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Banana Ogura Cake

Name: Banana Ogura Cake
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Malaysian
Ingredients: 5 Egg Yolks + 1 Whole Egg; 60g Corn Oil; 150g Mashed Banana; 1/4 Tsp Salt; 80g Plain Flour; 5 Egg Whites; 1/4 Tsp Cream Of Tartar; 60g Caster Sugar

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Difficulty: Tricky
Serves: 8
Ready in: 1hr 10mins

Ogura cake is a soft, bouncy sponge cake from Malaysia. The egg whites get whipped into a meringue and folded in, which makes it super light. It’s like chiffon but a little creamier and denser. Pandan is the classic, but banana, chocolate, and orange are all great too.

Equipment

7″ Square Pan (opens in a new window)

Steps

Preheat oven to about 145C.
Line the base and two sides of the cake pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang for easy lifting when unmolding the cake.

Cake Batter

Sift the flour into a bowl, stir in the salt, and set it aside.
Separate the eggs, putting the whites in a clean bowl for the meringue.
Whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, and oil by hand until frothy. Mix in the mashed banana until well combined, then gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until the batter is smooth. Set it aside while you make the meringue.
Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and keep beating until foamy. Slowly add the sugar and beat until you get firm peaks. When you lift the whisk and turn it upside down, the peaks should hold their shape and curl over just slightly at the tip.
Gently fold ⅓ of the meringue into the yolk batter with a hand whisk. Fold in another ⅓ the same way. Then pour the batter into the bowl with the remaining meringue and fold carefully with a spatula until no white streaks are left.
Pour the batter into your prepared pan and give it a few light taps on the counter to knock out any air bubbles. I also like to run a chopstick through the batter in a few swirls to release anything trapped inside.

Baking

Set the cake pan inside a slightly larger pan, then place both in an even bigger pan filled with about ½ inch (1.5 cm) of hot water.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 70 minutes.
As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, tap the pan on the counter a few times. This lets out any trapped steam and air so the cake settles evenly instead of shrinking or sinking as it cools.
Unmold the cake right away. Run a thin knife around the unlined sides of the pan, then lift the cake out onto a cooling rack.
Once it’s completely cool, gently peel the parchment off the bottom.

Notes

The meringue is what makes or breaks this cake. If you overbeat it, the cake can crack, and if you underbeat it, the cake won’t rise much or may sink once it’s out of the oven.

Use room temperature egg whites, since they whip up with a lot more volume than cold ones. That said, eggs are easier to separate straight from the fridge, so separate them cold and let the whites sit out for a bit before whipping.

Make sure your bowl is completely clean and there’s no trace of yolk or grease in it. Even a little fat will keep the whites from whipping up properly.

Cream of tartar helps stabilize the meringue. If you don’t have any, you can swap in lemon juice or white vinegar, using twice as much. So if a recipe calls for ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar, use ½ teaspoon lemon juice instead.