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Adventures in Food, Wine, Art & Travel

To use or not to use another acronym,

that is the question.

(My thanks to Shakespeare for this intro)

There seem to be as many acronyms as oysters nowadays, and yet another is being thrown into the fray. Today marks the inauguration of “The Blogger C.L.U.E. Society,” an organization that is all about “Cooking, Learning, Undertaking and Eating,” hence the catchy acronym.  I know it is tempting, but let’s save for later posts puns like “I don’t have a CLUE what this organization is all about.”  Or “I am CLUELESS about this recipe.”  Or even “CLUE me in when it is my turn to post.”  For now, let’s just say the society is a determined—and hopefully thick-skinned–group of food bloggers.  Each month we are assigned a theme and a fellow society member’s blog and told to cook a recipe from that blog and to share the experience.  So while I am evaluating a member’s recipe, another member is evaluating one of mine.  Ouch!  This format may produce more forked tongues than a den of snakes.  Perhaps I should just adopt the old adage:  “Let a fool hold his tongue and he shall pass for a sage.”

CLUE Society Black Walnut Cake 016

This month’s theme is Thanksgiving and I am assigned Kelli’s Kitchen. Thanksgiving is not my “holiday.”  Unlike Christmas, Thanksgiving is structured, repetitive, and downright boring.  Just how much turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams, and pumpkin pie can one endure?  And who really likes to eat a big meal in the middle of the afternoon when, at least here in Southern California, there are so many other things to do?  Not moi!  So I decided to glean from Kelli’s Kitchen an alternative dish to enliven this holiday.

CLUE Society Black Walnut Cake 001

I settled on Kelli’s “Aunt Irene’s Black Walnut Cake.” I never had such a cake, was not familiar with its most exotic ingredient–black walnut extract—and thought the name sounded very autumnal and therefore appropriate for Thanksgiving.  Plus family recipes passed down from generation-to-generation fascinate me.  They provide a glimpse into another era and, since they have been reproduced so often, have stood the test of time and are likely to be tasty and unique.

My apologies to Kelli, but since I do not own three 9-inch cake pans, I could not create the layered cake that Aunt Irene intended. So I took the liberty of giving Aunt Irene’s cake a different, more contemporary look if you will.  A Bundt cake mold created a terrific appearance but in no way compromised the cake’s light texture and flavor or the impact of the walnut sauce.  This beauty can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a pumpkin pie on the Thanksgiving table, can handle a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop or two of ice cream, and can even be served with an afternoon tea or coffee.  Aunt Irene sure knew what she was doing.

CLUE Society Black Walnut Cake 006

To celebrate the birth of The Blogger C.L.U.E. Society, I am giving away a copy of Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese through a drawing (no purchase or bribing The Culinary Diva is necessary).  To enter, just leave a comment below about your favorite family recipe before midnight, Sunday, November 16, 2014.  The winner will be drawn from all qualified entries and announced on Monday, November 17, 2014.  A comment will constitute an entry regardless of its merit, although only one entry per person will be accepted for the drawing.  So go ahead and share with us one of your clan’s favorite recipes.

Melt

If you are looking for some new family traditions to start or share this Thanksgiving, check out what The Blogger C.L.U.E. Society has cooked up for you:

The winner of Melt:  The Art of Macaroni & Cheese is Kate from Kate is Cooking!

5.0 from 1 reviews
Kelli's Aunt Irene's Black Walnut Cake
 
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup of Shortening (you can use unsalted butter if you had rather)
  • 2 Cups Sugar
  • 3 Cups Flour
  • 3 Tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1 Cup Milk
  • ½ Tsp. Black Walnut Flavoring
  • 1 Tsp. Vanilla
  • 5 eggs, separated with whites beaten until stiff
  • ½ Tsp. Salt
  • + Glaze
  • Glaze Ingredients:
  • 5 egg yolks, slightly beaten
  • 1 ½ Cups Buttermilk
  • 1 ½ Cups Sugar
  • 1 Tbsp. Butter
  • 1 Tsp. Vanilla
  • 1 Cup Black Walnuts – chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375F
  2. Cream Butter and Sugar.
  3. Slowly add in flour, baking powder, and milk mixing well.
  4. Stop mixer and fold in Black walnut flavoring vanilla, salt, and egg whites.
  5. Do not mix heavily – you want to see bits of those egg whites throughout!
  6. Spread evenly into one bundt cake pan.
  7. Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
  8. Allow to cool on wire racks and turn out cakes to cool completely.
  9. Meanwhile, combine all ingredients except black walnuts in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until thick (about 15 minutes) but never allow to boil.
  10. When thick, take off stove and stir in walnuts then pour over each layer as you stack them on top of each other.
  11. Let cool and serve.

