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With a little bit of help from a boxed cake mix, vanilla pudding, and sour cream, this easy maple walnut cake is ready for the oven in about 10 minutes! Serve the moist, rich, and flavorful treat for breakfast or dessert at your next autumn celebration.
Table of Contents
If you love easy cake mix recipes as much as we do, be sure to try this chocolate chip Bundt cake, a Southern Coca Cola cake, our favorite lemon Bundt cake, and this pumpkin cake with yellow cake mix, too!
Why You’ll Love this Walnut Cake with Maple Icing
I don’t think there’s a more perfect Thanksgiving cake! Add this maple walnut cake to your holiday dessert buffet, and watch it disappear fast. The sweet seasonal treat is a delicious alternative to more commonly found pumpkin pies and apple pies.
- Moist and Rich. No dry walnut cake allowed! This recipe includes sour cream, vanilla pudding mix, and oil — all of which keep it incredibly moist and decadent.
- Crisp Crust and Tender Crumb. The unique ring-shaped Bundt pan allows more of the cake to be in contact with the edges of the pan, so that the heat is transferred more evenly. This allows the inside of the cake to cook through and stay tender, while also creating a crisp, golden brown crust on each slice.
- Quick and Easy. Whether you’re craving a sweet treat for your next Sunday supper, or you need a fancy-looking dessert for Thanksgiving dinner, this recipe comes together quickly and easily. Thanks to help from a box of cake mix, it’s ready for the oven in about 10 minutes, giving you even more time to enjoy the people and activities that you love most.
- Versatile. Offer it for breakfast or brunch at your next church coffee hour, or serve the treat for dessert at a special holiday meal (like Thanksgiving or Christmas). The maple walnut cake is perfect at any time of day!
Ingredients
This is just a quick overview of the ingredients that you’ll need for our favorite maple walnut Bundt cake. As always, specific measurements and step-by-step baking instructions are included in the printable recipe box at the bottom of the post.
- Yellow cake mix: I like the Perfectly Moist Duncan Hines yellow cake mix, but any similar variety (such as Betty Crocker or Pillsbury brands) will work. You can even substitute with a white cake mix, vanilla cake mix, or spice cake mix.
- Sour cream: use full-fat sour cream for the best flavor and texture.
- Instant vanilla pudding mix: just the small 4-serving (3.4 ounce) box of dry mix — not prepared into actual pudding.
- Water: the liquid that thins the cake batter.
- Vegetable oil: keeps the cake super-moist. I use vegetable oil, but any neutral oil (such as canola oil) will work.
- Eggs: give the cake structure.
- Maple extract: adds rich maple taste to the cake, without making it too sweet.
- Walnuts: I typically use black walnuts, but any variety is fine. Just make sure that they’re finely chopped so that they disperse evenly throughout the cake.
- Salted butter, pure maple syrup, confectioners’ sugar, and salt: come together to make the maple frosting that’s key to this walnut cake!
Why We Add Sour Cream to Cake
The sour cream is an important ingredient, thanks to its high fat content and its acidity. Sour cream adds moisture without thinning the batter, adds fat for creaminess, helps to control the browning, and activates the leavening agents.
Pudding is The Secret Ingredient for a Moist Walnut Cake
The gelatin component in the instant pudding mix makes the cake super moist. It’s the secret ingredient to make your cake more fluffy, too! When baking a cake in a Bundt pan, a very moist batter is necessary so that the cake doesn’t dry out. Don’t omit the pudding, which is a key ingredient.
The Best Bundt Pan for this Walnut Cake
The Bundt cake pan was invented by H. David Dalquist, the owner of Minnesota’s Nordic Ware company, in 1950. Unlike more traditional sheet cakes or layer cakes that are baked in shallow pans, a Bundt cake pan has a unique ring shape, as well as decorative sides and tops that range from ridges to fruit, or other still life scenes. It is typically used for pound cake, coffee cake, and other dense, moist cakes like this maple walnut cake.
Since more of the cake’s surface is exposed to high heat in a Bundt pan, you achieve a nice brown crust on the outside, while keeping the inside perfectly moist. While you can use other types of pans for Bundt cakes, you’ll need to adjust the baking times. Plus, the signature traits of a Bundt cake are the beautiful designs! If you need a Bundt pan, check out this list of the best Bundt pans, which includes my personal favorite, the NordicWare anniversary Bundt pan. You can buy it on Amazon for $39.95.
How to Make Maple Walnut Cake with Cake Mix
A moist, fluffy, maple walnut cake is perfect for just about any occasion! Serve it for breakfast or brunch with a pot of coffee, bring it to a potluck, offer it for dessert at a Thanksgiving or Christmas gathering, or share it with a friend in need. You’ll love the ease of the cake mix — and the 10 minutes of prep time!
- Mix together the batter. You can do this in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or with a handheld electric mixer.
- Fold in the walnuts.
- Transfer the mixture to a Bundt pan.
- Bake for about 50 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- Whisk together the maple icing, and drizzle over the cool cake.
