Sponge Worthy: Castella Cake Meets Kikusui

0:22Hello, everybody, and welcome to Sake Revolution. This is America's First Sake Podcast, and I'm pretty sure now we're America's first sake video podcast. I'm your host, John Puma from the Sake Notes. I'm also the administrator over at the internet Sake Discord. And I also moderate Reddit's r slash sake community. And I'm your host, Timothy Sullivan. I'm a sake samurai. I'm the director of education over at the Sake Studies Center at Brooklyn Kura. And I'm the founder of the Urban Sake website. John and I will be here regularly tasting and chatting about all things sake and doing our best to make it fun and easy to understand.

1:00So Tim, how have you been? I'm doing good. How are you, John? It's good to see you. See you in living color. Yeah, I know. So for people watching, oh my goodness, watching along at home. So we normally do this sort of thing on Zoom. It's just me and Tim. We can see each other, but we're not really thinking about the fact that we can see each other. But today, since this is our first video podcast, we are definitely thinking about seeing each other. So hello, Tim, you're looking good. You're looking good. I mean, normally when we're recording, I have my hair in curlers and you know, I'm in my pajamas, but we had to dress up a little bit today.

1:44Yeah. This is really exciting to be venturing into video. So excited about this. Yeah, yeah. This is going to be a lot of fun. And speaking of fun, I think every now and again, it's really fun for us to have a fun episode. One that, you know, we kind of get a little bit outside of the sake education corner and into, you know, something just a little more silly. and uh while i was in japan in february i happened across something that i thought was pretty silly and i shared it with you the idea and then when i was back in japan um a couple weeks ago i uh decided to we're going to make it happen and here we are and we've got an episode that's going to be a little silly that originates in a brewery's social media yeah so yeah so why don't you tell the story about how you heard about this viral thing that happened in the world of sake yeah so um i came across this again while i was over there and and your your recommendations in like instagram and stuff like that it gets a little different when you're traveling uh so it tries to give you more local stuff and uh you know instagram is aware that I like sake.

3:03And believe it or not. And for whatever reason, when I was in Japan, it was showing me a pretty old post from a brewery in Niigata called Kikisui. And I didn't realize at the time this was an old post, by the way. I thought it was kind of like, oh, this is new. It was not new. And what they were doing was they were taking a cake and they were dipping it in their very famous Funaguchi gold can. And I was like, I want to do that. That looks like fun. And so I kind of translated the rest of the post and it was very much like they were making it seem like one of those social media challenges in a way.

3:50They were like, absolutely do not ever dip this kind of cake in a funiguchi can we cannot be responsible for for the dish for how damaging this could be and i thought that was like really funny and also i kind of thought that the idea of dipping a little cake into the funiguchi sake would be kind of delicious so maybe they were onto something i think they the phrase they used was dangerously delicious uh and and i don't know if it's dangerously delicious, but I thought it would be a fun thing for us to find out as a team. Yes. Well, when you sent me that, I looked into it a little bit. And this is actually from October 2025.

4:34So as frequent listeners and viewers will know, we are not about late breaking news in the We tried that once. But there was actually, the original post is from a sake shop called Kurand. K-U-R-A-N-D. And they posted on October 1st, 2025. And their original post said, don't soak castella cake in sake. You won't be able to stop. It's dangerous. So please don't try this at home. and then Funaguchi, Kikusui Funaguchi, picked up on that and they said, we did it. It's extremely dangerous. I think that's kind of cool. And I saw an article on Sora News about it also, where they also did it. And I just thought it was an interesting, fun thing to try.

5:30So I'm always here for a good time. And I think this will be a good time. And to put this in context, the original post from Koran got 10.4 million views. And the follow-up from Kiku Sui, their answer to that, it got 15 million views. So I was onto something. You were onto something. No, they were onto something, actually, I guess. Yeah. That's cool. So, all right. So I feel a little bit better about this now. Yes. So that should be fun. So we are late to the game, but we are riding their viral coattails for sure. I don't know if anybody in America has broken through on this yet. That's how it is, Tim.

