TheThousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and Green Tea Kasutera Cake

I am sorry it has been so long since I have done a book review here, it has taken me an unusually longtime to get through David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.  This is a result of the fact that it is a challenging book that really requires full attention to move through it, and because when I was on vacation for a week I didn't read at all (which is unusual for me).  As soon as I picked up the book however, I got excited about possible dishes to make, since the book is about Dejima, a Dutch trading outpost in Nagasaki, Japan, in the 1800's.  So I thought I could do some wacky Japanese/Dutch mash-up.  In the end I decided to a famous sponge cake from Nagasaki called Castella or Kasutera, which is actually a Portuguese sponge cake. The cake was recommended to me by my friend Emma who used to live in Japan and is an expert in all things East Asian (thanks, Em!) and reports that this cake is associated closely with Nagasaki.  I added some matcha green tea powder to bring that east/west vibe.  The cake, although seemingly simple, is a little complicated to make, so it paired well with the book which was also a bit complicated.  More about the cake and the book after the jump.

David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is an epic historical novel about a Dutch trading outpost in Japan.  In many ways, this book puts the many other historical fiction novels I have read in the past to shame - the level of detail here about what I perceive as fairly random esoteric part of history is astounding.  For much of the book the focus is on Jacob de Zoet, a pious, unassuming Dutch clerk who gets a job with the Dutch East India Trading Company and sails to the far east to find his fortune.  He leaves a fiance and a disapproving future father-in-law at home in Holland.  It becomes clear as soon as he sets foot on Dejima that Jacob is too honest for his own good, and he quickly alienates the other foreigners engaged in trade on behalf of "the Company", including his dishonest boss.  But Jacob, unlike the others, is interested in learning about Japan and engaging with the Japanese people around him.  Well at least one, a young medical student he swiftly falls in love with, Orito Aibagawa.  Women in Japan in this time period did not have careers, so it was exceptional that Orito was permitted to study medicine with a Dutch scholar, Dr. Marinus.  By trade she was a midwife and at the novel opens when she saves the life of the child of the Japanese magistrate who rules Nagasaki and his mistress.  Orito has a large burn on one side of her face, Jacob falls in love with both her damaged beauty and her intelligence.  Although Jacob's love for Orito drives the rest of the novel to some extent, I never really believed that his love for had much depth. He fell in love with something foreign and exotic and worshiped the idea of her, but he never really got to know her.   The first part of the book is about Jacob and the politics of both the Dutch trading company internally and how the Company interacted with its Japanese hosts.  At this time in history Japan was extremely closed off from the rest of the world, and the Shogun ruled Japan with an iron fist.  The Japanese mistrusted westerners and their customs, most notably Christianity.  Jacob, the nephew of a pastor, was forced to hide a family heirloom bible because all Christian books or symbols were confiscated upon entry into Japan.  Early in his time in Dejima Jacob befriends a Japanese/Dutch translator, Ozaemon.  Ozaemon helps Jacob keep the secret of his Christian bible and also the secret of his love for Orito.  But, as we learn in the second part of the book, Ozaemon and Orito were in love and hoped to marry.  The main subject of the second part of the book is Orito's abduction by Lord Enomoto, the powerful Lord of the Nagasaki region (and a trading partner of Jacob's).  Orito is taken to a shrine and becomes a nun.  But this shrine has a very dark purpose and soon Orito learns that she was taken to the shrine because of experience as a midwife. I will not ruin the shock for you but needless to say the way the nun's are treated at the shrine is horrific.  Ozaemon soon learns of Orito's fate and tries to rescue her.  This second part of the book - were the focus of the story is Orito and Ozaemon was by far my favorite.  The third part of the book returns us back to Dejima and Jacob.  In this third part of the book, Jacob and the rest of the Dutch Trading Company employees are essentially abandoned in Dejima when the Company goes bankrupt. A British naval ship comes to port and tries to take over Dejima.  There is, in my opinion, to much time spent on this episode and too much time spent on that British ship with the Caption, too much about British admiralty stuff.  It got boring and hard to get through.   Eventually the action picks up again and we learn Jacob's fate and how he eventually returns to Europe.  And we learn how Orito's abduction and the treatment of the nuns are eventually avenged.  A large part of the events that are depicted in the third part of the book actually occurred.  When I made it to the end of the novel I felt like I had really accomplished something.  There are large section of this novel that are engrossing, where Mitchell creates almost cinematic drama, emotion and suspense.  And then there are sections which are detailed, sluggish descriptions of Dutch trading history or British admiralty customs that almost felt like they were there to prove that the author did his research!  Do not let these sections deter you - it is entirely worth it to slog through a few of those to get to the good stuff.

Green Tea Kasutera (or Castella) Sponge Cake (printable recipe)
Adapted from both this blog and this blog - thanks guys.
According to Emma and wikipedia, Kasutera is a sponge cake that is a specialty of Nagasaki.  Per above, Japan as a whole was closed off to the western world for much of its history, but Nagasaki was its trading port and welcomed various trading partners over the years including the Portugese, who brought this sponge cake to Japan.  There is no artificial leavening, so the eggs really get a workout.  This cake is sweetened with both sugar and honey but is not too sweet and a perfect afternoon tea snack.
 Ingredients
 8 large eggs
1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar plus more for sprinkling
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/8 of a teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 cup of honey plus more for top of cake
1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of matcha green tea powder (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325.  Line a 9 by 9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper.  The paper should come up the sides of the pan.  Spray the paper with cooking spray so it sticks to the pan.
2. Heat some water in a large saucepan so it is just simmering.
3. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer combine the eggs, the sugar, the salt and the cream of tartar.
4. Ready for a workout? Place the mixer bowl over the simmering water and whisk the egg mixture together over the heat until light and frothy and warm to the touch, at least six minutes.  If you have a handmixer, by all means use it here.
5. When the eggs have been warmed sufficiently, put the bowl on the mixer and beat at medium speed with the whisk attachment until the mixture has expanded 2 -3 times in volume and is very pale.  If you draw your initials in the batter they should stay there for a few second before fading and the eggs should be of a ribbon consistency.  This should take 15 minutes with a standing electric mixer.
6. While the egg mixture is mixing, combine the milk and the honey in a microwave safe container and heat for 1 minute.  Then stir so that the honey melts into the milk.
7. Combine the flour and the lemon zest and toss so that the lemon zest is well incorporated.
8. After the eggs have reached the desired volume and color slowly drizzle the milk/honey mixture into the bowl with the mixer on low speed.
9. Add the flour/lemon mixture one tablespoon at a time until incorporated.
10. Add the matcha and vanilla and mix just until incorporated.
11. Pour batter into prepared baking pan and bake for approximately 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
12. Make a honey syrup by combining a couple of tablespoons of honey with a couple of tablespoons of hot water.  Brush this honey water over the cake as soon as it is out of the oven.
13. Then, this is weird, before letting the cake cool, transfer the cake (with the parchment paper) into a plastic bag and put in the refrigerator.  If this cake dries in the air, it will become dry.
14. Let cool in the refrigerator and then slice.  The crusts on the side of the cake should be removed.