Here’s a recipe that any old-time Southern cook has to have in her collection. This is a black walnut pound cake recipe like our grandmothers used to make, and is at least 100 years old. You can serve this cake with our without an icing, but it’s amazing by itself. Nothing beats a nice, warm slice of old fashioned black walnut cake on a chilly autumn day. Enjoy!
Black Walnut Pound Cake
A slice of old fashioned black walnut pound cake is hard to beat!
Ingredients
- ½ lb margarine or butter
- ½ cup Crisco
- 5 eggs
- 3 cups plain flour
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp black walnut flavoring
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1 cup chopped black walnuts
Instructions
- Cream margarine/butter and shortening.
- Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well.
- Add flavoring and beat well.
- Mix 1/4 cup of flour with nuts, and sift remaining flour with baking powder and alternately add with milk, starting and ending with flour.
- Fold in floured nuts. Do not beat!
- Bake in greased and floured tube pan for 1 hour and 20 minutes in 325 degree oven.
Why use shortening? Can you use all butter?
Can you make it without the walnut extract? It seems to me that the walnuts are flavorful enough. Can you substitute light brown sugar for some of the sugar?
You can make whatever adjusts you like, Thomas. Recipes are often just a general guideline. What we posted here is a 100+ year old recipe as a starting reference. You can certainly make any adjustments that suit you. I’ve never tried this with light brown sugar, but that sounds interesting, and I think it would be yummy. As for the walnut extract, I’ve made this cake without walnut extract a few times when I didn’t have any. It’s still very good, but the cake itself has less of a walnut flavor except when you bite into a piece of walnut.
Made this pound cake every year at Christmas. Did not change a thing. It is wonderful. Remind me of the walnut pound cake I had growing up. Thank you for the recipe.
LOve to try her recipe looks delicious
I will most definitely try this recipe. It sounds ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!! I LOVE WALNUTS!!
I see a lot of people asking about a caramel frosting ….. this is a link to Paula Deen’s caramel frosting. Should be good!!
https://www.pauladeen.com/recipe/caramel-frosting/
This is a wonderful pound cake. I ate it growing up when my grandmother would make it, and my aunt. I’m only 40 years old and remember this pound cake like it was yesterday. I’m going to get the stuff and have my wife make it for me. I love it! Goes good with a cold glass of milk.
That’s not true. My friend’s Granny taught me to always start a pound cake in a cold oven. Her’s was the best!!!
That’s the only way to make a pound cake start in a cold oven
Love old recipes. Enjoyed seeing this one. Most definitely going to try this Black Walnut Pound Cake.
Cream cheese icing is great on this!
On this black walnut pound cake, if can’t find black walnuts, could use regular walnuts? Thank you😊
They will change the taste completely. You can order black walnuts from Hammond or Amazon.
Sam’s Club sells shelled black walnuts
Sams club has black walnuts
You can but it don’t taste as
Good as using black walnuts
I ordered my black walnuts and black walnut flavoring from Amazon. As for using English walnut in my humble opinion it would be a travesty, black walnuts or don’t make this cake!!
Do you have the recipe for Carmel icing
Do you preheat the oven or start in cold oven ?
Always cook a cake of any kind with a preheated oven.
Sounds like a cold oven pd cake recipe I have.
Yes my pound cakes I don’t preheat oven. This most likely would go into cold oven.
I always start pound cakes with a cold oven.
Great Love old recipes.Would like to find more. .
i would love getting more recipes from you. first time i have seen this site. I am leaving my email. thanks Reba Whaley
Pinned this to my Autumn recipes board, can’t wait to try it. We have black walnuts and I try to keep black walnut flavoring to go in an old fashioned pumpkin bread that I make. I love the smell of black walnuts, and their rich flavor! Thanks for the recipe
I would love to follow you. How can I do this? I am from the deep south and miss a lot of the more southern recipes. I do try my best to eat healthy, so o some of the recipes, I would be using other ingredients,like coconut oil or olive oil verses other oil.
Is there an icing for this cake? My mother made something called a minute icing
My mama made Crisco Icing
She never measured it
Powdered sugar, Crisco,vanilla, dash of salt and enough milk to bring it to a spreading consistency..it was sooooo good..
Hey Pam! **Red waves hi to Pam who’s in the kitchen!** Did we have the same Mama?😁 I remember her doing the exact same thing!
That’s all that goes into basic buttercream frosting.
A childhood memory of mine is Black Walnut Cake with Caramel Icing. Boy do I miss my mother and her making this cake. Only hers was a layered cake, not pound cake.