6:23When the sake leaves Japan, it takes a few months to get here, right? Yes. Same with the viral sake content. Yes. Now, the post from Kikusui mentioned Castella cake. Yes. So what do we know about this? What is this cake that was featured in this viral sake moment? Well, when I looked at the picture originally, I was like, oh, that looks like pound cake. And when I translated the article, I was like, oh, this is not pound cake. It is Castella cake. What is Castella cake? And so I looked into it. And Castella cake is a popular Japanese sponge cake. It already sounds a lot like pound cake, right?

7:02Except for the part about Japanese. Considered a type of wagashi. It's a traditional sweet. It's soft. It's fluffy. It's bouncy. Stop me when this stops sounding like pound cake. But yeah, apparently Portuguese missionaries brought this to Japan in the 16th century, and it's become a very popular thing. I was able to procure Castella cake from just about any convenience store that I wanted to, which is great because there's plenty and I didn't have to worry about buying one right away. It wasn't like a situation where like, oh, I might not see this the rest of the trip. No, I'm going to see this plenty the rest of the trip.

7:43Yeah. So it seems to be like a very, a Konbini staple. Yes. And coincidentally, you can also get Funaguchi cans at many Konbinis too. So. Hmm. Yes. So I think, you know, one of the differences between pound cake and castella cake, castella cake usually has honey and some kind of starchy syrup for moisture. So it is a tea cake. So they are very, very similar, like really hard to make much of an argument there. We're really splitting hairs in my opinion. But castella cake is something you can find all over Japan. If you're not going to Japan, you can either make your own castella cake at home. There's recipes online.

8:30Or you can just get your favorite pound cake and try this experiment for yourself, right? Yeah, I think so. I also think it would really go well with like bambuken. Oh, yeah, bambuken. Which is another thing. You can get Baumkuchen in the United States, but you can get it everywhere in Japan. It is wild to me how ubiquitous it is there. Yeah. Baumkuchen is a type of cake that is baked on a spinning spit. And it's like layers of sponge cake that look like rings of a tree. So it's so delicious. And it's from Germany. It's from Germany. Yes, it is. but it's the Japanese just kind of picked it up and ran with it.

9:17And it is everywhere in Japan. It's so good. When the Japanese pick up on something and run with it, they run with it. It's everywhere. So what I thought we would do today, now that we've kind of talked about why we're doing this, is we're going to, first off, we're going to need to taste the sake. We're going to need to taste the cake. And then we are going to need to taste the cake. with the sake. I think that's the move. But I've heard it's extremely dangerous, John. Is this a safe thing to do? I'm willing to take that chance. Okay. I will face the peril. We're going to go out on a limb and try this.

10:02I mean, we've come this far, Tim. Okay. So the 15 million view Kikusui can. Yeah. You know, we've had this sake on the podcast before. We have. For funky packaging. I remember that especially. Oh, we had the bag. Yeah, the bag. That was so much fun. That was so much fun. But this is the same sake. And this is the famous can. And maybe a moment for the can. I love that I could just pick this up and show people at home what we're talking about. Yeah. Instead of, there it is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, JP, do you want to let everyone know about the stats for this? Yeah. Absolutely. This is the world famous Kikisui Funaguchi Honjozo Nama Genshu.

10:52It's got a lot of words, this one. And it's from Kikisui Shuzo over in Niigata Prefecture. This is a Honjozo, of course, as I mentioned. It's also a Nama and a Genshu. and when i say genchu i mean genchu with a capital g this is a 19 abv beverage uh the same i boy is uh wait a minute oh that's that's ordered weirdly i'm gonna do that again uh the rice is just listed as being niigata prefecture rice so i'm guessing it's some kind of local stuff uh it's milled down to 70 of its original size sake meter value the old measure of dry to sweet sits at a plus two so relatively neutral and uh yeah you can get this pretty much all over the country i want to say i think in the united states is a very a relatively easy can to get your hands on you probably have a harder time finding the cake and i don't think that's going to be that much of a challenge either yes so this has a plastic cap on it and a pull tab.

