I am trying really hard to not crack wise about nuts always sinking to the bottom--at work the other day, a customer with no sense of humor whatsoever asked me what aisle the mixed nuts were in, and I replied, "They're all around us--you gotta be nuts to work here." Sheesh, I have never seen such a snotty look in my life. So. . .seriously now. . .If the batter is pourable like a brownie or carrot or pumpkin cake, chop the nuts into pieces the size of a split pea or smaller (and use mini chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate). (Sometimes, for a cake with a nutty taste but without the nutty texture, the recipe will specify that the nuts be ground, like meal or flour.)

If the batter is too thick to pour and is more of a spreadable dough, such as for coffeecake or some banana breads, the nuts don't have to be chopped at all, although I think smaller nuts make for neater slicing.

Try toasting the nuts next time. I'm not sure how scientific this is, but I swear that toasted nuts weigh less than untoasted nuts.

@DonnyG Foodshed is a member. Amanda and Merrill have to decide whether to allow businesses to join. If they do, then they can post. It's true that I don't members to use this site as a commercial for their businesses. I like it as cooks helping and learning from cooks.

I have had similar problems and, like suggested previously, coating the nuts in a small portion of flour really seems to help. My guess is the flour is giving the batter something to hang onto so they do not float up to surface, ie being pushed up by carbon dioxide.

Foodshed Foodshed go away, We don't like business's here anyway, come back as a person some other day, this is a food forum not a way, to promote your business here today.

I agree with coating the nuts in flour. This always works when I'm adding blueberries to muffin batter.

Mixing the nuts with the batter or a little flour and then mixing into the batter should help.

Question: how big are the nuts you're incorporating? Are they whole or diced (large or small)? Have you ever tried using nut meal?

I think only a really thick batter (like carrot cake) would defy gravity and keep the nuts in place. When I make cakes, even banana bread, I pour some batter into the pan BEFORE I add the nuts (or chocolate chips). That way there is a nutless bottom layer of batter that those nuts have to try to fall through before they get baked in place. Not a very scientific answer but it works!