Walnut Cake, Hometown 核桃蛋糕, 家乡土特产

June school holiday is approaching. It's  the best time of the year to travel. Not only children need a break, parents also need a getaway from the monotonous routine: sending children to school, go to work day after day.

We have decided our travel destination - my hometown. It is a small beautiful city located on the border of China and North Korea, marked by Yalu River.  Don't be surprised when I say I am from a small city with population of 2.4 million. Yes, it is considered relatively small by population in China.  Do you know Beijing has 20 million urban people and Shanghai has 23 million? 

It's been two years since my last visit.  I am a bit excited when I think of this trip. The only thing worries me is the H7N9 bird flu as we need to transit from Beijing.  In addition,  hope North Korea , south Korea and U.S keep cool and reach an agreement on the nuclear weapons.  Sometimes I think nowhere is more safe than Singapore. However, we still need to fly away from here once in a while. It's after all a small island with no season change.  Anyway, I have a long to-do-list and shopping list with me. I miss the people there, I miss the weather there, I miss the seasonal fruits/seafood/local products there. 

One of the must-buy local products is walnuts. I usually bring back 2kg of freshly packed walnuts, which cost me less than S$20 (RMB100).  I love all kinds of nuts includes Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and many more...  I am nuts for nuts!  Good to know that these nuts, especially walnuts have many health-benefiting nutrients, e.g Ω-3 fatty acids that are essential for optimum health.

I like to throw walnuts into mooncake, muffins, cookies and rice cake. They are simply irresistible to me. Walnut cake is one of the cake that I make quite often whenever I have the craving for nuts. It is quick and easy to make, moist and delicious! 



WALNUT CAKE

INGREDIENTS

- 250g butter (softened)
- 250g plain flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 180g castor sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Add flour and baking powder in a medium bowl.
3. Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until fluffy.
4. Add in the egg one by one,  beating well after each addition . 
5. Add the flour mixture and mix until well combined.
6. Stir in the finely chopped walnuts and chocolate chips.
7. Pour into a greased baking tin. Sprinkle the coarsely chopped walnuts on the surface.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.