If you’re nuts about walnuts, then why not have a go at these recipes from the 1930s?
Walnuts are commonly used in baking to add a bit of extra crunch, flavour and nutrition.
Aunt Kate, who wrote recipes and household tips for the People’s Friend and the People’s Journal from the 1880s to the 1960s, had many walnut recipes in her 1933 Baking Book, three of which we’ve featured below.
For more inspiration and to see more of Aunt Kate’s bakes, take a look at the series so far here.
Walnut fruit cake
Ingredients
- 4 teacupfuls (approx 450g) flour
- ¾ cupful currants
- 1 oz butter
- 2 eggs
- ½ tsp salt
- A few half walnuts
- 1 teacupful (approx 113g) chopped walnuts
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 heaped tsp baking powder
- A few preserved cherries
- Milk
Method
- Rub the butter into the flour. Add the sugar, salt, baking powder, currants and nuts and mix well.
- Beat the eggs and add with enough milk to make a stiff dough.
- Mix and beat the mixture well, then pour it into a prepared cake tin and bake in a moderate oven (approx 190ºC).
- When the cake is cold, trim it neatly and cover it with icing.
- decorate the top with walnuts and preserved cherries, pressing these into the icing while it is still soft.
- Set the cake aside until the icing hardens before cutting it.
Walnut loaf
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 1½ cups walnuts, chopped
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups flour
- ½ cup orange juice
- 2 eggs
Method
- Cream the butter and sugar together. Then add the beaten eggs, milk, flour sifted with baking powder, orange juice and nuts.
- Bake for 45 minutes in a loaf tin in a moderate oven (approx 190ºC).
Walnut cream
Ingredients
- ½ gill (approx 70ml) cream
- 2 oz icing sugar
- 2 oz chopped walnuts
- 6 drops of ratafia essence or almond extract
Method
- Beat the cream until stiff, then mix it in with the sugar, the chopped walnuts and the ratafia essence or almond extract.
- Chopped almonds can be used as well as the walnuts, if desired.