It’s been a busy cake week here. A certain handsome man in my life dove another year deeper into his thirties. I dove a little deeper in love with chocolate ganache.
OK… And him. More to come on that soon – promise! (the ganache – not the man)
If you don’t know me personally, you may not know how I feel about birthdays. I love em’! I really LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!! Now you know…
As a child, I would plan my birthday parties an obnoxious amount of months in advance, stressing every little detail: guest list, catering, party bags. I had hosted very glamorous pool parties at the YMCA. And sleepover parties! I had the best sleep over parties. Anyone remember ‘Girl Talk’? I loved that game.
But lets get on to why your really here: CAKE. In total, I made 3 cakes in 4 days. My oven was exhausted, my belly was plump, and my jeans are feeling quite snug.
I made two cakes for the celebration: one very very small cake with 6 layers total; 3 layers of chocolate butter cake, and 3 layers of almond butter cake wrapped in marzipan and bittersweet chocolate; then a giant 3 tier double chocolate layer cake with raspberry filling. There was mega cake consumption happening here.
I made both decadent cakes in advance: flash freezing one, and just covering the other and keeping it chilled. After spending 7 hours total mixing, baking, and washing a mountain of cake related dishes… I couldn’t help feeling entitled to a slice. The issue being of course, the first cake being served wouldn’t be sliced into for another 2 days. 2 days! The toddler in me couldn’t help but throw a fit.
I gathered up what I had on hand, typed it into google search with the word ‘cake’ glued to the end, and viola – a recipe for Raspberry – Buttermilk Cake popped up. It basically winked at me. I had to make it. What was another hour in the kitchen, if it ended with a warm slice of cake?
Making this cake was a great decision! Making cake is pretty much always a great decision…
It tasted phenomenal. Satisfying. It was the perfect slice to hold me over until the chocolate madness to come later in the week. It was… call me predictable… the perfect breakfast cake. I really really enjoy cake for breakfast… it goes so well with my coffee.
The texture is undeniably moist. The crunchy sugar topping is lovely. The raspberries baked in taste, and look, gorgeous! And a light – just bold enough – touch of lemon zest balances out this cake into a lovely combination of flavors. It was wonderful!
I sliced my cake up immediately and froze individual pieces so I could have a fresh piece every morning… so naughty sometimes! You should be too.
I’m super excited to see Wilco in Central Park this weekend! What are your plans?
Raspberry – Buttermilk Cake – SmittenKitchen
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 (118 ml) well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup (5 ounces or 140 grams) fresh raspberries
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, 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 (see Note) raspberries 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. Invert onto a plate.
That cake is beautiful! I love breakfast cakes, such a tricky way to get in my sweets 😉
And can I say that I am SO JEALOUSSS that you’re seeing Wilco?!!
They were amazing!!!
This looks incredibly awesome
Thank you so much!
This sounds like a great way to use up more of my buttermilk!
I’m always on the hunt for recipes calling for buttermilk; there’s always a half carton on the verge of expiration lurking in the fridge.
OMG! This is an absolutely gorgeous cake and I just cannot wait to try it. It looks so pretty too. However, I’m not sure about the availability of raspberries around this time, so do you reckon I could try other berries/fruits too?
Any berry could easily replace the raspberries!
Oooh, yummy! I have Joy the Baker’s Raspberry Lemon Breakfast Rolls on my to-bake list, but this looks like a much quicker (but no less tasty) way of getting my raspberry-lemon breakfast fix! Thanks so much!
Love those rolls from Joy; all of her recipes make me drool.
Happy Birthday to hubby! I have to say…this is an amazing cake! I just showed it to MY hubby and he reminded me when his birthday was! Seriously, this one is absolutely stunning!
Thanks, Ann! I hope you make it for your hubs and you both enjoy it.
Following!
YAy!
What an absolutely gorgeous cake! For something so simple…it really looks so rich and decadent. And your pictures are just beautiful! Now I can’t wait for the chocolate ganache love story!!! : )
It’s coming soon, Anne!
