I can’t believe I am posting a new recipe here after so long. Ever since the lock-down I have been on my toes round the clock. If anything good has come out of this situation for me (this seems to be the question that gets asked often these days) is that I have had a break from driving 3 hours to and back for school drop offs and pick ups daily as the twins stayed at home. However there was distance learning aka home schooling to deal with. Hungry and impatient kids needing ongoing support and attention while I had my own projects lined up. Finally when Easter break came, a different challenge surfaced. How to find new ways of keeping kids engaged! They managed to pick up a few hobbies and interests but I have been struggling to do any of the things I enjoy. Like baking or photographing or writing. I feel for all the parents with young kids. As if life wasn’t hard enough before the pandemic!
Coming to this cake, if you’ve tried out treats from Asian bakeries, you might have come across black sesame flavour. It’s nutty, fragrant and really lovely. This cake is actually way simpler than it looks. Part of the cake batter is mixed with black sesame powder and then the black batter is swirled in with the original batter.

The buttercream and rosettes are optional but I was waiting to experiment with a blue-gray palette for a long time and I grabbed the opportunity. If you want to enjoy the cake without a frosting, it will still be great....