Black Sesame Swirl Cake

I can’t believe I am posting a new recipe here after so long. Ever since the lock-down I have been on my toes round the clock. If anything good has come out of this situation for me (this seems to be the question that gets asked often these days) is that I have had a break from driving 3 hours to and back for school drop offs and pick ups daily as the twins stayed at home. However there was distance learning aka home schooling to deal with. Hungry and impatient kids needing ongoing support and attention while I had my own projects lined up. Finally when Easter break came, a different challenge surfaced. How to find new ways of keeping kids engaged! They managed to pick up a few hobbies and interests but I have been struggling to do any of the things I enjoy. Like baking or photographing or writing. I feel for all the parents with young kids. As if life wasn’t hard enough before the pandemic!

Coming to this cake, if you’ve tried out treats from Asian bakeries, you might have come across black sesame flavour. It’s nutty, fragrant and really lovely. This cake is actually way simpler than it looks. Part of the cake batter is mixed with black sesame powder and then the black batter is swirled in with the original batter.

The buttercream and rosettes are optional but I was waiting to experiment with a blue-gray palette for a long time and I grabbed the opportunity. If you want to enjoy the cake without a frosting, it will still be great.

How are you dealing with the current situation? Have you developed any new hobbies or creative interests?

Black Sesame Swirl Cake
Makes a 9 inch round cake
150 g butter, cubed
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 and 3/4 cups self-raising flour
200 g greek yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp black sesame powder

For the vanilla buttercream
250 g butter, softened
3 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
Vanilla extract
Blue food gel
Grey food gel

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease the base and sides and line the base of a 9 inch pan with baking paper.
Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition until combined.
Stir in half the flour and yogurt until just combined. Stir in the remaining flour, yogurt and vanilla until combined.
Pour 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Add black sesame powder to the remaining batter to make the black swirl. Dollop onto the pan and swirl with a wooden skewer. Bake for 40 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven. Cool to room temperature.

To make the buttercream, using an electric mixer, beat butter in a bowl until pale. Gradually beat in the icing sugar, vanilla and milk until fully incorporated. Divide buttercream between 3 bowls, add the gel colours to two of the bowls and pipe rosettes onto cake using a 1M tip.