Is there a basic icing for this walnut pound cake? I have a sweet tooth (sigh) and just love that extra sweetness even if I don’t need it! I know most cakes just use some powdered sugar and some type of liquid to make icing. But, what goes with Walnut cake? I am 67 and never been one of those good old Southern cooks, but I try! Love the stewed potatoes that was another recipe. All stars! From Sweet Lips community in Chester Co., TN. West Tenn.
I just made a black walnut frosting using butter, powder sugar, milk and walnut extract. I also added finely chopped black walnuts. Its really sweet and good.
Where can I find black walnut extract?
I ordered mine from spice jungle
Judy a cream cheese or a plain vanilla butter icing goes good with the black walnut cake. I make black walnut layer cake. And I use either one on it and it’s always a hit, or at least I never have leftovers. If it’s not all eaten people want to take a slice or two home.
I myself love blk walnut pound cake. I hav tried this receipe & it’s delious. Ty for sharing it.
I have a question, would it be possible to prepare this in a reg cake pan (9 x 13)? Cant find a tube cake pan here in Mexico. Bundt pan yes, tube no. HELP!!!!!!!
You can use any pan. Just don’t over fill.
Could even make layer cake with cream cheese with blaskwalnuts and flavoring!
A tube pan and a bundt pan are same.
I don’t think so…..
Nope. They are different.
you can place an empty can in the center of a regular cake pan.
great idea!
Your bundt pan would work just fine.
Hey hun June has a great idea. Sure you can use a Bundt pan just like it was said don’t over fill it. Now you’re set on go!!😊
My mother made delicious black walnut cakes with caramel icing. It was definitely a match made in heaven.
Ok!would love recipe for the icing! Thanks in advance!
Oh my goodness, that caramel icing sounds fantastic…
Can I use raising in the place of walnut .
Could I use a bundt pan for this recipe?
I had the same question and so I just tried it!!! It fits in my bundt pan and so far so good.
Since this an old recipe and Crisco has changed it’s product dramatically do you still use the new Crisco with the same results? I’ve found my favorite molasses cookie recipe that used Crisco was awful when the Crisco formula was changed.
We’ve had good results with just using more butter. That might make a good substitute for the Crisco. I’ve made breakfast gravy with nothing more than butter for fat, so I would think the same logic would work here. Although, if you can find locally-sourced organic lard, that would work, as well.
Kevin… I do render my own leaf lard. So you think that would work well? I hate using all those ingredients only to having a recipe fail. Also did I read that the recipe should be baking soda, not powder… or a combo of both? What in this recipe would be the acid that the soda is needed to neutralize?
The recipe calls for baking powder, so there should be no problems with acidity. As for the leaf lard, I have no idea. We’ve never used it. But if you’ve had good results with it in other recipes, I don’t imagine there’s any reason to expect it to be different here. There’s always a chance substitutions will have unexpected results, but there’s really only one way to know for sure. 🙂
What is leaf lard?
Hi Kevin, I used all butter and it seems fine although I’ve not tasted it yet. Do you know if there is a frosting recipe used with this cake or is traditionally served plain?
I had excellent results with leaf lard.
WHAT IS LEAF LARD
I have a question about the Crisco. Is this liquid Crisco from the bottle or solid from the can?
U are right, I immediately determined, use all butter!!
This is very close to my stand by Lemon Pound Cake, just use 1Lemon and 2 vanilla tsps extract, no leveling agents, and 1 cup of warm milk.
this was the first cake i ever made from scratch and i was so proud of myself because it was the best and everyone who had a piece loved it thank you for putting it online
Glad to hear it turned out well, Debbie. 🙂
I first made this cake back in March 2015. The only change I made was, I used a pound of butter and no Crisco as I did not have any. This cake turned out so great. It was also delicious. I only got one tiny piece. The cake was gone in about 4 hours. I have made it 7 times since and it is still great. I have nicked named it the disappearing cake.
I love this site with all your old recipes. Today is the first time that I ever seen it.
I just compared this recipe to the one I got from an older lady in our family (distant cousin). It is right on with yours except hers has Butter Extract instead of Black Walnut. So other than that difference, I can say that this cake is AMAZING!!!!! I love love love the old recipes of days gone by that are tried and true! Getting harder to find them. I can’t wait to look around this site at your other recipes and see what else I can find. Thanks for sharing!!
My recipe is almost the exact same thing except I use 1 tsp vanilla and 1 teaspoon black walnut. Extract.
