Oct 29, 2022

Black Sesame, Ube, and Coconut Cake

Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan.
Mix the flour, black sesame powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
In another bowl, cream together the margarine, sugar, and tahini. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Finally, mix in the soy milk.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix until just combined. Pour into the greased cake pan and bake for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Place the cake pan on a wire rack to cool. Remove the cake from the pans and let it cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan.
Whisk together the flour, sugars, baking powder, soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Add the rest of the cake base ingredients and mix well. Pour into the prepared pan.
Bake for 20-22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Place the cake pan on a wire rack to cool. Remove the cake from the pans and let it cool completely.

Combine the coconut milk, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.
In a small bowl, combine the soymilk and cornstarch. Slowly mix into the coconut milk.
Stirring continuously, cook until the cream thickens, about 5 minutes.
Transfer the cream to a container and put it in the fridge to cool.

Beat the margarine until fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar gradually at low speed.
Add in the vinegar and vanilla.
Use the soymilk to adjust the consistency as needed.

Chop the chocolate and add it to a heatproof bowl. Set aside.
Heat the soymilk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan until it comes to a low boil.
Pour the soymilk mixture over the chocolate, and cover the bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, whisk in the olive oil until smooth. Let the ganache thicken at room temperature for 20 minutes before using or chill it in the fridge. If chilling, it may need to be reheated before using.

Place the ube cake layer on a cake platter. Spread the coconut cream on top and chill until set.
Place the sesame layer on top of the cream. Coat the cake with a thin layer of buttercream. Chill the cake to let the buttercream set.
Optional: for a colorful frosting, divide the buttercream into 4 parts. To one, add the ube puree; to another, add the sesame powder and more soymilk; and to a third, add the cocoa powder and more soymilk. Adjust the amount of soymilk in each flavor to have a smooth frosting.
If using plain buttercream, coat the whole cake in a thicker layer. For the colorful frosting, put a layer of the ube frosting on the bottom of the sides of the cake. Cover the middle layer with the plain buttercream and the top layer with the sesame buttercream. Smooth out the frosting with a bench scraper.
Drizzle the chocolate ganache over the top of the cake. Let it drip down the sides. Let the cake chill so that the ganache hardens.
Optional: while the ganache hardens, put the remaining frosting in 4 parallel lines on top of a piece of cling film. Roll it up like a log, cut one end, and place it in a piping bag with a star tip.
Pipe spirals on top of the cake and serve.