Walnut Cake is a deliciously easy recipe. The cake is so soft and fluffy! There's also a recipe for a lovely vanilla frosting.

You can make this as a round cake or a loaf, instructions for both. Freezer friendly too. This would also make a nice cake for the holidays!

Walnut Cake! What a wonderful cake!

For this recipe, I've used one of my basic cake recipes and adjusted it to get a lovely fluffy texture and accommodate the walnuts inside the cake.

It is a light, fluffy sponge cake, a bit like eating clouds, and the flavor is very delicious. The addition of a simple vanilla buttercream frosting adds another dimension to each bite, so all in all, this is a very nice eat!

... and of course, it goes perfectly with a lovely cup of tea.

This walnut cake uses 2 round cake tins, which means I can make a sandwich cake with the frosting in between the layers and then on top too. However, this cake will also cook very well as a loaf cake, so if you prefer that, all you need to do is take note of the longer cook time.

Otherwise, everything else stays the same.

The cake itself is not sickly sweet, because the buttercream frosting has vanilla, which adds extra sweetness, and not too much sugar. If you do have a particularly sweet tooth, I would suggest you taste the frosting as you are making it and add a little more sugar to your taste.

This walnut cake will also freeze very well, so if you needed to make ahead, or perhaps you wanted to freeze in portions, then all you need to do is wrap it very well in some parchment and then airtight in a zip bag and simply defrost to room temperature when you wish to eat it.

So let's see how to make this easy walnut cake recipe! It's by far the best walnut cake recipe I know!

By the way, you can also add 2 - 3 tablespoons of Expresso coffee in the batter if you wanted a variation. See our Coffee Walnut Cake recipe on our sister site, Newbie In The Kitchen. It's delicious! That is also a nice combination which I have made several times.

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

30 - 35 minutes OR 1 hr for a loaf pan

Yield

12 Persons

Ingredients

The Cake

1 cup or 250 g butter, softened
1 cup or 200 g Regular or Castor Sugar
1 1/2 cups or 190 g AP flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup or 80 ml Milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 Cups or 140 g Chopped walnuts

The frosting

5 oz or 150 g Softened Butter
2 1/2 Cups or 300 g Powdered/icing sugar *** Please note, you may wish to increase this amount if you have a very very sweet tooth.
1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160 C, 325 F. Grease and lightly flour two 8 inch or 20 cm loose-bottomed round cake tins. I always like to place a disc of parchment in the base of each tin so the cake comes out very easily. You can also use our easy pan release recipe if you don't have any parchment paper.

2. Sift flour, salt and baking powder. Chop the walnuts. Make sure the pieces are NO LARGER than pea size. Any bigger and they will sink to the bottom during baking.

3. Lightly beat eggs and add vanilla in a bowl. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
** NOTE: Creaming the butter and sugar is VERY important to get a fluffy texture to the cake crumb. Please make sure you use your mixer and cream until you see the color of the butter turn almost white. It will take you around 5 - 7 minutes for this to happen, and it is worth the extra time taken!

4. Add egg mixture, a little at a time to the batter. Then add half the flour, then milk, then the rest of flour. Add the walnuts and make sure they are well combined and distributed.

5. Transfer the cake batter mixture equally into the 2 baking tins and bake 30 - 35 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. If using a loaf pan, keep the same temperature, and bake for about 1 hour to 1 hr 10 minutes. Again, check for doneness.

6. . Allow the cakes to rest for 2 minutes then remove from pans and place UPSIDE DOWN on a cooling rack. Allow to COMPLETELY cool before frosting.
*** Please note, bake times will vary slightly so please check for doneness after 25 - 30 minutes of baking.

For the Buttercream Frosting

7. Add the softened butter (it MUST be softened) vanilla and powdered sugar to a mixing bowl and start by using a wooden spoon to combine.

If you start with an electric mixer the powdered sugar will fly everywhere!! Once combined, use a mixer and beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until you see an almost white colour and the mixture is fluffy.

At this point, taste the buttercream for sweetness. If you want more, just add some more powdered sugar, a tablespoon at a time until it is to your liking.

8. When the cakes have COMPLETELY cooled, place the first cake on the plate, then take some frosting and spread evenly over the top. Then add the second cake on top and continue to frost all over the cake, or how you like.

You can simply spread the frosting or use a piping bag if you would like a pretty pattern. You choose!

Make up a cup of tea and enjoy!

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our post. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

Recipe

If you love baking, try out this delicious Blueberry & Lemon Crumble Cake. It's a really easy recipe and you can serve these alongside an Afternoon Tea with your Walnut Cake.