Enjoy this rich, vintage recipe of tender cake with a brown sugar walnut filling.
I love collecting old cookbooks, but I rarely cook from them and I am not sure why. But I think that having largely ignored my collection was a missed opportunity.
This incredible Walnut Coffee Cake is my adaptation from a cookbook that was originally published in 1938. I made some simple changes and adapted it to modern baking practices and ingredients. I hope you love it as much as our family does.
To Make This Recipe You Will Need:
- butter
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- salt
- granulated sugar
- eggs
- milk
- vanilla extract
- brown sugar
- cinnamon
- walnuts
- powdered sugar
- half and half
- mixing bowls
- mixer
- whisk
- 10 inch cast iron skillet or cake pan
Watch Me Make This Recipe in the Video Below:
To begin, preheat your oven to 350° (F).
Coat the inside of a 10 inch cast iron skillet with butter. Set it aside for now.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set it aside.
In your mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until fluffy. Add the egg yolks and mix in.
Add half of the dry ingredients and mix in.
Mix in the milk and then the remaining dry ingredients.
In another bowl, whisk the eggs until stiff peaks form. I use an immersion blender with whisk attachment to make this easy.
Fold the egg whites and vanilla extract into the batter.
Spread half of the batter into your prepared pan.
In a bowl, combine the filling ingredients and stir well.
Spread the filling over the cake batter in the pan.
Spoon the remaining batter all over the top of the filling.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cake tests done with a wooden pick in the center.
Transfer the pan to a cooling rack.
Prepare your glaze if you wish. Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl.
Add the vanilla extract and just enough half and half (or milk) to make a glaze that is thin enough to drizzle.
Drizzle the glaze all over the top.
Allow the cake to cool and then enjoy!
Did you Make this Recipe? I’d love for you to give me a 5 star rating in the recipe card below. If you share it on Instagram, please tag me!
Old-Fashioned Walnut Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the Coffee Cake
- 1/4 c butter, unsalted, room temperature
- 1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 c granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, separated
- 1/2 c milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Filling
- 1/2 c brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2/3 c walnuts, finely chopped
- 2 Tb all-purpose flour
- 2 Tb butter, unsalted, melted
For the Glaze (optional)
- 1/2 c powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 Tb half and half, or milk, as needed
Instructions
- To begin, preheat your oven to 350° (F).
- Coat the inside of a 10 inch cast iron skillet with butter. Set it aside for now.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set it aside.
- In your mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until fluffy. Add the egg yolks and mix in.
- Add half of the dry ingredients and mix in.
- Mix in the milk and then the remaining dry ingredients.
- In another bowl, whisk the eggs until stiff peaks form. I use an immersion blender with whisk attachment to make this easy. Fold the egg whites and vanilla extract into the batter.
- Spread half of the batter into your prepared pan.
- In a bowl, combine the filling ingredients and stir well.
- Spread the filling over the cake batter in the pan.
- Spoon the remaining batter all over the top of the filling.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cake tests done with a wooden pick in the center.
- Transfer the pan to a cooling rack.
- Prepare your glaze if you wish. Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl.
- Add the vanilla extract and just enough milk to make a glaze that is thin enough to drizzle.
- Drizzle the glaze all over the top.
- Allow the cake to cool and then enjoy!
Equipment Used
- 9 inch round baking pan
- immersion blender
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If nutritional values are provided for this recipe, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands of ingredients you use. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste or for serving. If nutritional values are very important to you, I suggest using your favorite nutritional calculating tool with the brands you use.
This recipe was adapted from The American Woman Cook Book by Ruth Berolzheimer.
Such a mouthwatering recipie. We will definitely going to try this.
Going to try this over the weekend. Good time to purchase the Lodge iron skillet too. I’ve had it in my list for a while. Have a blessed day!!