Happy New Year 2021!!
Finally got ube halaya from Asian market and was determined to bake something with it, thus chose ube sesame cake over ube chocolate cake. As a matter of fact, ube chocolate could have been a better combination as both ube and sesame are strong flavors and could play central role in cake. Separating them is not a bad idea.
Also! I finally have a cake spinner to icing. It saves so much time and makes icing much easier, prettier! Strongly recommend buying one if you like to make cakes on special occasions to share with friends and family!
QUICK TAKEAWAYS (not so QUICK this time :D)
- both ube and sesame are strong flavors, I think it might be better to either weaken one of them, or separate them. One feedback I got is sesame + chocolate cake, or ube + coconut cake.
- my ube recipe is quite dense, used 2 small sweet potatoes; more milk can be added to make it more light.
- chiffon cake in baking: rising to highest point, dropping a little bit; when it does not drop anymore, the cake is done. So really need to keep an eye on the height of the cake to judge if it is cooked. Temperature and time are not absolute! Observe Observe Observe!
- I added too much vinegar in egg white before whisking, or used the too strongly-flavored vinegar. I can taste the sourness in cake :<
- I added too much sesame powder in cream for icing, making the cream not very smooth and darker color. Could use less sesame in piping cream!
- Heavy whipping cream is also easily whipping when placed on ice and with sesame powder. Watch out not to over whisk, and add more cream if over-whisk.
- I finally got a cake spinner!! It made life SOOOO much easier for filling and icing, save SOOOO much time and create SOOOO much prettier cake!
- making cake and basic icing a night before, to help cream set and taste better the next day. I have tried bake, icing, and decorate the same day. The cream did not set very well and taste bit too milky and creamy.
RECIPE
Sesame Cake (6-inch):
- Cake Mix:
- 3 egg yolks
- 30g oil
- 30g sesame powder
- 35g cake flour
- 60g milk
- 15g sugar
- 1g salt
- Egg White:
- 3 egg white
- 25g sgar
- 3-4g vinegar/lemon juice (I used 6g, too much)
- 2g tartar (can skip)
Ube filling (3-layer cake with 2-layer fillings):
- 250g sweet potato
- 100g ube (from ube halaya)
- 50g milk (could be more!)
- 35-40 condense milk (can substitute with sugar and use more milk)
- 1g salt
Sesame cream:
- 200g heavy whipping cream (would not use up, just to make enough)
- 20-25g sesame powder (I used 35g sesame, but the cream was not very smooth because of sesame’s powder form)
- 6g sugar
Piping cream for decoration:
- 100g heaving whipping cream (would not use up, just to make enough)
- 7g sugar
- food colors
Procedure:
PART I: Sesame Cake
Step 0: Grind 80g sesame, 20g roasted peanuts to powders. No sugar added as we will add sugar in the cake later
Step 1: Divide 3 eggs into egg yolks and egg white; store the bowl with egg white in fridge, low temperature of egg white gives smoother texture
Step 2: Over low heat, heat up 30g oil and 30g sesame oil, mix well.
Step 3: Remove from heat, add 60g milk and 3 egg yolks. Mix well
- I added milk and egg yolk first before cake flour because I did not want to over-mix flour and create gluten. But I think these two steps can be swapped.
Step 4: Sieve through 55g cake flour, 15g sugar and 1g salt, mix well by drawing “Z” in cake mix. Adjust consistency by adding flour or milk.
- Cake mix should have the consistency that drawn pattern will not disappear in 2-3 seconds
pattern stays for 2-3 secs
Step 5: transfer cake mix to fridge, bring out egg white bowl. Pre-heat oven at 155C/311F.
Step 6: add 3-4g vinegar/lemon juice, 2g tartar; prepare 25 sugar on the side
- whisk at high speed, when big bubbles form, add 1/3 sugar
- whisk at high speed, when pattern starting to appear, add 1/3 sugar
- whisk at mid-low speed, when pattern seems less liquid, add final 1/3 sugar
- whisk at low speed till firm peak with a small hook appeared
firm base, bended soft hook 
Step 7: bring cake mix out of fridge; transfer 1/3 egg white into cake mix bowl, gently mix; add everything back to egg white bowl, mix well.
- consistency should be pattern drawn does not disappear after 1-2 secs
Step 8: pour cake mix **slowly** into cake mold. Mold does not need to be lined as chiffon cake needs to climb UP during bake.
- pouring slowly can help large bubbles escape when poured by the edge of bowl
Step 9: drop the cake mold 2-3 times to get rid of more bubbles.
1/3 egg white in cake mix 
add all back to egg white 
drop
Step 10: bake cake at 155C/311F for 45mins. Temperature and time are not absolute. Need to observe cake peak height and dropping height every 10-15mins.
cracks formed soon after 
peak 
dropped back a bit
Step 11: **IMPORTANT** bring cake out, drop cake 1-2 times from 15cm/3-4 inches height. This step breaks bubbles in the cake, so it does not further sink when air cools down. Kill bubbles before they start to shrink.
shrink a bit after dropping
Step 12: **IMPORTANT** place cake upside down, help the shaping of cake and maintain its height
Step 13: **IMPORTANT** let cool for at least 2 hours, be patient before de-molding. If remove from mold too early, cake might have a weird shape collapsing a bit, slim “waist”.
Step 14: slice into 3 even layers and wait till filling and icing.
PART II: Ube Filling & Sesame Icing
Step 1: steam 250g or less sweet potato till soft. Pour 200g heavy whipping cream in a whisking bowl, store in fridge.
Step 2: blend steamed sweet potato, 100g ube halaya, more than 50g milk, 35-40g condense milk and 1g salt till soft.
- this is more of an art then science. Eyeballing its consistency and adjust ingredients based on your preference.
Step 3: transfer to a piping bag, cool down in fridge
too dense 
Step 4: pipe ube filling on cake, layer by layer, and spread evenly.
Step 5: take advantage of the leftover ube filling to brush on the side of the cake, help fill in gap, make it a straight up cake for easier icing of sesame cream later.
- I had a “Pisa Tower” at first as layers are not quite aligned, using ube cream helped me reset it to standing position.
even out the Pisa Tower
Step 6: remove whisking bowl with heaving whipping cream from fridge. Place whisking bowl on ice/water with ice bag (from grocery delivery ahah).
Step 7: add 20-25g sesame powder, 6g sugar, whisk from high speed, stop when soft peaks form.
- cream is very easily whipped when placed on ice and with sesame powder, watch out not to over-whisk. If over-whisk, just add more cream to bring it back to the soft-peak state.
Step 8: transfer to piping bag, pipe as rings on the outside and smooth it out. AGAIN, cake spinner make this step 3x faster than my usually!! And piping them as rings was definitely easier!
Step 9: store in fridge overnight to help cream set, easier for decoration as well
PART III: Decoration
Step 1: pour 100g heaving whipping cream in whisking bowl, store in fridge.
Step 2: bring out bowl, place on ice/water with ice bag, whisk from high speed till low till soft peaks form. Since we need to add food color and more mixing later, better not to whisk cream 80% as usual for piping
Step 3: divide cream into 3 bowls, add in yellow and purple colors, mix well.
Step 4: use the back of spoons to stick cream, and wipe on the side of cake to create flowers’ pedals.
Step 5: when done with creating flowers on the side and top center, transfer remaining cream to piping bag; pipe different shapes on top the cake.
Step 6: transfer to the fridge and let it set.
READY TO SERVE! PHOTO TIME!!!
RESOURCES
