Old Tennessee Recipe - Black Pepper Cake

[dem in texas]

I was going through my file of old recipes and found this one. I had put the notation - "Old Tennessee Recipe" on the card. I don't remember where I got the recipe. It calls for black walnuts, haven't seen them used in years. I think I may give the recipe a try. A caramel frosting would be good.

1 cup black walnuts, chopped small
1/2 cup butter
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
3 eggs well beaten
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each nutmeg, cloves
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place walnuts in boiling water to cover for 1 minute, drain. Cream butter and brown sugar in bowl. Add eggs, mix well. Sift dry ingredients together. Add alternately with milk to creamed mixture. Pour in to three 9-inch layer pans. Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Frost as desired.

I looked online and many stores now sell black walnuts, so probably wouldn't need to soak them in water. I can remember from childhood that black walnuts were hell to shell. But I also remember that they had a great taste, different from regular walnuts.

[democratisphere]

1. Cake sounds interesting.

[sprinkleeninow]

2. Thx for this. Black Walnuts have a richer, more pronounced flavor than standard walnuts. 👍 eom

[SkyDaddy7]

3. WOW!

That sounds so incredibly interesting in terms of I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THAT CAKE TASTE LIKE...I'm tempted to make it just to find out! LOL!

You say Black Walnuts are accessible, so I might if I can talk my wife into going along with it!

Thanks for posting!!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

4. So no black pepper in cake?

[Luciferous]

5. Ingredient list says one teaspoon black pepper

[Laura PourMeADrink]

6. Duh. Now that I have had coffee, see it :)

[sinkingfeeling]

7. I love black walnuts. They're easy to come by here.

[spinbaby]

8. Costco often sells black walnuts in the fall

I actually have a black walnut tree out back, but the squirrels aren’t sharing, so I get mine from Costco. Black walnuts have a very distinct flavor that works well in chocolate chip cookies.

[dem in texas]

9. +bought some black nuts

I went online and bought some black walnuts, should have them in 2 days. Then I'm going to make this recipe. Eating some nuts weekly is now recommended for good nutrition and all kinds of nuts are available year round

I remember from my childhood two commercial foods that had black walnuts in them One was a banana nut ice cream that sold in the Dallas area. The other was a cookie with black walnut bits in it, my mother used to put in my lunch.