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The festive season is just the time to be grateful for the ever-humble yet incredibly versatile sponge cake. But, though we’d happily accept a few tipsy layers inside a trifle any day, this Korean version called the bansuk castella may just rival it. The sheer droolworthiness of its pull-apart nature is enough to convince us that we need to hop aboard a plane right now, but knowing that the foamy inside tastes like cake batter seals the deal.

A video posted by Daphne Tan (@daphnetantan) on Nov 5, 2016 at 1:22pm PDT

As reported by Insider Food, the bansuk castella cake craze first started in Seoul and seems to be Korea’s answer to pasteis de nata – however, instead of a custard-filled pastry, the bansuk castella is airy on the outside while the inside is seemingly half-baked, with a whimsical foamy consistency. It comes in various flavours including plain, green tea, lemon and dark chocolate.

  A photo posted by Hanim Hani (@hanimhanii) on Nov 10, 2016 at 7:28am PST

The castella cake is a traditional Japanese sponge cake that, like the pasteis de nata, is Portuguese in origin. Portuguese merchants took them to Japan in the 16th century and the recipe spread and improved, leading to Korea’s beautiful half-baked version. Watch below as two friends try it for the first time, describing the taste as being “like eating sponge cake dough” and affirming that it is “YUMMY”.

Finally, we can have our cake batter and eat our cake too.

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