Out of all of the recipes I dream up for this blog – matcha recipes just may be the ones I get the most excited about. Matcha is a huge part of our life, not only because of the way it makes us feel, but we just can’t get enough of its flavor. We start each day with a hot matcha latte and, especially recently, matcha desserts have become a regular occurrence in our kitchen. I have a constant flow of matcha inspired recipes brewing in my mind and I never lose excitement to bring another one of them to life. Enter these matcha glazed black sesame bundt cakes – I have been dreaming about creating these beauties for a long time and I couldn’t be more eager to share them with all of you.
The original inspiration for this recipe was this mini swirl bundt cake pan. Ever since I first laid eyes on this shape of bundt cake I could not stop thinking about it. I am by no means a bakeware collector, and in fact, I really believe that less is more when it comes to how much cookware and bakeware we have in the kitchen. But this heritage mini bundt cake pan from Nordicware is the first bundt cake pan we have owned and we are totally mesmerized by how it can turn a simple cake batter into a total masterpiece.
Black sesame, like matcha, is a flavor that we have absolutely fallen in love with. Black sesame seeds have a nutty flavor that is almost reminiscent of peanut butter, but they also have a slight bitterness similar to chocolate, that compliments matcha in all the right ways. The black sesame cake batter gets further enhanced with the addition of black cocoa powder. I envisioned these cakes being utterly black once baked and not only did the black cocoa powder deliver the color I was hoping for, but it added the perfect amount of chocolate essence into the cakes.
Once cool, the bundt cakes get covered in a simple matcha white chocolate glaze, creating a color and flavor combination that is not only stunning, but utterly delicious. Now, I understand that for you to create this recipe you may need to introduce new ingredients and a new baking pan to your kitchen, but I can tell you, these matcha glazed black sesame bundt cakes are worth the investment. And the return on that investment is you will be able to create these beautiful bundts whenever your heart desires.
For a true green matcha glaze, we recommend and use high quality organic culinary matcha from Encha. It is by far our favorite matcha brand for quality, flavor, color and value (it is also available on Amazon Prime which makes it super convenient too)!
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MATCHA GLAZED BLACK SESAME BUNDT CAKES
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 mini bundt cakes 1x
Ingredients
FOR THE BUNDT CAKE BATTER:
- 1 1/4 cup (150g) all purpose flour (we used einkorn)
- 3 tbsp black cocoa powder (we used King Arthur brand)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup black sesame paste *see recipe below
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 tbsp butter, melted + 1 tsp dark cocoa powder (for greasing & dusting the bundt cake pan)
FOR THE BLACK SESAME PASTE:
- 1/2 cup toasted black sesame seeds
- 1/2 cup honey
FOR THE MATCHA GLAZE:
- 1 tsp Encha culinary matcha
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
Instructions
FOR THE BLACK SESAME PASTE:
- Put black sesame seeds in a food processor & process until almost all the seeds have been ground into a powder
- Add honey to the black sesame powder & continue to process until mixture turns into a thick paste
FOR THE CAKES:
- Pre-heat oven to 350f & prepare your mini bundt cake pan by brushing the wells with melted butter & then dusting them with black cocoa powder
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, black cocoa powder, baking powder & salt
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl with an electric mixer) blend butter, sugar & black sesame paste on medium speed until pale & creamy
- Reduce speed to low & add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg – add in the vanilla extract & mix until incorporated
- Alternately add the flour mixture & buttermilk in three additions, mix until just combined.
- Spoon batter evenly into the wells of the prepared bundt cake pan & bake for 20 minutes
- Let cakes cool in pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool completely
FOR THE GLAZE:
- Place the finely chopped white chocolate in a heat safe bowl
- Sift the matcha into a saucepan, add 2 tablespoons of the heavy cream & whisk until perfectly smooth
- Whisk in the remaining heavy cream & heat mixture over medium heat, stirring often, until it just begins to boil
- Remove mixture from the heat & then pour it over the chopped white chocolate
- Allow the hot matcha cream to melt the chocolate a bit & then stir until the white chocolate is fully melted – the glaze should be a thick pourable consistency
- Place the rack with the black sesame bundt cakes over a piece of parchment paper & pour glaze over the cooled cakes
- Allow glaze to set before serving
Notes
*To achieve a beautiful green hue with your matcha glaze, we highly recommend using a top quality culinary matcha like ENCHA. Low quality matcha will not be vibrant green, but instead will result in a dull brownish color
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
Hello!
I can’t see ml of buttermilk. How much?
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Natalia! Looks like I missed the buttermilk measurement! I have updated the recipe to show it! Thanks for catching that! :)
Hi!! Saw your matcha cakes on instagram! Where can I buy them? Can I? Are you in Roseville? Please let me know. I love matcha!
Hi Veronica! Thank you for the sweet message! I don’t sell my baked goods, but thank you for your interest! <3
OMG Bella, those pictures of yours are to die for! I need to try your recipe asap… and hopefully the result turns out half as good as yours :D
Thank you so much Manny! I hope you enjoy them!
Can this recipe be used to make one large bundt cake instead?
This recipe yields 4 cups of batter, so you would have to increase it depending on the capacity of your bundt cake pan
hi- these cakes sound amazing.. Do you think you could do a large bundt cake tin?
thanks-
hayley
Yes you could Hayley, you would just have to increase the recipe based on how large your bundt cake pan is (this recipe yields 4 cups of batter)
I made this recipe last night. You’re missing the step where you add the cocoa powder, vanilla, baking powder and salt to the batter. In the rush of things I remembered to add the first two but forgot the baking powder and salt. Let’s just say I ended up with a very dense cake…Also can you confirm that the buttermilk measurment is correct? The version of this recipe on SideChef calls for 2 cups.
Hey Kelly! Sorry that step was missing from the recipe instructions, but thank you for bringing it to my attention! The buttermilk measurement is indeed correct at 2/3 not 2 cups…I will inform SideChef that they need to correct that!
Hi Bella! I recently purchased the Heritage Bundlette pan and have had disastrous results with bundts sticking. On my first attempt I greased the pan with butter, and on my second attempt with butter & flour. Would really appreciate any tips you might have!
Hi Nicky! As you can see, in this recipe I greased the pans & then dusted with black cocoa powder…did you let the bundlettes cool in the pan before you removed them? That should help. And did these black sesame cakes stick to the pan, or did you have trouble with a different recipe?
I’m planning to buy black sesame powder vs grinding the seeds (I don’t have a food processor). Could you note/guess how much black sesame powder equals that 1/4 cup whole seeds? (how much powder does that 1/4 cup make after you grind it?) Thank you so much!
I would use 30g of ground black sesame seeds (that is about what 1/4 cup of black sesame seeds weigh)
Thank you!
I guess what I’m trying to get at is, can these be made if you don’t have a food processor?
Thank you!!
These are so beautiful! I love the contrast of colors. I cant wait to make them.
Yay! I hope you enjoy them!