Black Sesame Soy Paste Pound Cake

Here's another brilliant dessert from Ozzy Hsieh, using soy paste (surprise!) and black sesame paste. Thanks to Cat Yeh for her modifications to incorporate our Dong He Black Sesame Paste and translated it to US measurements.  

The combination of black sesame and roasted cashews creates a deep, nutty aroma that will fill your house and envelop your senses, and the soy paste adds a tangy, bright, umami note to the flavor. The recipe calls for a mix of whole wheat and all purpose flour, giving it a crumbly, almost cornbread like texture.

This is a perfect holiday dessert (with ice cream and soy sauce caramel please) or a decadent contribution to brunch. 

Black Sesame Soy Paste Pound Cake

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, bring to room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 30g Traditional Firewood Soy Paste (or any other of our soy pastes)
• 80g Dong He Black Sesame Paste, Unsweeteneed (if you are using the Lightly Sweetened Sesame Paste, cut granulated sugar to ¼ cup or to taste.)
• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup cashews (roasted and unsalted), cut in half or to your preferred size

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Gather all ingredients and make sure the butter comes to room temperature.
2. Butter an 8.5 x 4.5" loaf pan and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until it is light, fluffy, and the sugar is incorporated.
4. Add in the eggs one at a time to incorporate thoroughly. Use a spatula to gather any mixture that’s stuck to the side back into the middle of the bowl.
5. Whisk in the soy paste and sesame paste.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and baking powder.
7. Slowly add in the flour to the wet mixture in three additions. Gently mix in the flour and make sure no flour is stuck on the bottom.
8. Add in the cashews during the last addition of the flour. It’s ok to have some specks of flour. Do not overmix.
9. Pour into the buttered loaf pan.
10. Bake for 55-65mins. The cake is done when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Photo and styling by Off Hour Studio.