What a lovely cake – raspberries are one of my favourite berries in cakes and muffins as they add a nice hit of tartness to the sweet pastry. I use them in my wholemeal buttermilk muffins and they are great for breakfast too 🙂
I love the slight tartness raspberries add to baked goods, too!
What a divine cake. I love raspberries, they are the perfect summer fruit. I think I could eat this cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.
This was definitely three meals some days!
Beautiful – too bad raspberries aren’t so much in season anymore here but no doubt we’ll get an influx of Spanish ones in a month or so. Divine looking cake, beautiful photos too – definitely something I’m going to try, thanks! 🙂
Charles – any berry would be great in this cake; it doesn’t have to be raspberries.
Fresh raspberries!! wow The cake must have tasted heavenly!
Heaven in baked form!
That cake looks good and those berries looks so fresh!
Raymund – the fresh berries really did shine through beautifully in this cake.
So much food porn daaaahling, I am absolutely starving for some of that lovely cake now!
*kisses* HH
Thank, dear! Food really can be such a gorgeous model.
I love the idea of freezing cake, although I’d probably end up eating everything at once… No self control. I hope you enjoy the Wilco concert! 🙂
I suffer with lack of self control too. And thank you, the show was amazing!
I love the idea of freezing individual slices! Brilliant. Although I honestly end up eating half a cake in one day, usually… 🙁
Freezing the slices individually helps slow me down from eating it in one sitting!
I simply love raspberries, and this Raspberry Buttermilk Cake looks scrumptious. I definitely have to hang onto this recipe. Thanks for sharing
Thank you for stopping by! I really loved this cake, and I’m going to try a different berry next go at it.
Aren’t raspberries just great?!
I adore them: baked or simply the way they are.
raspberries in baked goods = deliciousness!!! and they make everything look so pretty too :). i eat them every morning with my breakfast 😀
Every morning with your breakfast?! Lucky lucky!
This looks amazing and I love buttermilk and have raspberries in the fridge.
Sounds like this cake is just waiting for you to bake it up!
Oooh, I wonder how this would taste with blackberries?!? Definitely going on my wish list. 🙂
Courtney – it would be just as delicious with blackberries, or any berry for that matter.
Absolutely stunning!!!!! What a scrumptious and decadent dessert!! Love the shots!!!
Thank you, dear! It was absolutely wonderful as an everyday kind of cake.
I LOVE buttermilk cakes, seriously, I love them. I recently made a blackberry buttermilk cake and it was divine. I’m a bigger fan of raspberries though, so I think I’d like this even more. Looks amazing Ashley!
I remember that gorgeous blackberry buttermilk cake you made!
Looks really delicious!! p.s. I love birthdays too!
Thank you, Cristin! Aren’t birthdays such a fun excuse to celebrate the people we love?
This is gorgeous! And really looks SO tasty!
Thank you! There’s nothing quite like an everyday cake that is both as pretty as it is tasty.
Oh man, I want some of that! It looks so yummy. And I bet Wilco was amazing!
Hey Jessica. Wilco was exactly that – amazing! It was pouring rain and we didn’t even care, they are that good.
If this tastes as good as it looks, you’ve got a winner. Beautiful — and looks so yummy!
Hi Cheryl – I always love hearing from you! Thank you; it really was beautiful in every category.
Wow another perfect dish. I don’t think they get any prettier than this. Who wouldn’t love this cake, even if you don’t like raspberries I don’t think anyone could resist a taste. I’ll definitely have to make this. I only hope mine turns out this beautiful!
It will, it will! I made this cake in a half- eye – open woozey at 6am; it’s literally a piece of cake to whip up, and so so delicious.
What a fabulous cake!!! I would love a big slice for my breakfast this morning 🙂
It goes splendid with a great big cup of coffee!
This looks fantastic! I love raspberries in anything 🙂
They are such a delightful little berry!
Thank you so much! It tasted like a slice of heaven.
oh wow this looks scrumptious 🙂
They were so so scrumptious!