Walnut Marble Spice Cake

I had no idea what to make today so I pulled out a stack of cookbooks, sat on the floor, and flipped through pages hoping to be inspired. The lucky recipe source turned out to be a marble spice cake from The Methodist Cookbook circa “unknown” from St. John’s Methodist in Richmond Texas. It’s got a huge dessert section and everything is from scratch. Plus, some recipes don’t have actual measurements, just instructions like “add enough flour to reach cookie dough consistency” or “bake in a moderate oven” with no actual temp listed.

Don't Skip the Sift

So maybe what attracted me to this cake was that it had an oven temperature. Mrs. C.D. Myers was kind enough to say 350 F and her directions, including how many times to sift, were pretty clear cut. The cake turned out delicious and has an amazing tight crumbed texture which I attribute partially to the fact that I followed the directions carefully and didn’t side-step the sifting. Plus, I used cake flour and weighed it out.

This cake was so interesting that I did some Internet searches to see if I could find a similar recipe. The closest I came was a recipe called Marble Spice Picnic Cake. It’s almost the same as my Methodist recipe, but scaled down and baked in a different size pan. Speaking of which, you can halve this and make it in a 6-cup Bundt, though it will be a very small cake.

Another clue to the cake’s origin came from Nick Malgieri. He found his marble spice bundt cake recipe in an old cake flour booklet from the thirties. He made major adjustments to where it’s not even the same cake, but I’m thinking the original recipe from that cake flour booklet might have been this one.

Walnut Marble Spice Cake Tips

This is a wonderful little cake, but only if you measure the flour correctly. Three cups of sifted cake flour weighs less than 3 cups of unsifted all-purpose. If you want to make this with all-purpose, you can weigh out 285 grams or measure about 2 ⅓ cups. If using unsalted butter, bump the salt up to 1 teaspoon. For the milk use whole. Also, don't forget to bring the ingredients to room temperature.

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Recipe

Walnut Marble Spice Cake

Anna

Molasses cookies meet Snickerdoodles in Bundt cake form!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 55 minutes mins

Cooling Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 10 slices

Ingredients

 

• 3 cups sifted cake flour (285 grams)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ sticks salted butter, softened (170 grams)
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar (300 grams)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup milk (230 grams)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ¾ teaspoon each – cloves & nutmeg
• 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons molasses (60 grams)
• 1 cup walnuts finely chopped

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan. If using silicone, just slick it with a little oil.
• If using a scale, weigh out 285 grams of flour. If not, be sure to sift the flour and then carefully spoon it into the cups to aerate. Sift the flour twice then sift it with the baking powder and whisk in the salt.
• Beat the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes or until super creamy and smooth. Scrape side of bowl and add the eggs one by one, beating for at least 30 seconds after each egg.
• Mix together the milk and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and milk mixture to the batter alternately in 3 parts, starting and ending with flour. Beat on medium low speed until smooth.
• Pour half the batter into a second bowl (about 3 cups) and stir in spices, molasses and nuts.
• Layer the two batters in the Bundt pan, alternating between the two.
• Bake on center rack for about 55 minutes or until cake tests done. Let sit for 10 minutes, then turn from pan.

Keyword Bundt Cake, Spice Cake, walnut

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