Banana Black Walnut Cake Part Two

Banana Black Walnut Cake.

Okay here's the recipe.  I discussed the differences between ordinary English walnuts and Black Walnuts in Part One.  This recipe could be made with English walnuts as well if you can't find Black Walnuts.

 Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 ripe banana, mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups buttermilk

2/3 cup finely chopped black walnuts

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

8 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tablespoons milk or water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Generously butter and flour a 10-inch tube pan or Bundt pan.

To prepare cake, combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

Combine butter and sugar; beat with an electric mixer about 4 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Beat in banana and vanilla. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until just combined.  Fold in walnuts. 

Add walnuts.to batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake 45 to 50 minutes.

Ready for oven.

 

Out of oven.

Let cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan. (When I removed the cake, some stuck to the pan.  I think I should have waited longer than the 10 minutes until the cake was completely cool. I will cover up the damage with some of the chocolate glaze.)

 

Out of pan. Some stuck to pan.

Let cool completely before adding the glaze.

To prepare glaze, whisk together powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Slowly stir in milk and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Add a bit more milk to thin glaze, if needed.

 

Chocolate glaze.

 Spread over cake. Serves 12.

The finished cake.

Ready to eat.

 

Enjoy!

Banana Black Walnut Cake: Part One

Banana black walnut cake with chocolate glaze and garnished with black walnuts.

I was in Shelby recently and shopping at Ingles grocery where I bought some black walnuts.  I hadn't seen them for sale before.  The common English walnut is available everywhere.  I should explain the difference between the two walnuts.

Hammons Black Walnuts.

"So what kind of walnuts do we eat? Well, the Black Walnut was in fact part of many native American diets but most of the walnuts we eat today are actually English walnuts, which have a milder taste and broader appeal. They also have thinner, easier-to-crack shells. Black Walnuts on the other hand have a bolder, earthier flavor. Their shells are thick, tough to crack, and will likely stain your hands.
Black walnut trees are not really cultivated on the same scale of English walnuts. They mostly grow wild across central and eastern parts of the country. Hammons is a company that's dedicated to preserving the legacy and availability of the Black Walnut." (Serious Eats)

Black walnuts in husks.

Black walnuts are encased in a fleshy outer husk that can be used as a brown dye.  When shelling black walnuts this "dye" will stain your fingers.  Once you remove the outer fleshy husk it is difficult to crack the extremely hard shell of the black walnut.

Fleshy meats inside hard outer shell.

Then it is tedious to pick out the meats of the nut.

The Louisburg College Campus where I taught.

The black walnut tree is native to North Carolina, and the campus where I taught for many years had a big black walnut tree just in back of my office.  Occasionally I would gather some and harvest the fleshy meats, but usually it just wasn't worth the effort.  Black walnuts have a stronger, smokier flavor than the common English walnut.  I don't find them tasty except when used in baking cookies, bread, cakes or in ice cream. 

Black walnuts make a nice natural brown dye.  Check out this website for instructions.
Black Walnut Dye.

Yarn dyed with black walnut dye.

You can even use black walnuts as a  Natural Brown Hair Dye.

Hair dyed with black walnut dye.

Okay, I have digressed, and I know you are eager to see the recipe for the Banana Black Walnut Cake.  Stay tuned.  It is in Banana Black Walnut Cake Part Two.