16. Remove the cake with pan from the oven and drop it from a height of about 15 cm. This helps to prevent the cake from shrinking too much. Then let the cake cools down on a cooling rack for about 30 minutes. 

While the cake is still warm, runs a silicon spatula along the edge of the cake. Remove the cake from the cake pan and cool down on a wire rack. This is to prevent accumulation of moisture at the base of the cake.

You may want to dry up the sides of the cake by keeping it in the warm oven for about 15 minutes. Turn on the oven to 90 degree Celsius for 2 minutes.

17. For a more flavorful cake, mix about 1/2 tsp of Korean citron tea concentrate with about 1/8 tsp of water, and apply a thin coat on the face of the cake.

17. Keep the cake in the fridge for about 3 hour or longer to enjoy it cold. Slice the cake and enjoy :)