Black sesame chocolate cake (vegan)

I have made countless variations of this chocolate sponge cake, so last weekend I decided to change it a bit by using some toasted black sesame in the dough. I did not expect the result, meaning that it was super addictive and quite “light”, as the cake is truly not sugary at all and its moistness derives mainly from the plant based milk used. This is a keeper, I promise. 

If you bake this cake let me know here or on instagram @cake_files_!

For the sponge:  

80g toasted sesame seeds 

240 g flour 

80g brown sugar

35g cocoa 

1 tbsp baking powder 

200ml hazelnut milk 

120ml vegeatable oil 

1tbsp sesame oil

40g melted sea salt vegan choc or just vegan dark chocolate

Mix the dry ingredients well, sifting the cocoa powder well. Add in the wet ingredients and mix well until the dough is creamy and pourable. Bake in the oven at 160 celsius for 50 minutes. The cake will be ready when upon inserting a skewer there will be no dough left on it. 

For the sesame praline:

70g vegan dark chocolate – I used a 90% because I wanted the taste to be very rich 

1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1 tsp cocoa nibs 

1 tsp salt

Melt the vegan chocolate in the oven at low temperature (50 degrees) or in the microwave at 45 or with the double boiler system. Toss in the melted chocolate the toasted sesame seeds and the cocoa nibs, together with the salt. Shape it in the shape of the basis of the cake. Sprinkle over some brown sugar, which will cut through the bitterness of the dark chocolate and the cocoa nibs and works well with salt. 

For the chocolate cream: 

400g coconut milk 

120g dark chocolate 85% 

17 g Cornflour 

2 g Agar 

Finely chop the chocolate and set aside. Warm up the coconut milk, together with the cornflour mixed with the agar agar. When the milk reaches 90 degrees, so that the agar agar can be activated, pour the milk mixture on the chocolate, let sit a minute and mix until well combined. Returne to the pan and cook for a few seconds, until everything comes well together. Set aside, covering with cling film touching the cream to prevent the skin from forming. 

For the glittery cocoa powder: 

2 tbsp cocoa

2 tbsp candy

I am so proud of myself for this McGyver moment. I wanted to add some sparkle in the cocoa, so I grinded the cocoa powder together with silver pearly candies that you can easily find anywhere. They are vegan and just sugary but do not alter the flavor. Grind well and then sift, because it is impossible to pulverise those candies perfectly, so sifting will make the powder finer. 

Assemble the cake: 

You can place the praline disc either at the basis of everything, or between one layer and the other, that is up to you. I used it for the basis this time, but it was a completely rand choice – well I thought it would have looked prettier and it would have made it easier to slice the cake, but it doesn’t make a great difference to be honest! 

Cut the sponge in two by slicing it horizontally – be careful, even though this is quite a stable sponge, it’s still quite moist. Place the first disc on the praline and then cover the sponge with the chocolate cream: I prefer using a piping bag because the cream is quite dense. I pipe it with a spiral shape starting from the centre and then I pipe small swirls on the perimeter. Cover with the second disc and sprinkle the disc with the glittery powder. Use your finger or a brush to remove the powder on the perimeter if you want to pipe some swirls: they won’t stick to the cake otherwise and act very temperamental.

Now that the cake is assembles it is ready to be eaten – it survives well in the fridge, up to 3 days (even though it lasted less than 48 hours, so you probably needn’t worry about that). 

If you bake this cake let me know here or on instagram @cake_files_