Toasted sesame oil in a cake?? Yes. I did it. And I regret nothing. Nutty, moist, and just sweet enough—this honey buckwheat loaf is your new favorite excuse to bake something a bit unusual, but very right.
Preheat your oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven and 330 F (165 C) for convection oven. Lightly oil an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper, letting the long sides hang over for easy lifting later.
Combine the dry ingredients:
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Whisk the wet ingredients:
In another bowl, vigorously whisk the eggs, sugar, honey, milk, oil, and toasted sesame oil for about 40 seconds or so, until emulsified. This step helps bind everything together and gives the cake a uniform, moist crumb.
Mix wet into dry:
Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to fold gently until just combined
The batter might seem lumpy but as long as there is no dry pockets of flour, you are done mixing. Do not overmix
Pour and bake:
Pour the batter into your prepared pan, smooth the top, and give the pan a few firm taps on the counter to release air bubbles.
Sprinkle some white sesame seeds on top
Bake:
Bake for 50–60 minutes. Start checking at 50 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean or with a few sticky crumbs—just no wet batter. The top of the cake will have some crack and that's normal.
Cool and rest:
Let the cake cool completely in the pan. Then use an offset spatula to loosen the short unlined sides and gently lift the cake out.
Serving:
If you can resist cutting into it right away, wait until the next day to serve. The flavor deepens, the texture sets into a soft, rich crumb, and that hint of toasted sesame really shines through.