November 15, 2008

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!!

20 comments:

daphne said...

oh yummy! I used to have that cake often during Chinese New year.. this looks amazingly moist.

Sihan said...

hey wow.. that's the first time i come across a walnut cake recipe. Shall try this one out for cny next year! thanks.. and don't worry about the name. It's a very pretty one. heh.

Anonymous said...

Hey, you're my height! Hehe :P Thanks for the tag; I'll get down to it as soon as I can.

I don't believe I've ever tried a walnut butter cake before, but it looks so moist! Thanks for sharing :)

Aimei said...

Hi Daphne and Sihan,

Yeah, i think it's a good cake to be shared and eaten during chinese new year! :) This recipe added lots of walnuts which I think it's better than some store bought ones. Heh... :)

Thanks Ovenhaven! Have fun!

Anonymous said...

Hi Aimei,

Thanks for this lovely recipe! My cake turns a bit hard the next day though. Do you have this problem too?

Thanks ;p

Aimei said...

Hi Anonymous,

I think it was fine the next day ut not so on the third day, especially since I put it in the fridge. Hmmm...not sure if it's suppose to be like this. What kind of pan did you use?

Anonymous said...

Hi Aimei,

I used a normal 8-inch pan. It tasted very good on the day itself but was a bit hard the next day. Not sure if the egg whites are too stiff...

Aimei said...

Hi Anonymous

I'm not sure why also, as I'm poor at beating egg whites, hence can't comment. Sorry. :P

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks moist and delicious! The photo does look lovely! :) I'd like to include your recipe on our blog, please let me know if you're interested.

Sophie, Key Ingredient Chief Blogger
sophie@keyingredient.com

Aimei said...

Hi Sophie

Sure I'm please to do that! I'll send you a mail. ;)

Anonymous said...

It is rather interesting for me to read the post. Thank author for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read a bit more soon.

Anonymous said...

It is very interesting for me to read this blog. Thanks for it. I like such themes and everything that is connected to them. I would like to read more soon.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

It was very interesting for me to read this blog. Thanks for it. I like such themes and everything connected to this matter. I definitely want to read more soon.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rachel said...

Hey,i have to tell you that your cake looks perfect,i tried your recipe 4 times and it didn't turn out like your cake (the one in the photo),the first time i baked it turned out very close to whats in the photo,in terms of fluffyness and all.... but then the 3 times after that didnt turn out so well,it ends up being too dense and moist,i add 250 grms butter and 200 grms sugar and bake it on 160c for 1 hour + and it still seems like its not cooked ...... do you have any idea why it turns out so dense and moist and not as fluffy when i follow your recipe exactly the way it is ?? i really dont want to give up on this one :P i wanna try until i get it done perfectly..... so please help !!

Aimei said...

Hi rachel, I did have a dense cake one or two times when I made this recipe. This is tricky. First of all, did you cream in the egg yolks slowly, a little at a time? I learnt from my experience that if u add too much eggs , it will curdle and won't cream well. Next is the beating og egg whites. Beat till it's stiff peaks but not too stiff cos u may risk deflating it when you fold it in. When the peaks curl slightly it should be ok. Den fold in gently in quick movements using spatula. I dun think it is uncoiled but it's too dense at the bottom and I've got that before.

Have I addressed those u may not have done correctly? Try it again. I'm sure you'll get it! :)

Rachel said...

Hey,Thanks for your prompt reply.... i think i already cream the egg whites and yolks as u said,i guess next time i will try to do it slower and more gentle.Having known that it happen to you before gives me a light of hope :P i guess ive got to be slower and more gentle and try it over and over again (practice makes perfect)im soooo desperate to get this walnut butter cake perfect because i want to graduate to making your Japanese cheese cake :P
Your Blog has ALL the recipes i ever want to try. Thank you for your help....
P.S you looking pretty in your display image :P

SimplyScrumptious said...

hello, i happened to find your site on google. this walnut cake recipe sounds good. may i know what is the weight of the cake? it'd be great if you could reply me soon. thanks.

julie

Aimei said...

Hi Julie, I'm sorry I do not know the weight. :)