Raspberry Buttermilk Cake redux
Even though my online moniker has been Tiancakes for almost a decade, I actually don’t make that many cakes at home. Never have. Cakes are a necessary part of the job, sometimes neverendingly tedious, sometimes a welcome brainless project. But I don’t need to make any more cakes at home. I have limited resources and energy, and I want to make my baking projects count.
However, sometimes when you are gifted 3 pints of buttermilk and a cake instantly flashes in your mind, there’s no denying that it’s time to make cake. (And sometimes, when there is way more buttermilk left than the cake calls for AND a huge block of gifted cheddar in your fridge, the stars align for some scones too…. that’ll be the next post.)
Raspberry Buttermilk Cake, from Smitten Kitchen
Four years ago, in my last period of funemployment, my brother-in-law Joe inquired about grapes in cakes, because he wanted to make this buttermilk cake with a PB&J riff to it. It definitely piqued my curiosity, and I had nothing better to do, so I walked a block to Whole Foods (RIP grocery shopping for leisure) for all the ingredients and immediately made both versions of this cake.
For the record, grapes aren’t great in this cake. According to my past self, “the grapes didn't pop but sank into the batter more while the raspberries stayed afloat on the surface of the cake. Maybe a stronger flavored grape would have been better, but all I got were pops of sugar, and not a lot of fruitiness to add to or complement the cake itself, unlike the classic raspberry.”
So we’re going for berries this time.
For a thin half sheet cake, or a thicker 1/4 sheet cake, or a moderate 1/4 sheet cake + some extras
In a stand mixer, cream:
4oz butter, room temp
260g sugar
Add:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest, optional
Whisk dries together well in a bowl:
260g AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Alternate adding dries and 1c buttermilk into wet ingredients.
Always start and end with dries (add dries in 3 iterations, and add buttermilk in 2).
Add dries on low speed until mostly incorporated, and then stream in wets. Scrape well in between.
Spread onto a 1/2 sheet pan and scatter berries all around.
It’d be a thin cake this way, so aim for one raspberry per bite.
I like the hole-side down raspberries, because they melted into the batter a bit instead of leaving a batter-free raspberry hole.
Bake at 375F convection (400F regular) for 10-15 minutes. It should be just starting to brown on the edges. (This cake bakes really fast!)
If baking a thicker version, turn down the heat by 25 degrees.
Notes
The original recipe called for a dusting of sugar on top of the batter before baking. I didn’t have any citrus to zest today, so I made a glazed from bottled yuzu juice for after baking instead.
This batter recipe is super super simple, but the result is tender, light and moist, an impressive cake for such low effort. With fruit in it, the final product tastes light and summery and fresh. It’s a little too tender to use as the base for a layer cake, but maybe for a simple 1 layer sheet cake with flavored frosting? Either way it’s low effort & high reward - my favorite kind of recipe.
The little round cake tin didn’t bake nearly as well… I think the batter just isn’t made to be this giant loaf of cake. The super mini tin worked really well though - baked that at 425F convection, but I think even 450 would be good for more color. I have never found a use for that mold until today. Can’t even remember where it came from.