It’s spring, the trees started showcasing their new
sprouts, the daffodils in my backyard is in full bloom and we are so looking
forward to some sunshine, some warmth and comfort when it started snowing heavy
again throughout this week!! And it is bitter cold with wintry winds. Is winter
not yet over?? It was quite warm with lots of sunshine couple of weeks back and
I thought the winter gloom is over. But with the snow this week, it feels like
winter is forever!
It’s again another year again, and Shab’s cuisine is an
year older than last year. The blog turned 5 on March 11. March is the busiest
of months for me as both the husbands and kid’s birthday falls on the same
month, just a week apart. Lot of thoughts goes into planning each day to make
it special and memorable, and lot of arrangements to be made. The blog was
started between the two birthdays, so posting something or even planning something
on that day is just of question, atleast for me. I am planning to do a giveaway
soon, something edible, some thing that you will definitely be looking forward
to, but I will have to plan it for another date, later in April or May after
the hectic schedule. Can you guess what that is going to be? Stay tuned for
that.
Have I mentioned about my new year resolution on cutting
down on my baking? I have been doing good so far with minimal baking unlike
usual. But I will have to break all my
rules when it comes to March. It is a celebratory month where my oven sees lot
of baked goodies. Everything was working down a treat until I borrowed this
amazing chocolate recipe book from the local library. I have been flipping that
book ever since I borrowed it. Pages over pages of chocolaty goodness made me
full, but this simple recipe had caught my attention enough to try. I had to
bake it, it is just the occasion that I had to wait for.
That was when the neighbour called us girls over for a
coffee morning. I then bought all the stuffs and baked it just before it hit
the midnight, so that I could try and taste it before I took it over to her
house the very next morning. Icing was done in a hurry in the middle of the
morning rush, and getting the son ready to school and then shooting had to be
done soon after dropping son off to school. I was so pressed for time, as I had
to get ready before the ladies met together over the coffee table that morning.
The cake was well received by the ladies and went down
well. It is a basic butter based recipe, it is a breeze to make and has lovely
texture with a lot of crunch from the nuts. The walnuts impart lots of flavour
to the cake and the simple chocolate icing works well with the cake. I think
apart from chocolate icing, cream cheese frosting or coffee icing would work
well with the cake as well. I am sure making this cake again, but I would try
tweaking it by adding coffee to the batter and doing a different icing,
but I have to await another chance to
bake again.
Walnut Cake with Milk Chocolate Icing
Preparation time: 30 mins
Serves 8-10
Ingredients:
180g soft unsalted butter
½ cup, 100g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup, 150g plain flour
2 ½ tbsp, 25 g corn flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
60g walnut finely chopped
¼ cup, 60 ml milk
Icing:
125g milk chocolate
20g butter
40g walnut to garnish
Preparation:
1. Grease and flour an 7 ½ - 8 inch deep pan or line with
baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180 ˚C/ 170 ˚C fan oven. In a bowl,
sift together the plain flour, corn flour, baking powder and salt.
2. In another bowl cream butter and sugar using an
electric whisk until creamy and pale.
3. Add eggs, one by one until well incorporated.
4. Add in the flour mix in 2-3 parts, and fold it gently mixing
milk in between.
5. Gradually add in the chopped walnuts and fold again.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake until
golden for about 35 minutes or a tooth pick poked in the centre comes out
clean. Let it cool completely before turning out.
Make the icing when the cake is completely cooled.
1.Melt the butter with coarsely chopped chocolate over
simmering water or in the microwave and continue stirring, off the heat, until
lukewarm.
2. Place the cake on the rack and pour the warm chocolate
mixture over it and spread it using a palette knife. I just iced the top, but
you can ice the sides too and decorate with chopped walnuts.