 

Clue Society Logo

WRITTEN BY

Christy Majors

Food enthusiast, wine aficionado, BBC Food fanatic, and cookbook bibliomaniac, who suffers from an incurable case of culinary wanderlust. Creator of Culinary Diva (TM) where experiences in food, travel and wine are broken down for the home cook and traveler. Banker by day.
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23 Comments

  1. What a fun looking group! I like the idea of working with other bloggers to continue CLUEing your way around the kitchen.

    I think I am the other way around. Thanksgiving feels more like a blank slate to me – other than the turkey. Puerto Rican Christmas food is so strongly ingrained into the season.

  2. Oh, your cake is gorgeous! I do MUCH better with Bundt cakes…and you do have the magic touch as it came out of the pan perfectly! This would be a terrific dessert on anyone’s Thanksgiving table. SO, so glad you’ve joined us!!! xo

  3. I love the cake in a bundt pan. Using black walnuts sounds a bit rustic to me, more a bundt thing than layers so it’s perfect. And gorgeous.

    As far as my favorite Thanksgiving thing, it has to be my mom’s turkey. She soaks the bird in brandy for three days before cooking it so what’s not to love. 🙂

  4. Hi Christy, I’m Ramona from Curry and Comfort and also a member of the C.L.U.E. Society. This cake is gorgeous and it’s just as lovely in your bundt pan as it was in Kelli’s three tier presentation. I adore all the walnuts with glaze… makes my sweet tooth go into over drive. 🙂 Looking forward to getting to know you and your blog better over the coming months.
    ~ Ramona

  5. Oh my goodness – what a beautiful updated version of my Aunt’s cake! I think it looks much better this way and so much less work that three full on cakes. I enjoyed this challenge so much and can’t wait to get to the next one. You did a beautiful job and I’m pleased that you liked it! Kelli

  6. First – it was such a pleasure to have been assigned your blog for the launch of CLUE society. I really had a hard time choosing from your vast selection of tasty treats. You selected a wonderful recipe and so perfect for Thanksgiving! I can only imagine how divine that cake was. Glad to be part of the CLUE Society with you!

  7. Great post, Christy! Love the cake…I love anything with black walnut flavoring! Will have give this a try!

    Funny you feel the way you do about Thanksgiving…It has always been my favorite holiday! No gift pressure…just family, friends and food! What could be better?
    My favorite food is my pumpkin cheese cake! Can’t have Thanksgiving without it! If you ask my kids, they would say the sweet potato casserole with marshmallow topping! And you better not change it!

  8. I love all the vintage recipes at Kelli’s site. And, I love that way the bundt version came out! Hope this puts you in the Thanksgiving spirit! 🙂

  9. I believe I’m going to have to go two doors down where there’s a big ole black walnut tree and help John and Mariam clean up their yard… This cake sounds worthy of the work it takes to shell the blasted things! And, I love the contemporary twist. As for my family recipes, well, it’d have to be persimmon pudding. Not the stuff you’d find in SoCal but true Midwestern persimmons. It’s amazing stuff! I’m looking forward to getting to know you better thru CLUE!

  10. So what did the black walnut taste like,…walnuts?? This is intriguing! 😉 and I love the contemporary feel of it, as you said – the layer cakes are nice too!

    So fun to be doing this group together!

  11. I’m a crazed person over bundt cakes and I think yours looks absolutely wonderful! My mother just brought a huge bag of black walnuts and this cake sounds like a delicious way to use them! May I ask if this is an invitation only group, or how does a food blogger become involved in “C.L.U.E.”?
    Thanks and have a wonderful holiday season,
    Roz

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