Black Sesame on the Sponge: Five British Puds Worth a Chinese Accent

British puddings are not shy. They arrive with custard, cream, caramel and a certain amount of ceremony. The Chinese pantry, on the other hand, is often asked to perform tricks. Black sesame, red bean and preserved citrus can sound like a gimmick until you taste how neatly they fit. The trick in 2026 is not to rebuild the pudding. It is to add an accent.

At Shangki Li, the useful question is always the same: does the ingredient make the dish taste more like itself, or less? A spoon of black sesame paste in a toffee sauce can make a sticky pudding taste deeper and less cloying. A swirl of red bean through rice pudding can add a gentle savoury edge. Preserved citrus can wake up a heavy sponge the way a good cup of tea does. None of this needs a smoke machine.

Three rules before you start

First, toast anything seedy. Black sesame straight from the packet can taste flat and dusty; give it a minute in a dry pan and it turns nutty and almost coffee-like. Second, salt anything sweet. A pinch of flaky salt in a black sesame caramel does more for the pudding than another spoon of sugar. Third, think about texture. Chinese ingredients often bring their own body, so avoid doubling up on heaviness. Red bean and rice pudding are already soft; add crunch somewhere else.

Sticky toffee pudding with black sesame

This is the easiest crossover to love. The dates and dark sugar already have a roasted, treacly quality that black sesame understands. Stir a tablespoon of black sesame paste into the toffee sauce at the end, or grind toasted seeds with a little sugar and fold them through whipped cream. The surprise is the colour: the sauce goes a deep, inky brown thatlooks dramatic against vanilla ice cream. The flavour is not wildly foreign. It reads as toasted nut and burnt sugar, which is exactly what a good sticky toffee pudding is doing anyway.

What works: the bitterness. What surprises: how much the sesame makes the dates taste fruitier. Where to find it: look for dessert specials at modern Cantonese restaurants and British pubs doing Chinese-British supper clubs. If a menu mentions black sesame caramel, order it.

Rice pudding with red bean and preserved citrus

Rice pudding is the quiet giant of British desserts. It is creamy, comforting and slightly bland in the best way. Sweetened red bean paste is its natural ally: both are soft, both are gently sweet, and both benefit from a little salt. Swirl a spoonful of red bean through the pudding just before serving, rather than stirring it in completely. For the preserved citrus, steep a strip of dried mandarin peel or a little preserved lemon in the milk while it cooks. Do not overdo it. You want a faint citrus perfume, not a marmalade announcement.

The surprise here is savouriness. Red bean is not as sweet as jam, and that makes the pudding feel more grown-up. A scatter of toasted sesame seeds on top gives it a finish.

Treacle tart with a black sesame crust

Treacle tart is already a sweet, golden, slightly chewy affair. The best way to Chinese-accent it is in the pastry: replace a few tablespoons of ground almonds in the crust with finely ground black sesame. The result is a darker, nuttier base that stops the filling from running the show. A little grated fresh ginger in the filling also helps. This is the pudding that surprises people most, because the sesame disappears into the background and simply makes the treacle taste more complex.

Bread and butter pudding with red bean and orange

Bread and butter pudding is a magnet for leftovers, which makes it a good place to experiment. Spread a little red bean paste on the buttered bread before layering, and add a few strips of preserved citrus peel to the custard. The red bean gives it a dense, almost fudgy centre; the citrus keeps it from becoming too heavy. Use a light hand. Too much red bean and the pudding turns stodgy; too much peel and it tastes like a Christmas cake that has gone wrong.

Apple crumble with preserved citrus and star anise

A crumble is not usually the first pudding people think of for Chinese flavours, but it works. Toss the apples with a little preserved citrus peel and a single star anise while they cook, then remove the star anise before baking. The citrus adds a bright, slightly bitter edge that cuts through the sweetness of the fruit. A handful of toasted black sesame in the crumble topping gives it a savoury crunch. Serve with custard, obviously.

Where to find this in the UK in 2026

The crossover is showing up in small, sensible places: the dessert list at a Cantonese restaurant in Manchester, a bakery in Birmingham doing black sesame brownies, a pub kitchen in London running a Chinese-British Sunday lunch. You will not always see the words fusion on the menu, and that is a good thing. Look for black sesame in sauces and ice creams, red bean in pastries, and preserved citrus in dressings and desserts. Ask what is made in-house. A kitchen that toasts its own sesame is usually a kitchen paying attention.

At home, start with one pudding and one ingredient. Make the sticky toffee first. It is forgiving, it feeds a table, and it proves the point: a Chinese accent can be subtle, useful and deeply delicious.