Black Walnut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare three 9-inch round cake pans. Spray with Baker’s Joy® Non-stick Spray, place round parchment down, and spray again. This will ensure that the cake will release cleanly.
2. Cream butter, shortening, and sugar on medium speed until light in color and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Remove 1 tablespoon of the mixture and toss with the black walnuts coating them completely.
4. Add 1/3 of the flour followed by half the milk to the batter. Repeat adding flour and milk.
5. Fold in the flour-coated walnuts.
6. Transfer to the prepared pans. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes checking for doneness with the toothpick. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cool upside-down to help flatten out the top if you have a lot of doming.
7. Make the frosting. Beat the butter until light in color. Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time until all the sugar is added. It will be thick. Add the vanilla. In a small bowl, use a hand mixer to break up the cream cheese until it’s smooth. Add the cream cheese to the butter mixture and whip until just combined.
8. Frost your cake. Cut off any domed cake tops with a serrated knife. Add half the melted orange marmalade to the first cake and top with frosting. Repeat with the second cake. Add marmalade and frosting. Turn your top cake over so the flat bottom is up. Frost the cake filling in the gaps between layers. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
9. Remove from the fridge. Add thin orange slices and additional walnuts to decorate. Allow the cake 20 minutes to warm up before slicing.

Recipe by Karyn Granrud