Walnut Wonder Cake – a family favorite

My niece gave me her family recipe for Walnut Wonder Cake. Quick & moist it is a must try!

I found a printed email from my niece she sent to me in 2009 giving me this recipe & to my amazement I have not made it before. The paper was in a cookbook on my shelf of many cookbooks… I am so glad I found this recipe. My niece told me I could share it with you.

It isn’t a really high rising cake & only has 2 cups of flour in it so I was not sure about the baking pan size, but she told me her family makes it in a bundt pan so that is what I did. The cake is ‘layered’… batter, nuts, batter, nuts.    When the cake is turned out of the pan the rounded top is plain & the nuts are on the bottom…so I turned it over …the nuts on top & the rounded part of the cake is on the plate… this works because the cake is not very tall…you will see in the pictures how this works..it looks pretty

This cake is dairy-free/parve, takes 35-40 minutes to bake & the ingredients are most likely in your house right now!!

Here is the recipe..thanks to my niece for the recipe

Ingredients 

Filling

1 cup walnut pieces

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Cake Batter

1 cup non-dairy margarine *** I use the Becel Vegan margarine NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT CARE IF THIS CAKE IS DAIRY-FREE YOU CAN USE BUTTER HERE!!! Make sure the butter is soft

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup orange juice or non-diary milk such as soy or almond milk,,,, NOTE: IF YOU ARE USING BUTTER, YOU CAN USE MILK HERE *** I USED ORANGE JUICE

 

 

Method

Preheat oven to 350f

Grease a bundt pan or if you do not have a bundt pan you can use a tube pan

Make the filling

I make the filling before making the batter & set it aside so that it is ready when I want to put the cake together

1. Toss the walnut pieces, brown sugar & cinnamon together in a bowl & set aside

Make the batter

1. I made this cake in the food processor…but you can use a mixer if you want or even mix this by hand if the shortening is soft
2. Cream the margarine & sugar together until light.  *** I put the margarine & sugar into the food processor & mixed it until it was well combined…scrape down the sides
3. Now add the eggs & vanilla….***Add the eggs & vanilla through the feed tube while the food processor is running. Stop the machine & scrape down the sides *** I crack the eggs into a bowl & I put the vanilla into the bowl with the eggs & then add it to the food processor together
4. Now, add the flour , baking powder, baking soda & salt to the bowl of the food processor *** you can measure the flour into a measuring cup, add the baking powder, baking soda & salt to the flour & use a fork to combine, then add to the food processor/mixer

Now you will put this together & pop it in the oven

1. Put 1/2 of the batter evenly into the prepared cake pan
2. Sprinkle half of the nut mixture evenly on top of the batter, try not to touch the sides of the cake pan, this just makes it easier to get the cake out of the pan if the sugar isn’t stuck to it, but no problem if it touches really you will just have to loosen the cake from the sides with a knife…
3. Put the rest of the cake batter evenly into the pan
4. Sprinkle the rest of the nut filling evenly over top
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes…test the cake with a cake tester, which should come out dry…
6. Remove the cake from the oven & put the pan onto a cooling rack…let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes so you can turn it out without the cake breaking
7. This cake is tender so be careful with it!!! Gently loosen the cake from the sides of the pan with a knife …& turn it out onto the cooling rack to cool completely. I turned the cake over so that the nuts were on top…the cake was still warm & it broke..I just pushed it back together…but that is how I realized that the cake is nice & tender!

Enjoy!