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buttermilk spice cake

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 by alana

Somehow, Joey and I have been lucky enough the last several years to be part of a miraculous thing called work party.
Five or six years ago, a few families got together with an idea of how to help each other out. On a given Sunday morning, everyone would head over to one family’s house and do some work. The kids would play and wreak havoc. Then everyone would eat. The next month, the group would reconvene at someone else’s house and do it all again.
Yeah, I know. It’s a really good idea.
Within the first year there was some shifting, some turnover, and somehow Joey and I ended up getting invited to join in the fun. We were a little bit worried. Somehow the group was comprised of a disproportionate amount of builders, engineers, and all around skilled people. We had a few skills to offer- Joey could make a really great mix tape for the morning and I could organize myself a mean bookshelf. But over the years, although we may not be much more skilled than we were then, we’ve done a lot of things in work party we never thought we could, albeit sometimes poorly. And the girls seem to see work party as some family reunion with cousins- it’s somehow related to family for them. It’s a really really good thing.

We had work party this past weekend over at the farm. Luckily, there was a birthday involved and I got to make cake. I guess I do have one skill to bring to the table.

This is the first spice cake that I have made and liked. A few years ago, Joey requested a spice cake for his birthday and it was dry dry dry. This seems to be an issue in spice cakes. But not this one. This one held up like a champ, and I frosted it with a not too sweet cream cheese frosting, and added in a bit of quince butter, because it was there on my shelf, and you know how I feel about quinces. Those funny looking purple things are little candied violets, just because I happen to really like the birthday girl.
I have to admit to you, although I’ve gotten into the habit of making a whole lot of cakes these last few years, I have never cut a layer in half. But I did it this time, and it was entirely undisastrous. With a good serrated knife, so many things are possible.
And I’ve got to tell you about one more thing. When I was getting ready to frost this baby, My friend Brandee was right there, cutting pears or doing some other work-y thing. She’s one of those engineers I was telling you about, so you know that she’s going to have some good ideas. She suggested that I put strips of parchment around and under the outside of the cake, like this.

That way, after the the whole thing is frosted, you can pull out the strips and you have a clean cake plate. So simple, yet it would never occur to me. That’s one reason why it’s a good idea to have all of these engineers and builders around.

Buttermilk Spice Cake
adapted from Flo Braker, as seen in Food and Wine

For the cake:

1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature

For the frosting:

1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
2-4 tablespoons milk
1 cup apple, pear or quince butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and position a rack in the lower third. Butter and flour two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans. Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt and cloves onto a sheet of wax paper. Combine the buttermilk and vanilla in a small pitcher.
2. In a standing electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the light brown and granulated sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, stopping once to scrape down the bowl. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the flour mixture at low speed in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, just until the batter is smooth; stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the bowl.
3. Divide the batter evenly between the pans. Transfer the pans to the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes begin to shrink from the sides. Let the cakes cool for 10 minutes, then turn each out onto a rack, invert onto another rack and let cool completely. Wrap each cake in plastic and store at room temperature overnight.
4. Make the frosting: Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the sugar and mix well. Add the vanilla, and enough milk to get the frosting to a good consistency.
5. Cut each layer in half. Alternate your fillings between apple, pear or quince butter and cream cheese frosting. Finish by frosting with the cream cheese frosting.

Filed Under: Sweets Tagged With: baking, Birthdays, cake

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Instagram post 2337331591407595410_13442450 Sending off my taxes today with intention and prayer that they will be used to support programs for the most vulnerable, and that my little contribution will join with others to help move us towards the country I know we can be. #taxmagic ✨
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Instagram post 2330317921708403058_13442450 My friend @afgoldfarb has been part of a team of people working on this vital project. The link to learn more and help out is in my profile.
Instagram post 2330131706816229761_13442450 I’ll be baking up a storm for this! Local bakers- there’s still room for more! Let @north_plain_farm know that you want IN.
Instagram post 2324845496300301430_13442450 To those who ask here? In Great Barrington? YES. In Great Barrington.
Instagram post 2324091364266290851_13442450 I know there are so many resources out there right now, but I want to share one that’s been really helpful for me in the last several months. There are many seasons of this podcast, but I recommend Season 2 on Whiteness as well is Season 4 on Democracy. #sceneonradio
Instagram post 2322615811734696638_13442450 Black lives matter.
Instagram post 2319329508599466327_13442450 I did not bake these cookies, as I am no longer the cookie baker in this house. But this is the second time that  Sadie has made @susanspungen ‘s Triple-Ginger Chocolate Chunk Cookies (and also the second time I’ve talked about a recipe Sadie has made from the #openkitchencookbook), and I think these might actually be the best cookies I have ever had. I’m often looking for the perfect ginger cookie and this is it, and I’d also choose it over a chocolate chip cookie (or let’s be honest-any other kind of cookie) any day.
Instagram post 2316311882260313364_13442450 No matter how many rulers and pizza cutters and other magical tools I use, it seems that the straight line will always elude me.
Instagram post 2314127252740427104_13442450 Living it up. 💥
Instagram post 2312088043104000827_13442450 Every day my neighbor’s yard gets prettier.
Instagram post 2311325683330503572_13442450 @paulaperlis sent us @susanspungen ‘s new book and of course the first recipe Sadie picked is marked with the *project* heading. She’s been cooking all afternoon and the house smells like ✨✨✨ (With gorgeous images by @gentlandhyers ❤️)
Instagram post 2311141543964321092_13442450 When I took on a day job a few years ago, I found that the first thing to go was all the homemade stuff I’d been making and writing about over the years. I’m still going out to work most days, but I’m finding now with a full and captive house and more downtime in general that those things I love to make are back. For me, it’s granola, yogurt, bread. Hello, old friends!
Instagram post 2308503311808232748_13442450 All the things in the house pasta: roasted cauliflower, a few sad leaves of kale, one jar of fancy tuna saved for a special occasion (how about Wednesday?), Rosemary, homemade breadcrumbs from the freezer fried in butter, crispy sage leaves, pasta water, salt, so much pepper. Success!
Instagram post 2307412630968777107_13442450 @artbywoodgy made this beautiful thing for me for Mother’s Day. All the veggies are on Velcro so I can plan to my hearts delight.
Instagram post 2306345003953662730_13442450 Happy Mother’s Day to my brave and beautiful mom, who birthed two different humans in such different times in her life. With me she was so young, and she figured it all out just as she was learning how to be an adult. This picture was taken nineteen years later, when she was pregnant again and I was almost an adult myself. Thanks for keeping at it, Mom, and for always showing up with love. ❤️
Instagram post 2304888771283579843_13442450 What we do for cake.
Instagram post 2302665269449083186_13442450 It’s a magnolia year for sure.
Instagram post 2295808104927071821_13442450 A long time ago, Joey talked about his crush on this particular alien-like flower with a good friend of ours. Months later, little bulbs arrived in the mail. We put them in the ground last fall, and now they are everywhere. If that isn’t some kind of magic, I don’t know what is. ✨ (🙏🏻 to @wildflowers1 for the cool vase, too.)
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