2009 September 04 | dinner with Julie

Archive for September 4th, 2009

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

What’s in a name? Much, I think. Would a cake by any other name be as alluring? I think not. It’s all in the branding – I’d far rather make a buttermilk cake than a plain old white cake, or, while we’re at it, “Impossible (fill in the blank) Casserole” or “Grandma Flo’s Shipwreck“… wait, I would totally make Grandma Flo’s Shipwreck, if it wasn’t one of those layered casseroles with sliced potato and ground beef, topped with a tin (not a can mind you, a tin) of tomato soup.

The raspberries are almost gone. And the Saskatoons, choke cherries, and rhubarb… even the leaves have up and left the tree out front – not entirely, but they abruptly started to bail out yesterday afternoon, as if on cue. Late this morning, the sun on my back felt like fall sun. I still can’t place what made it different than the sun of a week ago.

W and I went to my sister’s and I picked the last of the raspberries (as he AND LOU jumped on the trampoline) – just enough for a buttermilk cake. Halfway through mixing the batter (which takes all of about four minutes) I realized this recipe I was romanced into making is almost exactly the simple fruit-topped cake (a decade ago I called it “kuchen”) I’ve made for years. But still – it somehow tasted better. There’s something about this particular formula of butter, sugar, flour, buttermilk and vanilla.. a perfect crumb, buttery but with only a quarter cup of butter.. it would make a great pillow for any number of juicy fruits – peaches or plums, or apricots, or cherries, or blackberries.. or how about pluots? The hybrid of the farmers’ market – part plum, part apricot. (Mostly plum.)

Or perhaps cranberries in winter, with lemon or orange zest (add it as you beat the butter and sugar – that way the grainy sugar rubs against the zest and releases as much flavour as possible, and it gets distributed throughout the batter.)

And because it was in fact a buttermilk cake and not a plain old white cake I had to butter the pans with a scrap of waxed paper swiped through soft butter, just like my grandma did, rather than unceremoniously spray it with nonstick spray.

It seems like there isn’t going to be enough batter, but there is.

So precious I just want to curl up and hug it.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

adapted from Gourmet, June 2009

1/4 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1-2 cups fresh (or frozen) raspberries (or other berries, or thickly sliced peaches, apricots or plums)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter an 8″ or 9″ round cake pan.

In a largish bowl, beat the butter and sugar for a few minutes, until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

By hand or with the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing each time until just combined.

Spread the batter into the pan, smoothing the top. Scatter raspberries overtop.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch. Let cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack or plate, or eat warm, straight from the pan.