look at this cake recipe (cross posted from lounge)

[grasswire]

The DU user youthere posted this black walnut cake recipe (her grandma's) and I think it's really interesting.

It's not exactly the same, as grandma was a "fistful of that" kind of cook...but one of my aunts translated the recipe pretty close. I included her frosting recipe too. Let me know if you decide to try it. It's a lot of work...but really worth it. Also..I've never been able to find square cake pans like my grandma had..I always use round ones and I only make two layers. And my advice would be, do not omit the sifting step, and do not substitute shortening for the drippings. My husband still eats meat, and adores bacon, so I always save the grease.

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped black walnuts meat
¼ cup butter
¼ c. bacon drippings
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract (don’t use imitation…omit if you don’t have the real stuff)
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch ground cloves
3/4 cup buttermilk
½ c. finely chopped nutmeat

Place 1 cup chopped walnuts in boiling water 3 to 5 minutes; drain well and set aside.
Cream butter and drippings; gradually add sugar, beating well. Add egg yolks and vanilla; beat well.

Combine 2 3/4 cups flour, baking powder, salt, and spices; mix well and sift. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix well after each addition. Dredge black walnuts in remaining 1/4 cup flour; fold into batter. Beat egg whites (at room temperature) until stiff peaks form; fold into batter.

Pour into 3 greased and floured 8-inch square cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes; remove layers from pans, and let cool completely. Spread frosting between layers and and frost whole cake. Sprinkle finely chopped nutmeats over entire cake.

Frosting in a jar:

1 cup milk OR mix half milk and half buttermilk
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Directions
Sift the flour. Pour milk into quart jar with tightly fitting lid and add sifted flour.Shake hard for a minute and a half. Pour into a pan and cook over medium heat stirring constantly, to form a paste that will thicken as it cools. Remove from heat and cover the paste with wax paper so it doesn’t form a skin. Allow to cool completely. Cream the butter and then add the sugar. Mix until it’s completely dissolved. Then slowly add the cooled paste a bit at a time. After all the paste has been mixed in, stir in the vanilla

[mtnester]

1. As soon as I saw bacon drippings and brown sugar and buttermilk

I nearly swooned.

The only thing I cannot use in that recipe is walnuts...hubby gets itchy mouth (even though he eats them sometimes by the handful, it makes me nervous)..looks like next weekends baking has been decided for me!

Thanks for bringing that over here!

[Warpy]

3. My reaction was a little different

I stifled a retch and neglected to read the balance.

Perhaps melted butter could be substituted. I can't imagine smoky meat taste in a CAKE.

[grasswire]

5. 1/4 cup bacon drippings...

...in a large cake (3 cups flour). I think it's worth a try.

[grasswire]

4. these are black walnuts...

...and they are poached in water. That might make a difference.

[mtnester]

9. I have found that roasting them helps somewhat

they don't bother me at all...and short of an asthma attack hubby will eat them as well.

[hippywife]

2. Interesting...

I honestly can't say I've ever eaten a cake with bacon drippings in it.

[yellerpup]

6. Black walnuts were my grandpa's favorite...

Aren't they almost extinct now? You may have your hands on a very old recipe. When I recently made waffles and chicken fricassee for 40 for a Colonial Dinner as a fundraiser for our local historical society, I learned that colonial era cooks always used bacon grease in baking cakes. One of the other cooks for the dinner is the author of a colonial recipe collection cookbook (who tested all the recipes published in the book) and she said that the smoky taste in the bacon is undetectible in the cake. If grandpa was still here, he'd stand on his head for you if you made him a black walnut cake! :hi:

[grasswire]

8. I love black walnuts

Were it not for my former husband's Kansas grandmother, I might never have tasted them. She sent me a big bag of the nutmeats for a wedding present. I never knew what a gift that was until I tried to shell the damned things myself! They are probably available by mail order; I haven't looked in the supermarket for them lately. I know where there's a tree where they just fall to the ground ungathered, in a town about sixty miles away. Ha!

[grasswire]

10. nutsonline.com has them

About $14 per pound, harvested in Missouri.

[yellerpup]

11. Thanks!

I grew up in Oklahoma, so black walnuts were definitely a local delicacy. There was always a half-gallon of black walnut ice cream in grandma and grandpa's freezer when I was a child. Grandpa would gather the nuts and cuss whenever he had to pick them out of the shells. They are hard to process, no doubt about it. I'd love to taste them again--it's been years!

[yellerpup]

7. Our local Stop & Shop grocery carries square pyrex

cake pans that are both cheap and utilitarian. Hubster asked me to make square cakes when I bake for his office crowd because they are easier to divide evenly.