tahini sesame swirl teacake

tahini sesame swirl teacake

• 10 Jan 2022

Welcome to my first post for 2022. I'm just about to return to work for the first time in 6 months. I baked up a storm during my break for those weekends when I just don't have time to bake.

 

This tahini swirl teacake was on my long list of 'Things to bake' and on the day I made the cake I was particularly distracted. 

 

 

I only had 3 eggs in the fridge and one of the eggs destined for the cake accidentally made it's way into the food scraps bin instead of the batter.

The recipe is dairy free but if you don't mind dairy, you could swap the orange juice for yoghurt. I think the addition of yoghurt would mellow out the tahini flavour a little. The cake is quite sweet so if you serve the cake with a dollop of yoghurt, which I did, the yoghurt helps to cut through the sweetness.

If you'd like a cake that tastes just a little different then maybe this tahini sesame swirl teacake is the cake for you. The recipe was adapted from 'Falafel For Breakfast' by Michael Rantissi and Kristy Frawley, whilst the black sesame swirl was pinched from a Claire Saffitz recipe. 

 

The original recipe called for a few tablespoons of sesame seeds which were folded through the batter. Instead, I ground up black sesame seeds added them to a portion of batter, alternated layers of the different coloured batters then did a few swirls with a chopstick. I have to say I'm mightily impressed with that swirl.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a makes a 5 cup bundt cake or a 17cm round cake. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60 g eggs. My oven is a conventional oven so if you have a fan-forced oven you may need to reduce the temperature by 20°C. The original recipe can be found here.

Tahini and black sesame swirl teacake 

Coating 

2 tsp white sesame seeds

2 tsp black sesame seeds

2 tsp sugar

Cake 

1½ tbs black sesame seeds

2 eggs

150g (⅔ cup) caster sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped or 1 tsp vanilla extract

125 ml (½ cup) light extra virgin olive oil or neutral oil

160 ml (⅔ cup) orange juice or yoghurt

135g (½ cup) tahini

185 g (1¼ cups) plain flour

1½ tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional. In a small bowl mix together the sesame seeds and sugar. Brush the sides of a kugelhopf or fluted ring (bundt) cake tin with butter or oil then sprinkle with the sesame seed mixture. Set aside in the fridge.

Finely grind the black sesame seeds in a food processor, spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Place into a small bowl and set aside.

Put the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and mix using a wooden spoon.  Slowly add the oil, stirring. Add the orange juice and stir to combine. Add the tahini and mix well.  Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the wet ingredients and then mix until just combined. Do not over mix.

Measure out 1 cup of the batter and add to the bowl containing the ground black sesame seeds. Mix until combined.

Pour about ⅓ plain batter into the prepared tin and then pour over ⅓ black sesame batter. Repeat the layering process until there is no batter left. Using a chopstick or knife gently swirl the batter a few times to create the swirl. Place the tin in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour, or until golden and firm.

 

Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. You can serve the cake with a dollop of natural yoghurt or enjoy it with a cup of mint and lemon tea.

 

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

 

Bye for now,

 

Jillian