Suzakiya traces its roots back to founder Yasujiro Ito, who ran a shipping business in the port of Nagasaki. The castella sponge cake made there was considered a rare luxury at the time, and he wanted to bring this product to locals who had not tried it for themselves before. He thus set out to learn how it was baked, then transported the flour and sugar himself from Nagasaki. 

The year was 1868. 

Our name, Suzakiya, was inspired by the Port of Suzaki and the Suzaki-Maru, the carrier ship that docked there. 

Mankichi, third-generation proprietor of the business, mastered the craft of Gosanyaki castella baking, passing it down to fourth-generation heir Shuji and fifth-generation heir Daiji. Gosanyaki castella is prepared with whole eggs and additional egg yolk and the name refers to using a 5:3 ratio of egg yolk and egg white. The less egg white present, the more challenging it is to make a fluffy pastry. 

 This calls for gentle whisking, mixing, and skimming of the eggs and carefully adjusting the temperature in a constant fashion to get the desired quality, so mass production is out of the question. 

We have refined and revamped the Gosanyaki castella, a traditional form of Nagasaki sponge cake, through unstinting care with every ingredient. The result is a new castella for the modern age. 

The dough is prepared using Suzakiya's special eggs, which have a more flavorful note. To balance this, we use rare Japanese refined sugar and high purity granulated sugar, as well as high-grade glutinous rice syrup to give the cake an even more gentle flavor. 

We invite you to try for yourself how our commitment to ingredients and traditional baking make this the perfect sponge cake. 

Suzakiya fifth-generation proprietor Daiji Ito