MONDAY RECIPE POST - BUTTER CAKE

 

The first time I made this cake was in the wintertime, so my notes are from then.

  On Saturday afternoon, when the weather was so cold that I didn't feel like poking my nose outdoors, I declared it would be my baking day.  I found this recipe at "Just A Pinch" at this link.   Please go visit as it is always worth looking at the original recipe for any good tips I may not have shared, and besides that there are lots of other delicious recipes you can try.  The recipes are actually a collection from several good cooks. I am thinking of making it again for Easter.  I have a cute bunny cake plate that is ready and waiting.  

Butter Cake  -  Serves 10

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

3 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup of buttermilk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softend
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 eggs, room temperature

Butter Glaze:

1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar (white sugar, not powdered)
3 tablespoons water
1-1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract


Turn oven on to 325 degrees F.

Get your bundt pan, grease well with butter and add a couple of tablespoons of flour.  Roll the flour around until flour coats all the pan. Knock the excess out.  It is important not to skip these steps, otherwise your cake may stick.  

With an electric mixer combine the cake flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and mix to combine.

Add the buttermilk, butter, vanilla and almond extracts and eggs. Mix well.  Do not over do it, mix just until ingredients are combined.  It takes about three-and-a-half minutes but use your own judgement.  If you feel everything is mixed in properly then stop.

Pour into the prepared bundt pan.  

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour to 1-1/4 hours, or until tester comes out clean.   Mine took the longer time but oven heat varies. Another tip suggests checking after 50 minutes.


Glaze instructions:

Combine all the ingredients except the vanilla in a saucepan.  Bring to a slow boil over medium heat.  Stir in vanilla, set aside to slightly cool.  I started this process about 20 minutes before the cake was due to come out of the oven.  

Using your favorite oven mitts, carefully take the cake out of the oven and place bundt pan on a cooling rack.  While it is still hot and leaving the cake in the pan, pierce exposed cake all several times with fork tines or a bamboo skewer (I used a pointy chopstick).  Pour half the glaze slowly over the cake and let the glaze drip into those holes.

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then unmold onto a cake plate.  

Pour the remaining glaze slowly over the cake.  Let cool and serve with fruit or ice cream and refrigerate any leftovers.  

Apparently the longer this cake sits and matures, the better it will be.

Notes:

If you don't have any cake flour there was a very clever substitution tip which produces great results.

Cake flour substitution: 

All-purpose flour (just under 1 cup)
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Place two tablespoons of cornstarch in a one-cup measure.

Fill the rest of the cup with all-purpose flour.

Use in place of the cake flour in any recipe.

One cup of substitute is equal to one cup of cake flour.

What did we think?  It came out beautifully and was a delicious cake.  I can see it will be a favorite to prepare for company.  The glaze alone was delectable, and I was very happy with the texture and taste.

I didn't have any ice-cream or fruit, but if I am going to prepare this for company, I would definitely dress it up with our favorite vanilla ice-cream and fresh strawberries. To be perfectly honest it can stand alone as is but looks prettier dressed up a little.

The almond taste isn't overpowering, very subtle, which was a big plus in our book

I decorated simply by putting raw almonds on the top at intervals.  They made a nice tasty nugget to eat with a slice. 

With any leftover cake, I cut into slices and individually wrapped for the freezer.  

Thanks for looking and have a great week!