This is a recipe that Fabio recently came up with as a homemade dessert while ensuring some good nutrients for the family.
Miso has been embedded in my whole life. Literally, every Japanese household has it in the kitchen, and it’s not an overstatement to say it’s one of the Japanese’ most essential ingredients. My childhood memory of coming home after school and smelling miso soup from the kitchen is almost as comforting and vivid as the memory of actually seeing my mom cooking in there.
Why you should have miso every day
Fermented soybeans with salt, koji, and other ingredients like rice. Miso is excellent not only for soup but also for flavoring fish and meat and even pickling. It’s a traditional Japanese ingredient, but I highly recommend everyone to try including miso in their daily diet. Here’s why.
Benefits of miso on your body:
- It’s full of various B vitamins, vitamins E, K, and folic acid (and many more).
- Because it’s fermented, it’s easier for your body to digest it and absorb its protein and other essential nutrients.
- The beneficial bacteria and enzymes in miso keep you healthy. National Cancer Center Research Institute reported that more frequent intake of miso soup lowers the mortality rate from stomach cancer for both men and women. And especially for men who don’t drink miso soup had a 48% higher chance of getting stomach cancer than people who drink it every day.
- The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare research group investigated the relationship between fermented food intake, including miso soup, and breast cancer cases for 10 years. Turned out, the incidence of breast cancer decreases by 26% when they have miso soup 2 cups a day, and 40% when they have 3 cups a day compared to just one cup or less a day.
Trying miso in different recipes.
At the beginning of the year, I made my first own miso with the help of some experts in town. After 6 months of waiting, Fabio has been making various dishes with it, including desserts, and they’ve been delightful. This pound cake is one of my favorites: It’s full of Umami, soft and moist with a hint of saltiness, and more importantly, it’s super easy to make for your family.
Note: We recommend white miso (shiro miso) for this recipe, but we encourage you to use what you can get at your local store! Taste it first before using it, and so you know its saltiness before adjusting the amount you’ll include in your cake.
Ingredients
1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs, beaten
1~2 tablespoons milk (optional if you want more moisture)
1 cup flour
1-2 tablespoons white miso (or any other types of miso available at your local store)
1 tablespoon honey
Directions
1. Heat the oven to 360°F without a baking sheet. Place a parchment paper inside a loaf pan.
2. Whisk the butter in a bowl until it’s creamy, then add sugar. Whisk more.
3. Add the miso and whisk more.
4. Add the beaten eggs to the bowl slowly while whisking.
5. Add the flour and mix it roughly with a spatula. Before the flour is thoroughly mixed, add the milk if you want moisture in the cake. Instead of stirring the batter, scrape it out from the bottom of the bowl to smooth it out.
6. Pour the batter into the loaf pan.
7. Drizzle some honey on top of the batter.
8. Bake for 10 minutes.
9. Take it out of the oven — don’t panic, the batter will be runny, and that’s ok!
10. Take a knife and cut it (yes, the runny batter) vertically, 1/4 – 1/2 inches deep. This will help the cake rise and puff very nicely.
11. Back in the oven for 30 more minutes.
The cake should look nice and golden. If it doesn’t look like this, leave the cake in the oven for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.
Let it cool down. Store at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
