Matcha Chiffon Cake with Black Sesame Cream

Aromatic and fluffy matcha chiffon cake topped with black sesame whipped cream makes a perfect dessert that's delicious, light, and satisfying yet guilt-free.

Chiffon cake is very popular in Asian countries. It has a light, airy and delicate texture like Angel food cake, but a bit richer and more satisfying as it contains whole eggs instead of just egg whites.

In Taiwan, we make chiffon cake into many different forms, but the most common and popular way is to serve it with whipped cream and sliced fruit. Traditional Taiwanese birthday cakes are exactly this combination, so it may be quite nostalgic for many.

Since matcha with black sesame is one of my favorite flavor combinations, I developed this matcha chiffon cake with black sesame cream recipe that I really love. Hope you all can give it a try!

Why You Should Try This Recipe

• It's light, satisfying and less guilt-inducing compared with most American desserts.
• If you like the cakes in Asian bakeries, you need to try making this!
• I will walk you through each steps with pictures and detailed descriptions.
• You don't need a chiffon cake pan to make it, any not non-stick pan will work.

Ingredients You'll Need

notes

• Cake Flour - you can replace this with pastry flour but not all purpose or bread flour. Look for the cake flour has less than 3g of protein per serving for best results.
• Vinegar - it helps stabilize the egg white, you can also use lemon juice instead.
• Matcha Powder - use cooking grade matcha powder. I got mine from Arbor Teas, which works very well in terms of color and flavor.
• Whipping Cream - you can use either whipping cream or heavy whipping cream.
• Black Sesame Paste - also called black sesame butter or black tahini.

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1 - Make Egg Yolk Batter

Whisk milk and oil together until well combine and microwave for 20 seconds.

Sift in cake flour and matcha powder, roughly mix just until you can't see any dry flour. Add in egg yolks and salt then whisk just until smooth. Mix in the motion of writing "Z" and "N" instead of a circular motion in order to prevent developing gluten.

Step 2 - Beat Egg White Until Soft Peak

In a clean and dry mixing bowl, add vinegar in egg white and then beat until the egg white is foaming. Add in a third of the sugar before beating some more.

Do this three times, beating at medium speed, until all the sugar is incorporated and you can form soft peaks with the egg whites.

Step 3- Combine Egg Yolk and Egg White Batter

Scoop about one cup of egg white into the egg yolk batter and mix to combine before pouring the resulting mixtur before adding the mixture back into the rest of the egg white.

Mix with a spatula from bottom to top in the motion of writing "J" while turning the mixing bowl, so the mixture can be well combined. Don't stir in a circular motion or over mix, as that would cause the mixture to deflate,

Pour the mixture into a 6 inch cake pan, use a chopstick or skewer to run through the batter to remove the bigger air bubbles.

Step 4- Bake and Cool Down

Bake the cake at 310°F (155°C) for 45 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

If you want to control the pattern of the cracks on the cake, you can take the cake out from the oven after the top of the cake seems to have set (about 12 minutes into baking), and score the top of the cake. In my picture below, I've scored the top of the cake in the pattern of an asterisk and the resulting cracks propagated in that shape.

When it's done baking, drop the cake pan on the counter from about 3 inches up one time before quickly turning it upside down on a baking rack (like what's show in the picture). Doing this helps prevent the cake from shrinking.

Let the cake cool down completely before unmolding. This usually takes about 1-2 hours.

Step 5 - Make Black Sesame Cream and Assemble

While waiting for the cake to cool, Add sugar and black sesame paste in the cold whipped cream and whisk with an electric mixer until it thickens but still remains a little bit runny (reference picture below for the texture).

To assemble, unmold the cake and place it upside down on a plate or cake stand, pour the the desired amount of black sesame cream on top of the cake and use the back of the spoon to push some of the cream to the edge and let it drip down a little bit off the sides if you'd like.

Once your cake is ready, make some milk tea to go with it for the perfect afternoon tea. Or if you want to entertain more guests and need other quick and easy desserts to go with your cake, check out my almond puff pastry cookie, or snowflake crisp recipes!

Tips and Tricks

• Beating egg whites properly is the key to success when making chiffon cake. Using cold eggs and fine sugar helps achieving the fine foamy texture.
• Don't over beat the egg white! If you are new to making chiffon cake, I would recommend beating egg whites with a hand mixer instead of a stand mixer, as it's easier to observe and control the beating process to avoid over beating. If the egg whites are over beaten, it will be more difficult to incorporate with the egg yolk batter and the resulting cake will more likely deflate.
• When mixing and incorporate the batter, mix in the motion like writing "Z" and "N" instead of circular motion to prevent developing gluten. If too much gluten develops, the cake will be denser and less fluffy.
• The actual baking time depends on your oven and the material of your baking pan.
• Make sure you place the cake upside down to cool right after you take it out from the oven. If you're afraid the top part of the cake be pressed down by the baking rack, you can get a cake cooling stand or just let it sit on two cups, one at each side.

Recipe FAQs

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