BLACK SESAME AND GREEN TEA CHIFFON CAKE

This is not my first foray into the combination of black sesame and green tea. It is a marriage that will forever be skirting the edges of my mind when planning desserts. As a lover of sweet combinations that border on savoury, black sesame and green tea as individual flavours are wonderful. However, paired together, they become magical. A light as air chiffon cake seemed like the perfect opportunity to once again showcase black sesame and green tea. The thought that a knife would slice through the russet coloured exterior of the cake to reveal a deliciously dark black sesame centre was too much to resist.

And while the black sesame chiffon worked perfectly, my dreams of swirling the green tea (matcha) powder through the meringue to make a vibrant green topping were dashed. A meringue test batch yielded sub-par greenage, so I resorted to sprinkling green tea powder over the top. Luckily, it made for a rather lovely snapshot and the balance of flavour worked beautifully. INGREDIENTS BLACK SESAME CHIFFON CAKE

• 50g black sesame tahini (sesame paste)
• 1 cup milk
• 340g plain flour
• 230g caster sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 8 egg whites
• 7 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup grapeseed oil

GREEN TEA SWISS MERINGUE

• 140g egg whites*
• 200g caster sugar*
• 2 teaspoons green tea (matcha) powder

DIRECTIONS BLACK SESAME CHIFFON

• Preheat oven to 140° Celsius (280° Fahrenheit).
• Combine black sesame tahini and 1/2 cup milk in a heavy saucepan and stir until well combined. Head slowly until just simmering then turn off the heat and leave to cool completely to room temperature.
• In a medium bowl sift together flour 1/2 the caster sugar (115g), baking powder and salt. In another medium bowl whisk together the egg yolks, grapeseed oil, black sesame milk and the remaining milk until smooth. Slowly stir in the flour mixture until smooth and set aside.
• In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Continue to whisk while slowly adding the remaining caster sugar in batches until stiff, shiny peaks form.
• Stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the yolk mixture until completely incorporated, then very gently fold the remaining egg whites through ensuring the mixture is light and foamy.
• Transfer to an ungreased chiffon tube pan (if you don't have a chiffon pan, it needs to be a aluminium pan for the light as air chiffon to work - non stick pans will not work) and bake on the lowest oven rack for 70 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly pressed. Check the cake at 45 minutes, and if it browning too quickly or the top is cracking, cover the top with a piece of aluminium foil sprayed with olive oil (so the top doesn't stick). If it is rising too rapidly, place a baking tray over the top of the aluminium.
• Remove cake from oven and invert the pan immediately (aluminium pans will ensure the cake sticks to the pan when it is inverted). Leave it upside down until it has completely cooled, then run a knife around the edge, ease the cake out. If you have a chiffon cake pan, it will have a removable base, so gently remove that too. You can serve as is with fresh whipped cream stirred with a little green tea powder, or you can go one step further and make the swiss meringue topping.

GREEN TEA SWISS MERINGUE

• Place a small saucepan with 1 inch of water over high heat and bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn down the temperature to a simmer. Combine the egg whites and sugar in a metal bowl that will fit over the saucepan of water (without touching) and place it over the saucepan, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves completely or the temperature reaches 65°C (150°F).
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