This apple walnut cake was one my mom used to make, from an old typed recipe card that's been sitting in her collection since at least the 1950s. I updated the language and the instructions for a modern kitchen, but the cake itself is exactly what she made.
Why You Will Love This Vintage Apple Walnut Cake Recipe
- Genuinely Old Fashioned. This comes from a real vintage recipe card rather than a modern recreation, and the method reflects it.
- Naturally Moist. Letting the apples sit in the sugars for an hour before baking draws out juice that keeps the whole cake tender.
- Simple Pantry Ingredients. Nothing here would have been unusual to have on hand decades ago, and nothing is unusual now either.
- Adaptable Pan Size. This works in the original 13x9 or a deeper 8x8, as long as the bake time adjusts to match.
- Real Crunch from the Walnuts. Folded in at the end so they stay distinct instead of disappearing.
Ingredients for This Moist Apple Walnut Cake
- Apples, chopped, form the bulk of the cake, and sitting with the sugar for an hour draws out their juice, which is a big part of what keeps this cake moist instead of dry.
- Sugar macerates with the apples first, pulling out their liquid, before doing its usual job of sweetening the batter.
- Eggs at room temperature bind the batter together.
- Vegetable oil, or a neutral oil like avocado oil, keeps the cake moist without the richness or task of creaming butter. Avocado oil works as a straightforward one to one swap here, since both are neutral, light oils.
- Vanilla rounds out the flavor.
- Flour, baking powder, and baking soda give the cake its structure and lift.
- Cinnamon and sea salt season the batter, cinnamon for warmth, salt to balance the sweetness.
- Walnuts, folded in whole or roughly chopped, add crunch and a toasted, nutty flavor throughout.
Best Apples To Use For the Apple Walnut Cake
- Cosmic Crisp My personal favorite. Sweet like a Honeycrisp or Fuji but does not get mealey and holds its stuff.
- Granny Smith The industry gold standard for baking. Its high acidity cuts through the heavy sweet notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, and walnuts, while its firm structure ensures the apple pieces hold their shape instead of turning into applesauce.
- Honeycrisp Delivers an exceptionally crisp texture and a sweet-tart balance. It retains its bite and releases minimal excess liquid during baking, keeping the cake moist without becoming soggy.
- Braeburn Provides a rich, complex flavor profile that leans slightly tangy. Its dense flesh bakes down into a pleasant tender-yet-firm bite without breaking down.
- Cortland A descendant of McIntosh that stays white longer after slicing and bakes up soft without dissolving. It brings a mild, sweet-tart flavor that complements spices and nuts smoothly.
- Fuji A very sweet, crisp option that holds its form well under high heat. It works best when paired with a more tart apple to avoid an overly sweet finished cake.
- Pink Lady (Cripps Pink) Features a sharp tartness and firm flesh that holds up to long bake times. Its natural sugars caramelize beautifully alongside the toasted walnuts.
Making the Best Old Fashioned Apple Walnut Cake
- Mix the chopped apples and sugar together in a large bowl. Let the mixture stand for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, so the apples release their juice.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a separate bowl.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then mix in the oil and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients and the apple and sugar mixture to the egg mixture, stirring just until combined.
- Fold in the walnuts.
- Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 pan, or a greased 8x8 pan if using the deeper version, and bake at 350 degrees F. In a 9x13, bake for about 30 minutes. Start checking the cake around 20 minutes in. In an 8x8, start checking at 45 minutes and expect closer to 60 minutes total, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- If the cake is starting to get too done on the outside, cover with foil until done baking.
- Let the cake cool in the pan briefly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.
Tips On Making the Simple Apple Walnut Cake
- Do not skip the hour of letting the apples sit in sugar. This is an old technique that pulls moisture out of the fruit ahead of time, and it is a big part of why this cake stays moist without needing butter or a glaze.
- A neutral oil like avocado oil or vegetable oil both work fine here, since the cake does not depend on any specific fat for flavor the way a butter cake would.
- Modern flour does not typically need sifting the way it did decades ago, so whisking the dry ingredients together works just as well as the original card's instruction to sift.
- Combine different apples such as a tart and a sweet apple.
Troubleshooting Your Apple Walnut Cake
- Cake is browning on top before the center is set. This is common in a deeper 8x8 pan. Tent the top loosely with foil for the remaining bake time and keep checking with a toothpick.
- Cake seems dense or a little gummy in the center. This usually means it needed more time. A deeper pan takes noticeably longer than the original 9x13, so do not rely on the original 1 hour timing if you switched pans.
- Walnuts all sank to the bottom. Tossing them lightly in a spoonful of the dry ingredients before folding them in can help them stay distributed through a thick batter like this one.
If you like apples try my apple cider cream cheese frosting or my apple muffins.
This would make a classic dessert for a classic dinner of city chicken.
FAQ's
Not for this recipe. Letting the raw, chopped apples sit in sugar for an hour draws out their moisture and softens them somewhat, which does the job without needing to cook them separately first.
This cake is sturdy enough to serve plain, but a simple cream cheese frosting or a dusting of powdered sugar both suit it well without competing with the apple and walnut flavor.
The hour of maceration time for the apples and sugar is the real trick here, along with using oil rather than butter, since oil keeps a cake moist for longer than butter does. Just make sure to keep the cake covered with plastic wrap or in a sealed container.
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The original card does not specify, but peeling gives a smoother texture throughout. Leaving the skins on works too if you prefer a bit more texture and do not mind the peel.
Undercooking after switching to a deeper pan is the big one here, along with adding cold, straight from the fridge eggs to the oil mixture, which can make it harder to combine smoothly.
There is something worth preserving about making a recipe exactly the way it was handed down. The updates here are just clarifications, dry junk becomes dry ingredients, an hour becomes a range depending on your pan, but the cake itself, apples softened in sugar, walnuts folded in at the end, baked simple, is my mom's recipe, not a reinvention of it.
Recipe
Old Fashioned Apple Walnut Cake
Ingredients
- 4 cups apples chopped
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 room temperature eggs slightly beaten
- ½ cup vegetable oil or avocado oil
- 2 t. vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 ½ t. baking powder
- 1 t. baking soda
- 2 t. cinnamon
- 1 t. salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Method
- Mix apples & sugars. Let stand for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- Sift dry ingredients.
- Beat eggs, mix with oil and vanilla and then put in a large bowl.
- To this add dry ingredients and apple mix.
- Fold in nuts.
- Bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes, in a greased 13 x 9" pan. Check after 20 minutes. If the cake is getting too brown, cover with foil.
Nutrition
Private Notes
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