I have a friend who can distinctly remember the exact moment in which she understood empathy.
You know how there are those certain people in your life who just “get you”? Who even though you may be so different in so many ways, you are so alike in all the right and perfect ones? Who can read your mood and understand your struggles? Who you can have conversations worth having with about things worth talking about (and also about unimportant, trivial things when necessary to maintain your sanity)? Who think the same things are funny as you, even when no one else seems to get it? Who teach you things without even realizing it? Who are just solid good people with good hearts? Those, I feel, are rare and wonderful connections, not often or easily found.
I know that not all goodbyes are forever, but for me, that makes them no less difficult, especially when the person leaving is as described above. I don’t meant to sound selfish – it’s just that I am sometimes. Human nature, right? I want to keep my best people around me. I suppose one good thing is knowing that many of them are now scattered around the country spreading their goodness. That, I admit, can only be a positive for society as a whole.
In other news, summer is winding down. So naturally I made something that requires heating the oven and that involves no berries, cherries, or stone fruit. I often feel like I need to bake exactly with the season, but that leaves me in quite the predicament when what I want is something totally different. Sometimes I want peach pie in December or pecan pie in August or birthday cake on not muh birthday. So, loaf cake in July anyone?
Several months ago, I found and became sort of obsessed with this mochi ice cream from our international grocery store. I particularly loved the green tea and the black sesame flavors. The green tea was so earthy and refreshing, and I loved the toasty flavor of the black sesame. And those colors, I mean! So baking with them was sort of a no brainer.
Rather than make one batter and halve it, as with most marble cakes, I just made two separate batters. This makes for dirtying more bowls than I normally like, but I preferred this method to ensure I had even amounts of each batter and that the batters didn’t end up overmixed. Worth it. This cake is somewhere between a quick bread and a pound cake in texture and taste–a bit sweeter than a quick bread; less dense than a pound cake. The sesame and matcha really work perfectly together, and the marbling ensures the perfect amount of swirled and separated bites.
MATCHA + BLACK SESAME MARBLE CAKE
- Matcha Batter
- 115 g (3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp) white flour
- 12 g (1 1/2 Tbsp) matcha (found here)
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 2 eggs
- 56 g (1/4 cup) grapeseed oil
- 125 g (1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp) cane sugar
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) light coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Black Sesame Batter
- 115 g (3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp) white flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 2 eggs
- 56 g (1/4 cup) grapeseed oil
- 30 g (1 1/2 Tbsp) black sesame tahini (found here)
- 125 g (1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp) cane sugar
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) light coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8x4x3 loaf pan and line with parchment, leaving overhang on the long sides.
In two separate bowls, whisk together flour, matcha, baking powder, and salt in one and flour, baking powder, and salt in the other. In another two separate bowls, whisk together eggs, oil, sugar, milk, and vanilla in one and eggs, oil, tahini, sugar, milk, and vanilla in the other. Stir dry matcha ingredients into wet plain ingredients and dry plain ingredients into wet sesame ingredients just until combined.
Using an ice cream scoop, alternate scoops of batter over the bottom of the pan. Repeat, scooping matcha batter on top of sesame batter, until all of the batter is used up. (I ended up with four scoops across and four layers of batter.) Take a knife and swirl through the batter from the top left corner in a large zig-zag pattern then repeat in the opposite direction. Bake for 55-65 minutes, until tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes then remove to wire rack to cool completely.
MATCHA + BLACK SESAME MARBLE CAKE
Ingredients
- Matcha Batter
- 3-4 cup white flour
- 1-2 tbsp matcha
- 3-4 tbsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 2 eggs
- 1-4 cup grapeseed oil
- 1-2 cup cane sugar
- 1-4 cup light coconut milk
- 1-2 tbsp vanilla
Black Sesame Batter
- 3-4 cup white flour
- 3-4 tbsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 2 eggs
- 1-4 cup grapeseed oil
- 1-2 tbsp black sesame tahini
- 1-2 cup cane sugar
- 1-4 cup light coconut milk
- 1-2 tbsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8x4x3 loaf pan and line with parchment, leaving overhang on the long sides.
- In two separate bowls, whisk together flour, matcha, baking powder, and salt in one and flour, baking powder, and salt in the other.
- In another two separate bowls, whisk together eggs, oil, sugar, milk, and vanilla in one and eggs, oil, tahini, sugar, milk, and vanilla in the other.
- Stir dry matcha ingredients into wet plain ingredients and dry plain ingredients into wet sesame ingredients just until combined.
- Using an ice cream scoop, alternate scoops of batter over the bottom of the pan. Repeat, scooping matcha batter on top of sesame batter, until all of the batter is used up. (I ended up with four scoops across and four layers of batter.)
- Take a knife and swirl through the batter from the top left corner in a large zig-zag pattern then repeat in the opposite direction.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes, until tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes then remove to wire rack to cool completely.
- MATCHA + BLACK SESAME MARBLE CAKE