12:02It's like you see here. So should we open it up? I think we do. All right.

12:18The effort there is to pull this off without splashing sake all over our desks, by the way. I think I was relatively successful. I can smell the aroma coming out of the can. And Tim, what is that aroma?

12:38Well, I'll say this. It doesn't smell low alcohol. I was just going to go ahead and say it is, you know, it's got a bit of a sweet rice aroma and then booze. like it's just it's got a boozy aroma to it yeah and but there is that rice presence as well yeah and there's something candied here i mean you and i have joked for years about circus peanuts but think about it you know like that a little like candied marshmallow crystallized marshmallow smell is there too for me that's nice yeah all right cheers cheers in living color here we go

13:31okay there's a reason why they sell millions of these cans quite good yeah yeah it is rich very very bold and then there's the after effect which is a little warm a little boozy but this really packs a punch. It's very rich. It has a, uh, warm finish to it. You definitely feel the alcohol on this one. And yeah. And I think we've talked about this in the past, but for me, this is such a food friendly sake. And, uh, I just, I love, uh, having American dishes with it. When I say food friendly, I'm talking like, you know, American food friendly. this is not something I'm going to have with a delicate sushi meal.

14:22I think it would overshadow the sushi substantially, but I've had this at like cookouts before, like with a burger, really good. Like I, this is the, this is where I feel like this fits in with American cuisine. Also apparently cake, but we'll find that out in a little bit. Yeah. And I, one of my favorite ways to enjoy this, I'm sure I said this the last time we had it on the show, But one of my favorite ways to enjoy this is actually on the rocks. Yes. Have it with ice. Yes. The ice keeps it cold and crisp, and it will water down the 19 % pretty easily and keep it really enjoyable. I remember years ago when I first started drinking these cans, it's super easy to keep sipping on.

15:14and I remember I was like halfway through my second can and I stood up to do something and I was like, whoa. I really felt it. It is, yeah. So proceed with caution with the cans. I think so. So now, part two, we taste the cake. All right. No sake yet. We're just gonna experience Castella cake. Ooh, that's lovely. I did not do something so nice. Mine's in a container. I need to pull it out. Yeah. So I put mine on a plate, John. Yes, it's very nice. It's a lovely plate. Ooh,

15:54this is, when they said springy, they weren't messing around. This is a very bouncy little guy right here. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That goes right on the keyboard. Good for me. Yeah. So this is, it is basically a sponge cake. Yeah. Not mine right here. Okay. Should we try it? Yeah. All right. Let's see it wrong with it. Mmm. Mmm. Cakey. Yeah. Let's see how this tastes. Mmm. Okay. Mmm.

16:34Okay. This is different from a pound cake. It is. The texture is super different from a pound cake. First of all, the first thing that jumps to my mind is that it's not as sweet. No, it's not. It is sweet. It is sweet. But it is not as sweet. Yeah. This is like Japanese-level sweet.

16:59Do you want to explain that? Because I understand what you're saying. I think it's fair to say that the Japanese palate is not as attuned to extremely sweet desserts as a Western or American palate is. And I remember the first time I celebrated someone's birthday when I was in Japan, they brought out like this strawberry shortcake. And I was like, okay. And you try it, and it has just a whisper of sweetness to it. Yeah. And I was like, oh my gosh. I think about all the birthday cakes I ate as a child that were covered in buttercream icing and super sweet. And for a Japanese palate, those are overpowering.

