“Buttermilk….” I’ve always loved the way that word rolls off your tongue slow and smooth, the consonants forcing you to slow down and say it properly (and preferably with a Southern accent).
“Buttermilk…” It brings a steady rush of memories with it—buttermilk pancakes at my mom’s kitchen table, buttermilk biscuits shared with an old flame at Egg in the heart of Williamsburg, blueberry buttermilk muffins on the grass at the Amagansett Farmer’s Market with a close girlfriend four summers ago. My memories are always food memories—inextricably tied to the smells, textures, and tastes of the things I’ve eaten and who I’ve shared them with.
Buttermilk, in all it’s tangy, sour glory, is inedible on it’s own, but somehow makes everything it goes into so much better. There’s something kind of great and kind of sad about that.
I made a new buttermilk memory today. One that involves something called Raspberry Buttermilk Cake. And like anything else that buttermilk touches, it was about as close to perfection as you can hope for.
RASPBERRY BUTTERMILK CAKE
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar, divided
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan (or, in my case, a loaf pan, as I coudn’t seem to locate my cake pan). Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well.
At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined. Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar.
Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Cool on a rack for another 10 to 15 minutes. Invert onto a plate and serve.
