All Cakes Considered - Melissa Gray [44]
½ cup shortening
1½ cups brown sugar (light or dark)
1½ cups sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
FOR THE GLAZE
1¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon maple extract
TO MAKE THE CAKE
1. Center a rack and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the pan.
2. Put the walnuts in a food processor. Pulse for about 45 seconds, or until the walnuts are finely chopped, but not pulverized.
If you don’t have a food processor, you can put the walnuts into a heavy zipper-top freezer bag, and close the bag all but 1 inch (so the air can escape). With a meat mallet or the back of a strong wooden spoon, release your pent-up anger and beat the devil out of the walnuts. Do not pulverize them, no matter how mad you feel. That’s considered nut abuse, and we all know society frowns upon that.
3. With the mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and shortening together, then gradually add both sugars, about ½ cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
Black walnut is one of those “you either hate it or love it” flavors: it’s stronger than regular walnut, with an earthy bite that’s on the bitter side. It’s such a divisive flavor that I send out an e-mail warning when I make one. I found out that our host Melissa Block HATES black walnuts. But she was in the minority; foodies Graham Smith and Ellen Silva declared it “superyummydelicious” and “wonderfully complex.” That might be because I opted for two special techniques to dampen the shock of the black walnuts: chopping the hell out of them, then drizzling the cake with a sweet maple glaze.
Let me tell you something about black walnuts. They’ll cost you about a dollar more per half cup than regular walnuts and here’s why: a black walnut is a pretty hard nut to crack. The outer shell often grows around the meat inside the nut, making it darn near impossible to get out an entire kernel in one piece, the way you can English or Persian walnuts.
Black Walnut Cake was a favorite recipe of Grandma Gray’s. She’d bake several every year to give away as Christmas gifts. She would also freeze them to use at a later date.
And I have to be honest, I never really liked Grandma’s Black Walnut Cake. It just tasted like sour cream pound cake with walnuts in it. Too much sour, way too much bitter. So I nosed around on the Internet until I found this recipe from Allrecipes. It works well in a decorative Bundt, and it’s really good warm, right out of the oven. Expect to serve between 16 and 24 people.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. In a separate bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
6. Add 1 cup of the flour mixture and ⅓ cup of the milk alternately, beating well after each addition, until all of the flour mixture and milk are blended in.
7. Add the vanilla extract and mix until blended. Set aside 1 tablespoon of the finely chopped black walnuts. Add the remaining black walnuts to the batter and mix on low speed until evenly distributed through batter.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour, or until the cake tests done.
9. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then unmold onto a cake rack.
And, while the cake is cooling …
TO MAKE THE GLAZE
10. Put the confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of the mixer. Then melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Beat in the melted butter, the milk, and maple extract, and beat until the mixture is smooth.
TO FINISH THE CAKE
11. Set a clean plate under the cake rack to catch drips. Spoon the glaze over the cake. Go all the way around once or twice, allowing the excess glaze to run down the sides and inside of the cake onto the plate below. With the reserved 1 tablespoon of finely chopped black walnuts, sprinkle the top of the cake evenly.
This cake is great served at room temperature or warm.
Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Smells Like Banana Bread, But Tastes Like Cake!
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YOU’ll NEED
A 10-inch