Black Walnut Cake

Amber graduates on Saturday. May 18, 2019. Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Kentucky. The first Hensley to earn a college degree. I have been waiting for this day since Amber was accepted into UK in 2015, and the waiting has been the kind of waiting that doesn't feel like waiting because it was filled with Amber's stories and achievements and the slow, steady climb of a woman who decided she was going to be a nurse and then became a nurse through sheer refusal to be anything else.

I bought a new tie. This makes four times I've worn a tie in my life: wedding, Earl's funeral, Clay's graduation, Amber's graduation. The tie is a marker of moments that deserve more than a flannel shirt. Four moments. Four ties. Each one representing a day that changed the shape of the family.

Betty is coming. She insists. Dale is driving her up on Friday. She's seventy-nine, nearly blind in one eye, and has no business sitting in a stadium for three hours, but Betty doesn't negotiate with biology. She negotiates with God, and God has apparently cleared her for travel because she called on Monday and said "I'm coming. Don't argue." I didn't argue. You don't argue with Betty about seeing her granddaughter graduate. You say yes and you make sure there's a comfortable seat and a bathroom nearby and enough fried chicken for the drive home.

This week I'm not cooking for the blog. I'm cooking for Amber. I'm making a graduation dinner: Betty's fried chicken (because fried chicken is the Hensley celebration food), mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread, and a stack cake. The stack cake is the crown — eight layers, dried apple filling, assembled the night before to soften. I started it Wednesday. The layers baked in the cast iron, thin and crisp. The apple filling simmered on the stove, thick and dark and spiced. The assembly took an hour, layer by layer, apple by apple, a cake built like a building — foundation to roof, structure to finish, each layer dependent on the one below.

The stack cake is for Amber, but it's also for Betty. It's the recipe Betty makes for weddings and funerals and homecomings. It's the recipe that says "This matters." My daughter's graduation matters. The stack cake says so.

The stack cake is Betty’s domain and I wouldn’t dare put that recipe here — it belongs to her hands and her cast iron and forty years of muscle memory. But if you’re looking to bake something that carries the same weight, the same “this day matters” gravity, a Black Walnut Cake is where I’d send you. Black walnuts are sharp and earthy and unmistakably Southern, the kind of ingredient that doesn’t apologize for itself — and on a graduation Saturday, with Betty in the front row and a new nurse in the family, that felt exactly right.

Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 1 hr + cooling | Servings: 12

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups black walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup black walnuts, chopped, for topping

Instructions

Toast the walnuts. Spread black walnuts on a dry skillet over medium heat. Toast 4–5 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant. Remove from heat and cool completely before chopping.
Prepare pans. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add sugar gradually and beat until pale, about 2 more minutes.
Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.
Alternate dry and wet. With mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions, beginning and ending with flour. Mix only until just combined after each addition.
Fold in walnuts. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in 1 1/2 cups toasted black walnuts until evenly distributed.
Bake. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake 32–36 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops are lightly golden. Do not overbake.
Cool. Let cakes cool in pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Turn out, peel off parchment, and cool completely before frosting — at least 1 hour.
Make frosting. Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing on low. Add vanilla and beat on medium until light and creamy.
Assemble. Place one cake layer on a plate or cake stand. Spread a generous layer of frosting over the top. Place the second layer on top. Frost the top and sides evenly. Press remaining chopped walnuts around the top edge or over the surface.
Rest before serving. For best flavor and texture, cover loosely and let the finished cake sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Nutrition (per serving)

Black Walnut Cake — The Hensley Way of Saying This Matters