As you may have guessed, I have a serious soft spot for everyday cakes.* I call them Dinner Party Cakes. Or Potluck Cakes. Or I Heard You Were Coming and So I Baked You a Cake, cakes. Or If You Bake a Cake, The People Will Come cakes, as a fresh-from-the-oven cake has a way of drawing friends around your coffee table on an otherwise blah Monday night. Home baked goods are magical like that.
This one was no exception. (Well, except for the part where the preggo in the audience may have fallen asleep before actually telling people when to ring the doorbell. But let’s not talk about that.) I saw it in Gourmet last week and it sounded so deliciously summery, I was “fixin'” (as my friend Molly says) to bake it immediately. Alas, I’m still convinced my new kitchen conspires against me, as this time the oven which had been working a whole 36 hours before had mysteriously stopped (Said “mystery” turned out to be a pilot light that needed re-lighting. What? I’m new here, okay?) and I had to wait a whole four days to actually get to this.
It was totally worth the wait. The cake is ridiculously simple, takes no time at all to assemble or bake (especially if you discover that your newly-lit oven runs ridiculously hot and spits out an almost-toasted cake in just over half the suggested time, not that I recommend this) and is therefore just perfect for your upcoming long weekend (or Tuesday night) as it will not keep you from it. I already told you, it’s magic.
Two years ago: Cellophane Noodle Salad with Roast Pork… promise me you’ll make this on the grill this weekend, m’kay?
Raspberry Buttermilk Cake
You can just ignore the word “raspberry” up there and swap it up with any which berry you please, like blackberries or blueberries or bits of strawberries or all of the above. This is a good, basic go-to buttermilk cake (not unlike a lemon yogurt cake before it) — moist and ever-so-light — a great jumping off point for whatever you can dream up. Several more notes below, so read on!- 1 cup (135 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons (55 grams or 2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
- 2/3 cup (130 grams) plus 1 1/2 tablespoons (20 grams) sugar, divided
- Finely grated zest of half a lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) well-shaken buttermilk
- 1 cup (5 ounces or 140 grams) fresh raspberries
Whisk dry ingredients — flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt — together in a small-to-medium bowl and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter, 2/3 cup of the sugar, and zest together with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluff. Add vanilla and egg and beat until well-combined.
At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined. Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter (see neurotic note, below) raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.
Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate to serve in wedges.
A few notes, refreshed in 2023:
- The baking time was updated and shortened shortly after publication, after so many of you concurred that this cake bakes crazy quickly.
- Directions like “scatter” [for the raspberries] always scare me. Where’s the science? Here’s what my neuroses taught us: the ones that were downward were almost all swallowed by the batter. The “o” ones stayed empty, like cups. Both were delicious.
- Make your own almost-buttermilk: No need to buy buttermilk especially for this or any recipe. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (easily extracted from your zested lemon half) to one cup of milk and let it sit until it clabbers, about 10 minutes. Voila, a perfect buttermilk substitute!
- My raspberries come from the store in 6-ounce packages and I never regret using the whole amount here.
- These days I “one-bowl” almost every cake but haven’t updated this recipe accordingly. Should you be lazy like me, beat the butter, sugar, and zest in a big bowl. Add the vanilla and egg. Sprinkle the surface of the batter with the salt, baking powder, and baking soda and beat it well to thoroughly combine/disperse it. Add half the flour (eyeball it), the buttermilk, and the remaining flour, beating after each edition until just combined. Then continue with the pouring and baking instructions above.
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