Buttermilk Cake
Serves 12
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces butter (2 sticks), room temperature
- 3 cups granulates sugar
- 2 each vanilla beans, scraped
- 4 each whole eggs, slightly beaten
- 3 cups caked flour (about 16.5 ounces), sifted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon Mexican vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
Procedure:
Preheat a conventional oven at 350 F, and position a rack in the middle of the baking space. Butter and flour a heavy 10-inch bundt pan, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla bean seeds. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, salt, vanilla and almond extract, and break eggs up with a fork. Slowly add the eggs to the creamed butter mixture in several additions. Stop and scrape the bowl and paddle several times during these
additions.
Combine the baking soda and the buttermilk in a small bowl, and stir until foamy. Alternate the buttermilk with the sifted flour in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Stop to scrape the bowl and paddle after each addition. Pour the finished cake batter into the prepared bundt pan, and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in the preheated 350 F oven for 45 to 50 minutes. If the top begins to brown too much after 45 minutes without the cake being done, then
place a small sheet of aluminum foul over the top of the cake to slow the browning process.
The cake is done when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs on it, and the sides of the cake will JUST begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Allow the cake to cool for about 15 minutes before turning it out onto a cake stand or plate. Immediately re-invert the cake so that the top is facing up. Cover with foil or a cake top, and finish cooling. Slice after the cake has cooled completely. Serve with ice cream and fresh fruit if desired.
Note: The cake should not cool completely in the pan before unmolding, or it will stick. Be careful when unmolding the still-warm cake, as it will break apart more easily than a cooled cake.
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