Preparation:
About 3 hours before serving or early in day:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In large bowl, with spoon, mix walnuts, vanilla-wafer crumbs, sugar, and butter. Divide crumb mixture into four 9-inch round cake pans; with hand, pat evenly to cover bottoms of pans.
Prepare cake mix as label directs; pour batter over crumb mixture in pans. Stagger 4 cake pans on 2 oven racks so no pan is directly above another. Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of each cake layer comes out clean; cool cake layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. With spatula, loosen each cake layer from edge of pan; invert onto wire rack to cool completely.
When cake layers are cool, in large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat heavy or whipping cream until stiff peaks form. on cake plate, place 1 cake layer, crumb-mixture-side up; top with one-fourth of whipped cream. Repeat with 2 more cake layers and more whipped cream. Place remaining cake layer on top, crumb-mixture-side up. Garnish cake top with remaining whipped cream. Refrigerate if not serving right away. |