17:42But for our palate, the subtle sweetness in tea cakes and things to pair with tea are very, very subtly sweet. And this Castella cake is right in that ballpark, don't you think? I agree wholeheartedly. but number one i want to say you're like oh when i was a child i was having sweet cakes i'm like sir you probably have very decadent birthday cakes every year that's what i think number two yeah i i agree wholeheartedly whenever i have sweets in japan i always feel like it's like weirdly muted for for my palate because i'm accustomed to when i have um when i have sweets it's like something it's like trying somebody's trying to kill me with chocolate and i i welcome this by the way but no one has succeeded um you know that but that's like the goal with me in a lot of cases like you get accustomed to just like having these things like just really lacking subtlety just bombarding you with flavor and then you go there and everything is very subtle yeah and this is quite subtle i remember the first time i went somewhere for a restaurant and they're like next is our dessert course and it came out and it was like red bean on this like wafer i'm eating this red bean and it's like, oh, this is dessert.

18:58I thought it was like maybe chocolate pudding, but no, it's not chocolate pudding. So things like red bean or this super, very lightly sweet type of pound cake or madeleines or something like tea cakes are very, very common. So the texture is spongy though. It is, but it's not crumbly like a pound cake would be. It's moist, but it has a little bit of a gummy texture to it for me. Yeah. There's something else to it. It's very nice. It's just so much lighter than I was expecting flavor-wise. I thought it was going to be a bit more, dare I say, pound cake-ish. Yeah. I'm regretting all those pound cake jokes I made at the front of the show.

19:46Do you also kind of smell or taste something eggy in this? Yes. It has a little eggy note. I couldn't play. I'm like, what is this? And yeah, it's a bit more. Yeah. It reminds me a little bit of Japanese rolled omelet. Yes. The sweet rolled omelet. That's what it is. Yes. I couldn't. I'm like, this is so familiar, but I cannot put my finger on it. That's what it was. Well done, Tim. Yes. That's right. So when you get sushi, sometimes they serve you the sweet egg omelet as like a last piece or close to the end. And this is like if that grew up and really became a cake, it would be like this.

20:30By the way, if you ever watch Japanese morning TV when you're in Japan, you're in the hotel room, you're kind of up a little bit earlier, you can turn on the TV. there is an 85 % chance at any time that you will flip to a channel that somebody is either a showing you how to make the rolled omelet or B selling you the pan to make the rolled omelet. Cause it's like, it's just this relatively narrow squared off a pan that they, that's like kind of specialized for it. And you kind of, cause you have the egg in there and you, you turn it forward. So that falls to the end and you flip it back in. And that's the role in the rolled omelet.

21:08And yeah, it's very common there. But yeah, that's exactly what I was tasting. Thank you. Yeah, so it's a little eggy. I don't know if we have ever done, have we done a food tasting before? We had ice cream. Oh, we had ice cream. That's true. Yeah. But I don't think we tasted the ice cream on its own. I think this is - We should have. That was a missed opportunity, Tim. Full food review. All right. Fabulous. So we tasted the sake. We tasted the cake. Yeah. So what I'm going to do here, I'm going to slice my other one in half a little bit and dip it. But after I dip and we taste, I'm going to put the other one in and just leave it there for a bit.

21:50And we can talk and then I'll have it after that. That'll be fun. All right. So I'm dipping. So here we are. Okay. Oh God, it fell off the fork. Okay. I hope you're having better luck, Tim. All right. I'm going to dip mine. Okay. I got it. I was able to harpoon it out. Do we soak it? Oh, it absorbs a lot. It absorbs quickly. It is. This bread has no chill. Oh, my God. Yeah? Oh, shit, it fell off again. Oh, my God. Yeah? It absorbs so much. Okay. Here we go.

22:32Oh. Oh. it absorbs so much. There's a lot of booze in that cake now. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. That is not what I expected. Yeah. Well, they put the sponge in sponge cake. Oh, my God. I'm going to get the rest of this.

22:56Whoa.

