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Indulge in this decadent chocolate cake loaded with crunchy, toasted walnuts and covered with a rich, luscious chocolate frosting. This sinfully delicious dessert is a sure crowd pleaser and ridiculously easy to whip up.

Chocolate walnut cake is my Easy Chocolate Bundt Cake Recipe baked in a 9×13 baking pan, studded with toasted walnuts and frosted with an indulgent chocolaty frosting.

This is a simple, old fashioned chocolate walnut cake. It’s not a TikTok or Instagram-worthy creation with edible flowers and colorful ribbons. Nope, this is a good ol’ chocolate cake that your grandma would be proud of.

old fashioned chocolate walnut cake recipe

You’ll Love Chocolate Walnut Cake, Because:

It’s So Easy – No icing several cake layers or decorating. Just mix your ingredients together, bake and the ice cake in the pan.
It’s A Moist Chocolate Walnut Cake – This is one of the moistest cakes I’ve had. There is nothing dry about this chocolate and walnut cake. It’s made with a 1/2 cup of oil, which helps deliver a moist cake every time.
Its Amazing, Indulgent Flavor – You will love the flavor combo of the crunchy toasted walnuts and rich chocolate. This pair is a match made in heaven and creates a delicious chocolate walnut cake.

Ingredients In Easy Chocolate Walnut Cake Recipe

2 cups granulated sugar
1¾ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs – room temperature
1 cup milk – room temperature
½ cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling coffee
2 1/2 cups to 3 cups toasted chopped walnuts
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk – room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How To Make Chocolate Walnut Cake

To Make The Cake

Toast nuts – preheat oven between 325F and 350F. Spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Bake for 5–15 minutes, or until the nuts are fragrant and lightly browned.

Set nuts aside and let cool
Preheat oven for cake to 350℉.
Grease and flour a 9×13 cake pan or spray with Bakers Joy.
Whisk together all your dry ingredients – sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium to large mixing bowl.
Add eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes.
Pour boiling coffee in chocolate cake batter and stir (batter will be thin).
Fold 1 1/2 to 2 cups toasted walnuts in batter.
Pour batter into prepared baking dish
Bake at 350℉ for 35 to 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and let the cake cool before frosting

To Make The Frosting

Melt butter on stove or in microwave
Stir in cocoa
Alternately add powdered sugar and milk and beat to spreading consistency.
Stir in vanilla
Fold in 1 cup toasted walnuts.
You may want to add a small amount of milk here to achieve spreading consistency.
Spread frosting over cooled cake.

Tools Used To Make Chocolate Walnut Cake

Tips To Make The Best Chocolate Walnut Cake

Use room temperature ingredients. This ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly.
You can use water instead of coffee in this chocolate cake recipe, but make sure it’s boiling water.
Your chocolate walnut cake is done when a wooden toothpick is inserted into the cake and comes out clean. You can also gently press on the cake and it should spring back. If the cake leaves an indent of a fingerprint, it needs a few more minutes.
This cake can be stored at room temperature up to 3 days and in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Cover the baking pan with aluminum foil to store or cut in squares and store in an air tight container.
This cake freezes well. Simply cover the cooled and iced cake in the baking pan with a layer of plastic wrap and then a layer of aluminum foil. You can also cut the cake in squares and freeze in an airtight container. Freeze up to 2 months.

Why Toast Your Nuts

Is it really worth taking that extra step to toast your nuts before folding them in the batter? A thousand times YES and here’s why:

Enhanced Flavor – Toasting the nuts intensifies their flavor by bringing out their natural oils. This can add a richer and nuttier flavor to your baked goods.

Improved Texture – Toasted nuts are crispier and have a crunchier texture, which can contrast nicely with the softness of a cake, muffin or quick bread.

Why Use Boiling Coffee

When hot liquid is combined with cocoa powder, it brings out that chocolaty flavor and also dissolves the cocoa quickly with as few lumps as possible.

According to allrecipes, coffee, whether in powdered or liquid form, intensifies the flavor of chocolate in baked goods or desserts. Adding a bit of coffee to chocolate desserts amplifies chocolate’s flavor without adding any discernible coffee taste.

Substitutions For Walnuts

This chocolate walnuts cake is really a chocolate cake with nuts. So, feel free to get really edgy and nutty and substitute different types of nuts for the walnuts in this chocolate nut cake. Nuts such as:

Pecans
Macadamia Nuts
Almonds – sliced, slivered, or chopped
Hazelnuts

You could go off the wall nutty and add a combination of these nuts.

Mix Ins

Try getting a little crazy and creative and give your moist chocolate walnut cake a unique twist by adding one of these mix-ins (try adding 1/2 to 3/4 cup)

Chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, expresso chips, cinnamon chips
M&M’s or Reese Pieces
Dried fruit (cherries, cranberries…)
Shredded coconut

Easy Chocolate Walnut Cake, It’s SINsational

This chocolate walnut cake is a piece of cake to make and a chocolate dream to eat. So, just go ahead, throw caution to the wind and indulge in this rich chocolate cake. It’s worth every single calorie. However, remember to share with friends and savor every sinful bite. Chocolaty Walnut Cheers!

In case you have any questions or comments regarding this easy chocolate walnut cake recipe feel free to reach out via the comment section or the contact page. Also, if you have tried this easy chocolate cake with walnuts, I would love to hear about your experiences.

I have linked to our delicious related recipes below and I’m sure you will love them.

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