Hodu Gwaja (Walnut Cake)
Cheonan's walnut-shaped cake: a tender flour-and-egg batter cooked in iron moulds around sweet red bean paste and a whole walnut piece.
Overview
A simple cake-style batter, flour, eggs, milk, sugar, butter, is whisked to a smooth pourable consistency. Filling: sweet red bean paste (pat) is rolled into 12 small balls; each ball receives a walnut half pressed into its centre. Baked in a walnut-mould pan (12-cavity, sometimes called "Korean walnut pan" or use a 12-cup muffin tin lined with paper), the batter goes in half-full, the filling sits on top, more batter is added over. Baked for 12-15 minutes at 180°C; tapped out of moulds; cooled.
Ingredients
Batter
- 200 g plain flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs (large)
- 100 g caster sugar
- 50 g unsalted butter (melted)
- 150 ml whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling
- 300 g sweet red bean paste (pat, Korean koshi-an or Japanese tsubu-an; sold ready)
- 12 walnut halves (good quality - they're a visible feature)
To finish
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar (optional, for dusting)
Method
Stage 1 - Heat oven and prep tin
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).
- If using a walnut-mould tin: grease lightly with butter.
- If using a 12-cup muffin tin: line each cup with a paper case.
Stage 2 - Filling
- Divide the red bean paste into 12 equal portions.
- Roll each into a small ball.
- Press a walnut half into the centre of each ball; pinch to seal so the walnut is embedded.
Stage 3 - Batter
- In a wide bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt.
- In another bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until pale and slightly foamy (1-2 minutes with electric beaters or 4 minutes by hand).
- Whisk in the melted butter, milk and vanilla.
- Fold the wet into the dry until just combined (don't overmix).
Stage 4 - Fill the moulds
- Spoon about 1 tablespoon of batter into each mould (half-fill).
- Place a filled bean-ball in the centre of each.
- Cover with another tablespoon of batter so the bean-ball is hidden.
- Smooth the top.
Stage 5 - Bake
- Bake 12-15 minutes until the tops are golden and a skewer inserted into the cake part (not the bean centre) comes out clean.
Stage 6 - Cool
- Cool in the tin 5 minutes.
- Tip out onto a wire rack; cool completely.
- Dust with icing sugar if desired.
Notes
- Walnut-shaped iron pan is traditional: sold at Korean specialty stores. A 12-cup mini-muffin tin is a workable substitute - the cakes are smaller but the technique is identical.
- Don't overmix the batter: stop folding the moment the flour disappears. Overmixed batter gives tough heavy cakes.
- Walnut quality matters: the whole walnut is visible at the centre of every cake. Rancid walnuts ruin the dessert.
- Sweet red bean paste sold ready: Korean and Japanese grocers stock pat (Korean) or anko/tsubu-an (Japanese). Make from scratch only if you can't source it.
Storage
- Keeps 4 days at room temperature in a sealed tin.
- Freezes baked, 2 months; thaw at room temp 1 hour.
- The walnut centre stays crunchy; the cake softens slightly over time but is still good.
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