Desserts that Taste Like Summer

Sweet Corn Soufflé Cheesecake, Strawberry Lychee Jam, Black Sesame Crumb Cake, and Peach and Lemon Verbena Galette

Hello hello! Welcome to a very special weekend edition newsletter that is jam-pack with summer desserts! We’ve been hosting quite a bit lately. Between a bagel brunch, friends dropping, and an East Bay book club, I’ve had many taste testers at my disposal. Baking is more fun for me knowing that there will be plenty of people to share it with so we don’t run into a scenario where its just me and a sweet corn soufflé cheesecake staring each other down for a week.

Fall and Winter are more popularly considered “baking season”, which makes sense. It’s cold and turning on the oven to warm up your home and fill it with with the smell of butter and spices is a sure fire way to lift your spirits. But baking in the Summer is really special because of how absolutely stunning the produce is and there’s so much inspiration to incorporate the plumpest stone fruits and juiciest berries into your desserts. In my pocket of the Bay, we’ve somehow avoided any major heatwaves and it’s been warm and breezy during the day and chilly in the evenings. So turning on the oven is not totally agonizing for me. I apologize to anyone who is reading this and it’s currently over 100F and humid where you are… come visit the Bay or save these recipes for the end of Summer when it is a little cooler!

So, the four (yes, FOUR!) recipes I’m sharing today take advantage of some of the season’s most tasty offerings! We have a strawberry lychee jam that get’s used in the black sesame crumb cake and as a topping for the sweet corn soufflé cheesecake (I love a multi-purpose recipe), and a sunny peach and lemon verbena galette!

This full post is for paid subscribers, but I’m sharing the black sesame crumb cake for all because it’s an improved version of an old recipe from my old blog. You can top it off whatever fruit jam you like and it will taste like a fancy pb&j, but if you want access to the strawberry and lychee jam, cheesecake, and galette considering being a paid subscriber! I’m so so thankful to all my paid subscribers to supporting my work and allowing me to continue doing what I love!

Oh and here’s a sneak peek at the dessert chapter of Chinese Enough (have you pre-ordered yet?), which is dedicated to fruit desserts! I Love You, Here’s Some Fruit 🧡

Black Sesame Crumb Cake with Any Jam

I’ve been making this cake since 2017, it is one of the earliest recipes from eatchofood.com and still one of my favorites. Black sesame is a beautiful ingredient to pair with fruit because it gives off an adult peanut butter and jelly flavor profile. The texture of the cake is like a moist and tender nutty coffee cake that then has a layer of bright jam (plum jam as in the original recipe) and then plenty of buttery crumble so that you can’t see any jam or cake underneath. I made this version with strawberry lychee jam for my book club this week and everyone loved it!

For the crumble:

135g (1 cup) all purpose flour

65g (1/3 cup)  brown sugar

1/4 tsp coarse salt

42g (6 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted

For the cake:

170g (12 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened

150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar

60g (1/4 cup) black sesame paste tahini (see note below)

2 large eggs

2/3 cup whole milk

270g (2 cups) all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1 1/4 cups of your favorite jam

black sesame seeds, for topping

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and line the bottom of a 9” round pan or an 8” square pan (line with enough parchment paper so that it extends beyond the edges of the pan for easy lift).

2. Make the crumble by combining flour, brown sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Drizzle melted butter over the top and mix together with a fork until you have a sandy texture. Press the crumble between your fingers to create large pebbles.

3. In the bowl of the standmixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter and sugar. Mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the black sesame paste and mix for another minute. Add the eggs yolks one at a time until fully incorporated.

4. In a medium bowl, whisk to combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk to the butter and mix on lower speed until combined (cover the mixer with a kitchen towel to prevent flour from kicking up). Add the remaining flour and milk and continue to mix until combined, scraping down the sides when needed. The batter will be thick and airy.

5. Transfer the batter to the cake pan and spread into an even layer with a small offset spatula. Spread the jam over top and sprinkle on the crumble (there’s a lot of crumble so it’s okay that you can’t see the jam anymore) and some black sesame seeds. Bake until the crumble has a golden brown color and the cake is set in the center (check with a toothpick!). Allow the cake to fully cool on a wire rack before removing from the pan. Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Recipe notes:

• If you don’t have black sesame paste, replace it with 30g (2 tbsp) of regular sesame paste or tahini and 2 tbsp of black sesame seeds that have been coarsely ground in a mortar and pestle.

Strawberry Lychee Jam

Our strawberry patch is going strong, but there’s not quite enough fruit that I can make a whole batch of jam. So I’m still heading out to the farmers market to find the sweetest berries. While I recommend you make the jam with the best strawberries you can find, the recipe does call for canned lychee. You can find canned lychee at Asian groceries and often the fruit tastes better than some of the fresh lychee you can find that has been imported. The lychee are also pitted and you can save the lychee syrup to make fun drinks! By all means use fresh lychee if you have access to it!