23:00All right. So, whatever time I bite, the sake like sprays comes out that was not what i expected

23:17it's really tasty though i really like it i don't know if it's how i'm routinely going to experience but um by the way we're also going to do a little time time experiment so i'm We're going to see how it is in a few minutes. I have a feeling it's going to be very similar to how it is now. It just absorbed all of the sake. I mean, I dipped it in for literally a second. And it sucked up the Funaguchi like a literal sponge. Yeah. I'm going to do a version two as well. Okay. I'm going to take a little Funaguchi and just drop a couple drops on it. So we're going in opposite directions. Yes. I went – I just dunked it in the tank, and I'm going to leave it here for at least five minutes.

24:16We'll talk. Oh, my gosh. I'm letting – I just put a couple drops on this. And letting it kind of soak through. Let's see. Oh. That's much better. Okay. Okay. So are you saying that when you dunked it in, it lost all of its subtlety? When I dunked it in, it soaked up so much alcohol that it overpowered the cake. Yeah, it was just like Funaguchi-flavored cake, pretty much. I didn't taste a lot of the Costella, you know, the original Costella flavor. I don't know if soaking for five minutes is going to solve the issue. This is for science, Tim. When I was looking over the materials that we had, you actually had done some research and gotten those articles, which I really appreciate.

25:13I saw the Sora News article on this didn't come out until January. So it took a little while. And so my finding it in February isn't as weird as it would have otherwise been. I guess it was probably popping up again and a bit of a resurgence. Yeah. So I think don't viral things kind of do that? Like they can come in waves and circle back and... Sometimes, if there's a reason. But maybe, you know, maybe something happened. Maybe February is like Costella Cake Month in Japan or something like that. i don't know i'm still i've i've never seen cake absorb a liquid as ridiculously fast as that it is absolutely not what i expected so i will tell you this when i when i accidentally dropped my cake in earlier it sunk to the bottom and i was able to skewer it with the fork and bring it out.

26:15But now, I can't really show you this because I will spill sake all over my desk, it is floating. Oh. So something did happen after I waited. I don't know what the result's going to be, but something did occur. All the air in the cake was replaced with sake. It's just more sake than cake now. Yes. Tim, I'm really glad you humor me with these episodes. Letting me have a little fun. All right. Let's get this guy out of here. It hasn't been five minutes. I realized that. Oh, God. It is just... It is losing its composure a little bit, is this cake. It is dripping sake. And we're going to see what happens when I have this.

27:05Oh.

27:14Well, Tim, I want to ask you what you think it might have been like. I think it might be similar to mainlining Funaguchi. Getting like an IV drip of Funaguchi. Is that what it's like? Oh, well.

27:40Remember how earlier I said that, like when you bite into it, it kind of like the funaguchi squeezes out and is now in your crank that up to 11 or so and like you know like super soaker levels and that's it's at that point it just becomes a funaguchi delivery tool yes um yeah all right woke me up well i can confidently say that using a little spoon to dribble a few drops on here that that was the way to do it that it was that that was the move and i i messed up by going too extreme now now how much of a dribble are we talking here um maybe like half a teaspoon like not much okay so it's interesting i think i had like one or two sips before we did this whole thing and then we did this whole thing and i want to it's not half of my can isn't gone but but it's kind of close also my funaguchi is a little more yellow now than it was before i wonder if there was some dye on the cake or something i don't want to have the funaguchi now yeah let's see what happened to it all right let's do that

29:02it might be a touch lighter or i've become accustomed to funiguchi because the saliva in my mouth has been saturated with it yeah i have a few crumbs in my can mine mine as well is that this is a side effect i did not know what happened but i mean we should have assumed it would happen i don't know why we didn't but I mean, this is fun though. It was a lot of fun, but there, you know, there's a, there's a tradition of soaking cakes in booze, right? There's like, there is, but normally you cook the cake afterward. Isn't that the case? It's like rum cakes are. No, I think they pour rum on the finish.