- Slice and serve!
Serving Suggestions
The maple flavor in this cake means that it works just as well on a breakfast or brunch spread as it does on a dessert table. For instance, serve it as a coffee cake alongside an egg casserole (like a maple sausage and apple breakfast bake), fruit salad, and a big pot of coffee or tea.
For dessert, the walnut cake is delicious when paired with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Preparation and Storage Tips
- Storage: Covered loosely, this cake will keep at room temperature for about 2-3 days. Tip: store it on this beautiful cake stand under the glass dome.
- To extend the life of your cake, store it in an airtight container or wrapped in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- How to Freeze: I often cut the large Bundt cake in half so that we can enjoy part of it now and save the other half for later. Allow the cake to cool completely, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, wrap again with aluminum foil, and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Recipe Variations
- Loaf Cakes: If you don’t have a Bundt pan, you can bake this cake in two loaf pans. The cooking time will be about the same or slightly shorter, typically 45-50 minutes in a 350°F oven.
- If you don’t have a box of yellow cake mix, use white cake mix, vanilla cake mix, or even spice cake mix.
- Instead of the maple icing, dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar. This is especially nice if you’re serving it as a coffee cake for breakfast, since it will be less sweet.
- For even more toasty, nutty crunch, sprinkle extra finely chopped walnuts on top of the maple icing before it sets.
Tips for the Best Walnut Cake Recipe
- Grease the Bundt pan really well by coating with butter and then dusting with flour. Alternatively, you can use a cooking spray that’s specifically made for baking (like this one). These options will ensure that your cake pops right out of the pan when it’s done!
- Let the sour cream and eggs come to room temperature. They will mix smoother into your cake batter.
- Use full-fat sour cream for the best flavor and texture.
- Do not over-bake the cake or it can become dry. Start checking for doneness by the 50-minute mark, since total baking times will vary depending on your personal oven and the type and color of Bundt pan that you use.
- Don’t leave the cake in the pan for too long after baking — about 10-15 minutes is plenty. After that, condensation will start to form and the moisture will negatively impact the crust.
- The cake gets better as it sits, so this is a nice dessert option to prepare the day before you plan to serve it.
More Easy Bundt Cake Recipes
Apple Bundt Cake {Apple Dapple Cake}
3 hours hrs 30 minutes mins
Chocolate Bundt Cake {Using Cake Mix!}
3 hours hrs 5 minutes mins
Grandma’s Old Fashioned Whiskey Cake Recipe
3 hours hrs 20 minutes mins
Maple Walnut Cake (with Cake Mix!)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 (15.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
- 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 (3.4 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding mix (just the dry mix)
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon maple extract (I use McCormick brand)
- 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
FOR THE MAPLE ICING
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted (plus extra to thicken as needed)
- ¼ teaspoon maple extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
MAKE THE CAKE
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a Bundt pan; set aside.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium-high speed to beat together the cake mix, sour cream, dry pudding mix, water, oil, eggs, and maple extract for about 2 minutes.
- Use a wooden spoon or a spatula to gently fold in the nuts.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan; tap on the counter once or twice to release air bubbles.
- Bake for 50 minutes – 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. My cake is always done in 55 minutes, but the total baking time will vary.
- Let cake stand for 10 minutes. Invert on a cooling rack and remove cake from pan.
- Once the cake is completely cool, drizzle with maple icing.
MAKE THE ICING
- In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and maple syrup together, whisking occasionally. Once the butter has melted, remove from the heat and whisk in the sifted confectioners’ sugar, maple extract, and salt. Cool for 2-3 minutes (it will thicken as it cools), and whisk in additional powdered sugar to thicken, if desired. Drizzle over the top of the cake.
Notes
- Grease the Bundt pan really well by coating with butter and then dusting with flour. Alternatively, you can use a cooking spray that’s specifically made for baking (like this one). These options will ensure that your cake pops right out of the pan when it’s done!
- Let the sour cream and eggs come to room temperature. They will mix smoother into your cake batter.
- Use full-fat sour cream for the best flavor and texture.
- Do not over-bake the cake or it can become dry. Start checking for doneness by the 50-minute mark, since total baking times will vary depending on your personal oven and the type and color of Bundt pan that you use.
- Don’t leave the cake in the pan for too long after baking — about 10-15 minutes is plenty. After that, condensation will start to form and the moisture will negatively impact the crust.
- The cake gets better as it sits, so this is a nice dessert option to prepare the day before you plan to serve it.
Blair,
First, thank you for all of your wonderful recipes! Second, the vanilla pudding is a really wonderful addition to breads and cakes. Can you add pudding mix to any bread recipe or do you need to swap it out for another ingredient? I’m curious. Thank you! Merry Christmas to your family!
Thanks, Carol! I have only tested the cake mix in this type of recipe, but I imagine it would probably work well in most quick bread or boxed cake mix recipes. It makes the batter more dense and moist, so just keep that in mind. Merry Christmas!