Black Sesame Cake with Coconut Frosting

Serves 12

30 mins prep

50 mins cook

90 mins Resting Time

170 mins total

Black sesame cake layers filled with coconut ermine frosting and crunchy black sesame coconut cookie crumbles.

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Make the cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with a circle of parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, black sesame powder, kosher salt and baking powder until thoroughly combined and set aside.

Crack eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat the eggs on medium speed for 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly stream the sugar in.

When the sugar is completely in, turn the speed to high and beat for 7 minutes. The mixture should be light and fluffy.

Combine the milk, butter and black sesame paste in a saucepan and gently heat and stir until completely melted. Do not let it overheat or simmer. Strain into a medium heatproof bowl, discarding any unmelted black sesame paste. Add the vanilla and oil and whisk to combine. Set aside but do not let it cool off too much (do not do this ahead of time).

Add the flour mixture in three parts to the egg mixture just mixing until almost combined. If you still see flour, finish mixing by hand by folding the batter with a rubber spatula.

Remove two large spoonfuls of batter and add it to the milk-butter mixture and whisk to completely combine. This tempers your milk mixture so that it does not cook your egg mixture.

Pour the milk mixture into the rest of the egg mixture with the beaters running on low. Continue beating just 10-15 seconds more until combined.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Wrap bake even strips around the outsides, if using.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the pan and let cool completely.

Make the cookie crumbs

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Preheat the oven to 300°F.
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In a medium bowl thoroughly whisk together all of the cookie crumb ingredients except the oil and vanilla.

Add vanilla to the oil and whisk. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and blend together with a rubber spatula until crumbles form.

Dump this mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Using your fingers and/or a ½ tsp measuring spoon make larger crumbs (for the top of the cake) and medium-size crumbs (for the middle of the cake).

Bake the crumbs for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Make the frosting

Open the can of coconut milk. Pour into a microwave-safe container. If you see lumps, microwave until melted and smooth.

Combine flour and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk and cook for about 2 minutes to toast the flour.

Slowly add the coconut milk, whisking to combine, and turn heat to medium-high. Bring the mixture to a simmer, whisking continuously until it is thick and pudding-like. Once simmering, cook for an additional minute.

Spread the mixture onto a sheet pan lined with plastic or a silicone baking mat and cover with plastic wrap so that it is touching the surface without any air bubbles in between to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool completely to room temperature. Ensure the mixture is completely cool, otherwise it will melt the butter.

Add the room temperature butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on high until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the cooled flour mixture gradually, by the spoonful, while still beating. Incorporating the mixture slowly ensures a smoother consistency.

Add vanilla extract, coconut extract and salt, and mix until fully incorporated.

Assemble the cake

Prepare the cake layers by cutting off any domed parts with a serrated knife that may have developed when baking.

Put a small dollop of the frosting on a serving plate or board (this will help the cake stick and not slide around). Place the first layer of cake on top. Pipe a layer of frosting on top and smooth with an offset spatula. Push an even layer of the small-to-medium cookie crumbs into the frosting. Smooth the frosting over the top of the crumbs.

Place the second layer of cake on top. Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of the buttercream to create a crumb coat to seal in any crumbs. Freeze for 10 minutes to seal this coating.

When the crumb coat is set, pipe or dollop more frosting around the outside and on top. Spread evenly with an offset spatula before scraping down the outside with a bench scraper. You may need to do this several times to get a smooth look.

I found that keeping the bench scraper in a bowl of warm water before using it (drying it off in between) helped remove air bubbles on the outside and made smoothing even easier. If you need a visual on how to frost a cake, check out this video.

Over a clean baking sheet to catch the excess, press black sesame seeds onto the outside of the cake. Garnish the top outer ring of the cake with the larger cookie crumbs, if desired.