I have a weakness for everyday cakes. They aren’t fancy, they aren’t iced and decorated, they’re just simple and sweet and ready to be sliced up for guests or, as is often the case at Chateaû Amanda, sliced up for breakfast, dinner, and midday snacks. Not that you can’t do that with the fancier versions. Birthday cake for breakfast? Awesome.
Anyway, this is the second buttermilk recipe. The original fruit used in this cake was raspberries, which is actually my favorite fruit to bake with, but the grocery store, being lame, had nothing but blueberries. No matter, it worked just as well, though I’m definitely going to try raspberries.
Blueberry Buttermilk Cake
Via Smitten Kitchen
1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick (56 grams) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup (146 grams) plus 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)
1 large (57 grams) egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh blueberries (about 5 oz)
Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 2/3 cup (146 grams) sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes, then beat in vanilla and zest, if using. Add egg and beat well.
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 blueberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons (22 grams) 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.
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Yeah, wow, it’s been forever, hasn’t it? My girlfriend visited in May, and work’s been insane, and honestly? I haven’t been baking a whole lot, and when I do, I sort of forget to post the new recipes. Bad blogger, no biscuit…oh, wait!
*Cue the groans*
Right then. I’m not actually usually a from scratch biscuit person because it tends to be ever so slightly messy in my already chaotic kitchen. I don’t eat biscuits much at all, actually, and I’m not sure why, since a fluffy biscuit drenched in honey is easily one of the best things in the world. But I digress.
This was a way to get rid of some buttermilk I bought for something or other, and actually I had to find another buttermilk recipe to help get more of it done. And as it happens, both recipes come from Deb at Smitten Kitchen. It’s not so surprising, when it comes down to it; I don’t remember when she’s ever posted anything that wasn’t incredibly awesome.
This recipe is almost exactly the way Deb has it at her site, but I used a shallot instead of scallions. Because I had a shallot, and no scallions.
Blue Cheese and Shallot Biscuits
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick or 3 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups crumbled blue cheese
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
Preheat the oven to 450F and whisk/sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Stir in blue cheese and shallot, then add buttermilk and stir until just combined.
Drop dough in 12 equal mounds about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet, or one lined with parchment paper. Bake in middle of oven until golden, 16 to 20 minutes.
I actually burned the soup these were meant to go with, but the biscuits were more than awesome on their own.
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