Black sesame cake roll

When I was younger my mother used take me to a Chinese bakery once in a while, and I would always ask for the cake rolls. As a child I was mainly attracted by the vibrant colors, because they reminded me of a rainbow (children have great imagination). But now that I am older and wiser (am I?) I am aware of the fact that a lot of food coloring is used to make them look appealing to the eye. I am not fond of food coloring so I prefer natural ingredients to ‘dye’ food. Here I used black sesame powder to give it a grayish dark color.

When making this cake roll it is important that you beat the egg whites stiff enough to make the cake 'airy'. To prevent the cake from cracking you should pre-roll the cake while it is still slightly hot to form the shape, but only add the whipping cream when it's completely cooled down because you don't want the whipping cream to melt.

INGREDIENTS

cake roll:

8 egg yolks

6 egg whites

150 gram sugar

50 ml oil

3 tbsp black sesame powder

90 gram self raising flour
20 gram corn starch

filling:

250 ml whipping cream

1 tbsp sugar

DIRECTIONS
Prepare one 31.5 cm x 23 cm baking tray, line with baking paper

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius
2. Combine egg yolks with the sugar and mix it until it becomes foamy, then add the oil and black sesame powder.
3. Sift the flour and the corn starch into the mixture and combine.
4. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff (when you can turn the bowl upside down without the egg whites falling out). Make sure there is no egg yolk (or other fat, oil or grease) in the whites when you beat it, because this will keep the whites from whipping up big and fluffy.
5. Add one third of the beaten egg whites into the mixture and fold in lightly. Repeat the process until you have incorporated all the egg whites into the mixture. Make sure that you incorporate the egg whites evenly. When you see egg whites 'flakes' in your mixture that means that the egg whites are not incorporated evenly, in that case keep 'folding' until the flakes disappear.
6. Pour the batter in a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes or until the cake is done. When a skewer comes out clean of the center, your cake is done.
7. Let the cake cool down for ten minutes in the baking tray, then while the cake is still slightly hot, dust the top with a little bit of powdering sugar to prevent from sticking. Put a clean kitchen towel over the tray, and thereafter a cutting board. Invert the cake, be careful not to burn you hands to the baking tray!
9. Remove the baking tray and the parchment paper. Then use both hands to roll the cake. Starting from the shortest end, roll the cake and the towel up together.
10. Let it cool for 30 minutes in this position. Then unroll the cake carefully.
11. Spread the filling over the cake evenly with an offset spatula and roll it up. Put the cake in the refrigerator to firm up. Then cut in 2 cm slices and serve.