Heavenly Buttermilk Cake

So this cake is nothing new. In fact, I've made it countless of times over the years and it was one of the first recipes to be featured on this blog. It's Nigella Lawson 'Buttermilk Birthday Cake', and it's my mother's favorite cake so if I were to give a rough estimate of the amount of times I baked this cake, I would say 35..?! That's because it's comfort food. The high ratio of eggs and buttermilk make it a heavy, tasty cake, that tastes best without any frosting (although when I do, I make a praline frosting for it). It certainly wouldn't win any best-looking prices, but it deserves a spot in the Cake Hall of Fame nonetheless. Rating: 5 out of 5.



Buttermilk Birthday Cake: Nigella Lawson - How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Ingredients:
- 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose-flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cups + 2 tablespoons buttermilk (or ⅓ cup plain yogurt mixed with ½ cup low-fat milk)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cups soft unsalted butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- 3 large eggs

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F/180˚C.
- Sift flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl and set aside.
- Pour the buttermilk into a measuring cup and stir in the vanilla.
- Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Reduce the speed and add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between additions.
- Add alternating increments of the flour mixture and the vanilla-buttermilk, blending well after each addition; this should tak 3 to 5 minutes.
- Pour batter into a greased pan and bake for 40 minutes (30 minutes if using layer cake pans) until the cake is beginning to shrink away from the sides and a cake tester comes out clean.
- If using a mold with a lot of patterning, leave to cool for 20 minutes before unmolding.


See the moist, heavy texture? Classic!