‘Pusheen Cat' Black Sesame Chiffon Cake

I love black sesame flavour but the colour isn’t the sweetest colour, so when I got this Pusheen request which is grey in colour, I was happy to try it again. I actually made Black sesame chiffon way back when I started baking. The original recipe I tried from Okashi few years back uses soy milk and brown sugar for the egg yolk batter, so feel free to substitute with these. Mine is a lighter version in terms of texture (as I use more meringue) with the same flavour intensity (if I remember the taste correctly).

Briefly I made the Pusheen by joining a 6-inch tube pan with a ball cake pan chiffon cake at the top. The same black sesame chiffon recipe is used for the 6-inch pan and ball pan, which I have shared below. The hands, feet and ears are from cake pops molds.

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake (6-inch tube pan or ball cake pan)
Egg yolk batter
3 egg yolks
6g caster sugar
38g vegetable/corn oil
20g black sesame paste
50g fresh milk
3g vanilla extract
60g Prima cake flour

Meringue
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
45g caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. *Optional: I used steam baking, i.e. I placed a pan of water under the lowest rack before preheating – to control oven temperature, prevent cracks and for moister texture.

2. Whisk egg yolks with sugar until light, fluffy and well-mixed.

3. Whisk in oil, black sesame paste, milk and vanilla extract in that order until well combined.

4. Whisk in sifted cake flour and mix till well-combined.

5. Prepare meringue:

In a grease-free, dry metal bowl, using electric mixer, whisk egg whites with cream of tartar till foamy. Gradually add in the castor sugar and whisk at high speed till firm peaks form, or just the point of stiff peak.

6. Gently fold meringue into egg yolk batter with a flexible spatula 1/3 at a time, till no streaks remain.

7. Pour the batter into a 6-inch tube pan.

*Same recipe is used for the ball cake pan with some excess for cake pop molds.

8. Baking conditions:

6-inch tube pan: Bake at 160°C for 15 min, 140°C for 25+ min, or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

Ball pan: 160°C for 15 min, 140°C for 20+ min, or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

Cake pops (3-cm for limbs and 5-cm for ears): 160°C for 12-15 min.

**If you use steam baking, you may need to bake for a few more minutes. You may need to adjust the baking time, depending on your oven.

9. Invert tube pan to cool on a wire rack completely. No need to invert for ball pans and cake pop molds.

10. Unmould the chiffon cake by hand (see video tutorial ‘Hand unmoulding Chiffon cakes for a clean finishing’).

The whiskers are from licorice string candy. I cut the facial features from charcoal sheet cakes but you can also pipe on with melted chocolate. The scarf is cut out from plain chiffon sheet cake. I pinched the 5-cm cake pops at the tips for the ears. The hat is also made from rainbow chiffon cone pops (in Creative baking: Chiffon Cakes) - picture below from the book.

The 'cupcake' is also made from chiffon cake by baking chiffon cake in a cupcake liner and a 5-cm cake pop mold. I assembled the parts using melted marshmallows or chocolate as 'glue'.

Lots of work went behind this cake so it's a bit hard to describe everything =p. Hope you like this cute creation and yummy black sesame flavour! Thankful cake was very well-received too!

With lots of love,
Susanne

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