Sponge Worthy: Castella Cake Meets Kikusui

Sponge Worthy: Castella Cake Meets Kikusui

From Sake Revolution by Timothy Sullivan, John Puma

June 1, 2026 · 37 min · Season 4 · Episode 189

About this episode

The hosts celebrate the transition to video by attempting a viral sake challenge involving castella cake and Kikusui Funaguchi.

Episode 189. After six years of audio-only podcasting, Sake Revolution is officially on video — and we're celebrating by doing something dangerous... dangerously delicious, that is! John and Timothy are trying their hand at a 15-million-view viral sake challenge out of Japan: dipping castella cake into a can of Kikusui Funaguchi. A sake shop called Kurand started it. Kikusui's own social media team escalated it. And now America's first sake podcast is here to find out if castella cake is real...

People in this episode

Hosts: Timothy Sullivan, John Puma

Topics covered

  • sake
  • castella cake
  • viral challenges
  • Japanese culture
  • food pairing
  • podcasting

Keywords

  • sake
  • castella cake
  • Kikusui Funaguchi
  • viral challenge
  • Kurand
  • food pairing
  • Japanese sweets

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Kurand

Products: Kikusui Funaguchi

Books & works: castella cake

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