In the past couple of years, something called Jiggly Cake has been making the rounds on social media. Actually it is not something new, someone has just come up with a catchy English name for the traditional sponge cake from Taiwan which in Chinese is 古早味蛋糕, meaning traditional flavoured cake. It is also known as Pillow Cake (枕頭蛋糕) because it is soft and fluffy! Now you might think that was it, but it has a history linking back to Japan and Portugal, because this cake is also known as Taiwanese Castella Cake.
The origin of this sponge cake is actually the Castella Cake from Nagasaki (長崎), Japan, which I have written about before. And of course the origin of this Japanese Castella Cake was brought to Japan in the 16th Century by Portuguese merchants. Through the years, the Japanese has refined the making of the sponge cake and it has now become a signature Nagasaki cake. The Taiwanese version came about during the Japanese rule in Taiwan between 1895 and 1945. The Taiwanese Castella is more like making chiffon cake and without the need for the wooden frame that is needed for making the traditional Japanese Castella.
This documentary-style video is about 30 minutes long, a lot like the slow TV movement in recent years about the train, or boat journeys, but here we see how this Taiwanese sponge cake was made in a bakery in South Korea. It is very slow, but mesmerising to watch especially if you are into baking…
Corner Café 
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