I also add 1 cup sour cream and only 1/2 cup milk
Just found this recipe sounds great gonna try it . What iceing would go with it ?
I am excited to try this walnut cake but having trouble finding black walnut flavoring any ideas ???
If you can’t find black walnut flavoring or black walnut extract locally, you can order many different varieties from Amazon.com. We get some of our harder to find spices that way.
hi,
could you pls tell all the quantities in walnut pound cake in grams.
Thanks,
Sumi
Just go to translator weights and measurements from cups/ounces to grams! I have to do this all the time (living in Mexico everything is metric).
Ora meat market in Shelby NC has it.
Try HAPPY HOMES FLAVORING. I use it all the time. Wonderfu. Lots of churches sell this as a fund raiser. Am from NC
Try almond flavor.
There’s a little market called Millers Farm in Brandywine Md .I found black walnut extract there.I was so excited
Penzey’s Spices. They have the finest quality spices I’ve ever used, and they’re not outrageously expensive.
https://www.penzeys.com/
My grandma used almond extract and I loved her cake.
I buy them from Walmart .
Where to find black walnuts?
If you can’t find black walnuts at a local vendor or supermarket, they can be ordered online through businesses such as Hammons Nut Emporium.
Try Walmart
I found them at Sam`s Club… Best place to buy them..
Online at hammon’s black walnut emporium
Love. Wal-Mart has them. The Amish people also has them.
do u have the recipe for red velvet cake??
Will this do, Virginia?
http://mamapeggy.com/red-velvet-layer-cake/
Love this black walnut recipe hoping to try this weekend
I would love to make this cake but I can’t find the icing recipe . Would you please send it to me? My grandson is the Marines and coming home in 3 weeks and he loves Red Velvet Cakes. thank you.
Do you mean icing for a red velvet cake, Juanita? If so, here’s a link to that recipe.
http://mamapeggy.com/red-velvet-layer-cake-icing/
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It brought back lots of memories; my daddy would crack out black walnuts and sell to pay his property taxes. My mama would bake two walnut cakes, one with whole kernels and one with finely chopped kernels so she could eat some of it (she had one side of her jawbone removed due to cancer). I try to keep black walnuts on hand and use them for a black walnut, fresh apple cake. Happy New Year!
Darlene – I have two black walnut trees on my property and have planted them for the squirrels. I know I can use the green husks to stain and darken wood, but didn’t realize that the nut meats could be used in foods. Is there a special way of drying or roasting them to be edible? I love them as a tree because they grow quickly (straight and tall), and the leaves seem to disintegrate into the ground in the fall – no raking required. You can reach me on Facebook – JackieNez
Let your green husk dry or turn dark. You can take them to your local co-op or feed store and they can husk them in a machine. Then you just have to crack or shell them. It hard work! But,rewarding!
Oh God yes–coming from Iowa, these trees are a blessing! My parents moved to California so every year I would drive out in the country searching for black walnut trees, gather them, husk them, dry them well, crack them with a hammer all winter then in spring send my mother 5 gallon bags of shelled nuts. They were available in California, but VERY expensive. My Father would eat them by the handfuls. Once the green outer husks dry to black,this is where the original walnut stain comes from. Be careful with the juice/stain–you’ll never get it off your hands. Used to be embarrassing, but worth it. I live in Mexico now and I miss those wonderful nuts.
Yes you pick them off, tear off the outer husks and place them in the sun to dry.It will take awhile for them to dry, to test them, take your trusty hammer and whack em open. They are awesome to eat–we always used them the most at Christmas time because they arent falling off the tree until October in Iowa. They best way I learned to make sure they nuts were good inside was to put them in a bucket of water–if they float, the nuts are no good. Then husk the good ones and let dry a month or so. Our winters were always spent picking out the meats from the shells for the next years candies. They freeze easy too–just make sure they are good and dry.
I am 88 years old and was taught years ago to stand the Black Walnuts on the but end to Crack them and they come out easy . I use to pick out 5 gallon Bucket in no time after I got this tip . Been making Black Walnut Cakes for years .with seven min. Icing mix finely chopped Black Walnut garnish with large pieces. Or the Iceing of your Choice I love all of the Ideas
I needed this! Thank You!! GREAT!!!
This my first time seeing your recipes.
Would love to make this one. I am 68 years old and enjoy the older recipes.
Thank you for posting this recipe. I have been looking for a good pound cake recipe for a few years now. I contacted http://www.thekitchenwhisperer.net on facebook and ended up here! 🙂 I made this cake this week and it tastes just like the one my “Ma G” used to make. It was great!