Black Sesame Chiffon

The little medic can bake!

To prepare the medic for a possible life time of delicate maneuvers requiring a scalpel, I thought her clinical training should start from separating the egg whites from yolks.  And the important task of separating a soft chiffon from its metal prison fell on her as well. After all, releasing a chiffon requires a different skill set as compared to cutting up cadavers and the former is just as important.

Maybe the university should consider getting me to train the dexterity of their med students?

Ingredients:

A- 75g cake flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 Tbsp black sesame powder

B- 4 egg yolks, 20g caster sugar, 50ml canola oil, 50 ml water

C- 4 egg whites, 50g caster sugar, 1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Method:

Combine flour, baking powder, sesame powder. Reserve.

Combine yolks, sugar, oil and water (B). Whisk until frothy.

Sieve flour mix into the yolk mixture. Whisk until homogenous.

Reserve.

At this point, preheat the oven to 170C with a raised baking rack.

Prepare the chiffon pan, ungreased and undusted.

Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until coarse bubbles forms.

Add sugar in a steady stream while continuing to whisk.

Stop when meringue almost achieves stiff peak (only the tip of the meringue bends a wee bit).

Spoon 1/3 of the meringue into the batter. Whisk gently until homogenous to reduce the viscosity.

In 2 other portions, fold in the meringue into the batter until mixture turns homogenous. For novice bakers, it is easiest to cut into the batter with the spatula tilted at an angle in a semi-circular movement.

Transfer the combined batter to the chiffon pan.

Bake at 170C for 30 minutes.

Invert the pan to cool, on a raised rack.

When the pan is cool to the touch, separate the cake from the pan by using a thin knife, scrapping the wall of the pan with a wee tilt. Do it on all contact sides.

Gently release the cake and serve it upside down.

Chocolate , black sesame and coconut cake

15 candles couldn't fit on this mini cake so we left it as that.

My family and  I have entered the next stage of my pastime. They now have to dispense with fancy store bought birthday cakes because the baking bug has me bitten hard and fast.

Of course, options are always available, but they are too polite to refuse my kind intentions. On my part, I try to be professional and cater to their wishes as much as my skill allows.

My kid's order list, dark colored, frosted and personal sized, is much like her : bold, adventurous with a hint of self restrain. I translated it to a East-meets-West cake with black powdered sesame,  coconut and dark chocolate.

Are 3 flavors too much for a little cake? Yes and no. The sesame was understated and the coconut which assumed some chocolaty identity gives her something to chew about.

Life is 'hard' when your birthday falls midweek at the beginning of the new school term, drowned by piano lessons and homework. Hope the cake will sweeten her day !

Look what happens when 3 hungry people devour a cake.

Choc component :

90 g dark chocolate

90 ml  double cream

Dry component :

100g plain flour

60g desiccated coconut

2T black sesame powder

1 t baking powder

1/8 t salt

Egg component :

60g softened unsalted butter

100g sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

Frosting :

100 ml whipping cream

Preheat oven to 170C.

To prepare choc component, melt cream and chocolate over a double boiler. Whisk until chocolate cream is liquid and homogenous. Leave to cool.

Mix dry components in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Now to the egg component : cream the butter,  beat in sugar until  pale and light. Whisk in egg, one at a time until egg batter is smooth and homogenous.

Final assembly :

In 3 batches, mix in dry component. Finally, add in melted chocolate cream.

Mix well. Batter will appear thick and gooey. Pour batter into 12 medium sized cupcake cups or a baking tray. I used a tray 8x26x5.5 cm.

Bake at 170C for 35 minutes for cake  in tray, 25 minutes when using cupcakes.

Cake is ready when skewer pierced into the cake center comes out clean. Cool cake in tray thoroughly before removing it to cool it further on a rake.

To frost, whip cream until fluffy. Scoop a dollop over the cake and garnish with black sesame powder.

We downed the entire cake in one go so I have no idea how many days this would keep. Enjoy !

I was over zealous with black sesame dusting and so the fresh cream was swamped by it!