Recently my friends Dan and Claire (both guest hosts of my food podcast, Chicken n Waffles) moved into (sort of) my neighborhood and I wanted to help. But my car was being used by my husband, then I got sick, then I threw my back out. The only thing I was sort of capable of doing was baking, so that limited my housewarming gift options. Lucky for me, these bitches can eat, so when the new copy of Gourmet mag arrived at my doorstep, I was stoked. I came across a pretty easy cake recipe for a raspberry buttermilk cake and just so happen to have a pint of buttermilk sitting in my fridge, so problem solved. No more wasting the buttermilk, and I would still get to help welcome Dan and Claire home. Yeah. Ever see someone with a thrown-out back bake a cake? Allow me to paint a picture for you: flour EVERYWHERE (even on the toaster, which I wasn’t even using). Every time I accidentally dropped something on the floor, it stayed there (and when the thing you’ve dropped is batter, get ready for some real excitement). If I couldn’t reach a utensil or bowl stored in our bottom cabinets with my bbq tongs, I couldn’t use it. And hours later, I found egg shells in my cat’s litter box. Go figure.
Regardless of my handicaps, the cake turned out delicious and fluffy. I prefer blueberries over raspberries, so I swapped those out, but other than that, I followed the recipe. Since the recipe didn’t require a lot of ingredients (1 cup of flour, 1/2 stick of butter, 1 egg, etc.), I was able to do a double batch, and I baked 2/3 of the batter in a 9 inch round cake pan and the other 1/3 in a cupcake tin.
The cupcakes were conveniently sized and required no plate and fork to devour, but were difficult to remove from the pan. I’m 90% sure I thoroughly lubed the cupcake tin, so I think the cake was perhaps too tender to remove from the pan, as it crumbled when I tried. I dug the cake pan version much more–it was easier to remove from the pan, it looked nicer, and it had a balanced ratio of cake to berries.
My only complaint with the recipe was that it promised a sugary, crunchy crust on the cake. The sugar I sprinkled on sort of melted into the cake, but never got crunchy. It was still delicious but I was really looking forward to that contrast of textures. I might try putting the sugar on when the cake has baked halfway. I will also throw some citrus zest in the batter to brighten it up and take away just a hint of sweetness, and maybe serve it with a lightly flavored whipped cream. This is a good, quick cake to have in the arsenal!
~LTG!
