Indonesian Walnut Butter Cake

Despite having taken many shots of this moist walnut butter cake, I just couldn't seem to be able to capture its moist soft texture. Blame it on my poor photography skills, and lack of lighting in my house, heh, so I only have this one best shot here to present.

I made this butter cake at my Company's 'Charity Breakfast Sale'. My mum was lamenting that all that I baked went to the sale and there were only a few pieces and scrapes left for her. So, I baked this again for her and my dd. Using a 7-inch square pan, I was able to cut into three logs, one for dd and 2 for ourselves. Surprisingly out of the many cakes I baked, this butter cake was wiped out in 2 or 3 days! It is no wonder that you can just simply guage how good a food is by how fast it's wiped finish (or not at all). :P


Ingredients:

250g Butter
200g sugar (I reduced to 150g)
4 eggs, separated
200g Plain/cake flour
4g baking powder
30g chocolate chips
150g walnuts
vanilla essence (optional)


Method:

1. Prepare and line a 9-inch cake pan (I used 7-inch square pan).
2. Chop walnuts and lightly toast in an oven for about 5 minutes. Be careful not to over toast it.
3. Sift flour and baking powder. Set aside.


4. In a large mixing bowl, cream slightly softened butter with half of the sugar (in my case 75g) using an electric beater until light and fluffy.
5. Add egg yolks, one by one and cream and cream till well mixed.


6. Add in flour mixture slowly (You may use a wooden spoon manually or if you are using an electric beater, to use low speed). Set aside.
7. In another mixing bowl, beat egg whites using an electric beater. Add the other half of the sugar slowly and continue beating until the egg white reaches stiff peaks (When you lift the beater, the tip droop slightly, and beaten egg whites becomes stiff and shiny).
8. Add toasted nuts and chocolate chips into the cake batter.
9. Fold in beaten egg whites into the cake batter, in two to three additona, until egg whites is well-incorporated into the batter.
10. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven at 160C for about 50 minutes to one hour (I used 45 minutes).

This recipe was shared by my sister-in-law who attended a demo class. The steps were tedious but it's worth the effort. It has the richness of a butter cake but the addition of beaten egg whites helps to add lightness to the cake. It's called the combination method as I've read here and here. However, do prepared to do more washing unless you have two beaters. Alternatively like me, I use hand power to do the beating of butter-sugar-eggs-flour. :)

I've been tagged by Yuri and Missy, two wonderful food bloggers to do a meme.

Here are the rules to observe.1. Link to my blog (tagger) on your blog. 2. Give seven facts about yourself. 3. Tag another seven blogs by leaving a comment on their blog and letting them know they were tagged and listing them (and their blogs) on your blog.

1. I love walking and shopping alot and will not get tired even though people around me already are.


2. Whenever I visit Daiso, I never leave the place empty handed.


3. I love to eat bread and sandwiches - alot. :P


4. I've just started to know how to swim (not entirely but almost) recently. Hehe.


5. I'm quite a petite girl at 1.56 m (but I'm not skinny though I wish I can just be a little thinner). :P


6. I'm using a Sony T20 digital camera (white) which I bought a year ago. I bought cos' I decided to have my own blog and chose it cos' of its sleek design. Now, the camera has to acccompany my every baking/cooking session.


7. My name, Aimei (when translated in chinese) means - love to look pretty. Hehe...since young, people have been teasing me but I'm used to it and I actually quite like my name now. It's a nice and easy name to call and be remembered. :)

Wow...I think the facts are really random! I just jot down whatever comes to me now. I'll try not to tag those who'd already been tagged. So I'm tagging:

Happy Mrs Kwok
Bernice's Baking Journey
OvenHaven
Berenice's Sweets for Treats
Stella's Sweet Temptations
Happy Love Strawberry
Sweet Almond


Have fun!!