Bundt cake with ground walnuts makes the ideal weekend or special occasion dessert. It has a wonderful nutty flavor, looks fantastic, and tastes even better. This is a quick and easy recipe to bake a perfect walnut bundt cake on the first try!
➜ My quick notes on the recipe
I make this cake regularly because my family loves nuts for their earthy flavor, plus walnuts are packed with healthy nutrients.
Every fall, our walnut tree in the backyard produces a bounty of nuts, so walnut bundt cake is our favorite fall dessert. I use an old stoneware bundt pan for baking, which gives the cake a nice shape and makes it inviting for another serving!
Let me make a few notes about the cake based on my experience with the recipe:
- The walnut cake batter is made from whole eggs beaten with sugar until light and foamy. This step ensures that the cake is fluffy and requires only a small amount of baking powder.
- I have my own walnuts that I harvest from our garden. I always grind them fresh before using them on a rotary drum grater. Store-bought ground walnuts will work just fine.
- I baked my nutty bundt cake with three eggs; the batter amount is perfect for a smaller 6-cup bundt pan that serves about 12 people.
The recipe comes from the Czech Republic, where we call it "orechova babovka".
Try a classic Czech babovka, marble bundt cake!
➜ Ingredients
To make homemade walnut bundt cake from scratch, you will need:
- Eggs; whole eggs are put in the cake; there is no need to separate the white and the yolk. To whip the eggs into a light foam, it is a good idea to warm them to room temperature. Take them out of the refrigerator about an hour before baking. If you forget, dip them in a bowl of warm water for ten minutes.
- Granulated sugar; You'll whisk the sugar with the eggs. The tiny sugar crystals will help whip up a fluffy foam, so don't use icing sugar, which is finely ground.
- Pinch of salt; for contrast in flavor
- Plain yogurt; for extra richness and moisture. Feel free to use a thicker yogurt with a fat content of around 10%, as the fat adds extra flavor to the dessert. If you don't have white yogurt on hand, use another sour milk product, such as sour cream.
- Oil; canola or sunflower oil, which have a neutral taste, are suitable for baking
- Walnut; ground
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
Equipment: a 6-cup bundt pan
✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.
➜ Instructions with photos
STEP 1: To prepare the bundt pan, you need about a tablespoon of solid fat (Crisco) and two tablespoons of fine breadcrumbs or flour.
⇢ Learn how to grease and flour your bundt pan before baking
STEP 2: Place the whole eggs in a mixing bowl with a bowl of sugar next to it. Start beating the eggs with an electric hand mixer. Start at low speed, then gradually increase the speed, adding the sugar in batches. Finally, beat on high speed. After about 5-7 minutes, you should end up with lightly whipped egg foam.
STEP 3: Whisk the flour and baking powder together. Turn the hand mixer on low speed. Gradually add the yogurt, oil, ground nuts, and flour to the egg mixture. Mix until combined. Add a pinch of salt at the end.
STEP 4: Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to prevent batter waste and to get as much batter as possible into the bundt pan.
STEP 5: Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) - lower and upper heating. Bake the bundt cake for about an hour on the middle rack of the oven. After 50 minutes of baking, use a wooden skewer to test for doneness.
Stick the skewer into the center of the dough and pull it out. If there is any wet dough left on it, let the bundt bake for another ten minutes and repeat the test. If the skewer is dry, the bundt is baked.
➜ Removing the cake from the bundt pan
Let the cake cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Then place a flat plate on top and carefully invert it over.
If you have thoroughly greased and dusted the bundt pan and it has been baked inside, the cake should easily release from the pan.
➜ Serving
Let the tipped walnut bundt cake cool, then sprinkle with icing sugar and cut into pieces. Enjoy your tasty dessert for breakfast or brunch with a cup of coffee or tea.
➜ Storage
- At room temperature: Allow the cake to cool completely. Then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil to prevent it from drying out or absorbing odors. Eat within three days.
- In the refrigerator: The shelf life of a bundt cake in the refrigerator is extended by about two days if you wrap it as described in the previous point.
- In the freezer: When cooled, cut the cake into individual pieces and place in an airtight container or freezer bag. The cake will keep in the freezer for about three months. You can also freeze the whole cake if you have enough room in your freezer.
➜ Useful tips
- If the cake domes in the middle, simply cut it flat after cooling so that it sits well on the plate.
- Before baking, make sure that the walnuts or the flour from them are not bitter, i.e., spoiled. Sample them, and if they have a sweet taste, you can use them without any problem.
- I bake bábovka only with walnuts, which are the most available in the Czech Republic. Apparently, it is possible to replace walnuts with another type of nut, but I have no practical experience with this.
More dessert recipes:
- Buchty – Czech sweet-filled buns
- Yeast bund cake with poppyseed filling
- Czech trdelnik
- Slovak nut roll
Tried this recipe?
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Walnut Bundt Cake (Czech Orechova Babovka)
Equipment
- 6-cup bundt pan
Ingredients
- 3 eggs warmed at room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 g)
- ¾ cup yogurt (180 ml)
- ⅓ cup oil (80 ml) canola or sunflower oil
- 1 cup walnuts ground
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (130 g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
To prepare a bundt pan:
- 1 Tablespoon solid fat
- 2 Tablespoons breadcrumbs fine
Instructions
- To prepare the bundt pan, you need about a tablespoon of solid fat (Crisco) and two tablespoons of fine breadcrumbs or flour.
- Place the whole eggs in a mixing bowl with a bowl of sugar next to it. Start beating the eggs with an electric hand mixer. Start at low speed, then gradually increase the speed, adding the sugar in batches. Finally, beat on high speed. After about 5-7 minutes, you should end up with lightly whipped egg foam.
- Whisk the flour and baking powder together. Turn the hand mixer on low speed. Gradually add the yogurt, oil, ground nuts, and flour to the egg mixture. Mix until combined. Add a pinch of salt at the end.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to prevent batter waste and to get as much batter as possible into the bundt pan.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to prevent batter waste and to get as much batter as possible into the bundt pan.
- Stick the skewer into the center of the dough and pull it out. If there is any wet dough left on it, let the bundt bake for another ten minutes and repeat the test. If the skewer is dry, the bundt is baked.
Notes
- Makes 12 servings.
- Removing the bundt cake from the pan: Let the cake cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. Then place a flat plate on top and carefully invert it over. If you have thoroughly greased and dusted the bundt pan and it has been baked inside, the cake should easily release from the pan.
- SERVING: Let the tipped walnut bundt cake cool, then sprinkle with icing sugar and cut into pieces. Enjoy your tasty dessert for breakfast or brunch with a cup of coffee or tea.
- If the cake domes in the middle, simply cut it flat after cooling so that it sits well on the plate.
DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:
Conversion chart
Pavla
I loved it! Super easy too
Sofiya
Hi Petra, the cake tastes delicious and it was fun to make. Sadly it collapsed when I turned it upside down on the rack after an hour of baking in a traditional oven which is a disappointment as the screwer was clean and the base looked done. As it has not happened before with my bundt cakes using different techniques, I am wondering if you have any other tips. Maybe the temperature should be higher than 177C? I put flour instead of breadcrumbs - could that be an issue and why do you do that (is not butter sufficient)?