Buttermilk Cake & Mocha Chocolate Frosting

Buttermilk cake? Mocha Chocolate frosting?  YES. PLEASE! Anyone who ever visited Sissy had some kind of cake at her house. Sissy always had cake. I think she bought cake pans by the pallet and I think she must have baked four or five cakes a week. I found this Buttermilk cake written in her own hand writing and I was intrigued or at least very hungry. I don't know how that last one could be possible as much as I've been baking lately, but in my defense, I have been sharing. ;)

 

I found this particular recipe while I was thumbing through a stack trying to make a plan and a grocery list. You see there are just so many pieces of paper and clippings and notes stuck here and there throughout the three books I brought home, it's easy to get distracted. I spent an hour just trying to put some of the recipes in sheet protectors so they didn't suffer any more damage than has already been done by time. Anyway, this cake and frosting were well worth the effort, plus it was a great excuse to use my new homemade vanilla extract and that buttermilk I had left from the Angel Biscuits.

 

 

Buttermilk Cake

3 cups sugar
3 cups flour sifted
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick margarine
1/2 cup Crisco shortening
1/2 tsp soda (I used 1 tsp)
(1 tsp salt)
5 whole eggs
2 tsp vanilla








There were NO INSTRUCTIONS on the recipe. Just an ingredients list. Hello google. Yes, I looked over several buttermilk cake recipes and kind of followed suit. You can't make this stuff up, people. Oh wait, yes you can.

Step 1. Cream the Margarine and Crisco until fluffy. I use a Kitchenaid Stand mixer for all my baking so I run it on low for about thirty seconds, then on med, then on high, until it reaches a whipped consistency.

Step 2. Add the sugar and continue to whip.

Step 3. Add vanilla.

Step 4. Mix the soda, salt, and flour together in one bowl and mix the eggs and milk in another. I used a pourable measuring cup. Add the liquid and dry ingredients in alternating portions while mixing. This is where the Kitchenaid comes in handy because it's hands free, but you can alternate and use a hand mixer, too.

I baked this in a preheated oven. About 350F for 50 minutes in a bundt pan. There was too much batter, so I wound up making 8 cupcakes, too. They bake for about 25 minutes at the same temperature.

The batter is VERY thick. It's like a very heavy pound cake and the taste reminded me of a very sturdy twinkie. I will make this again and possibly add a bit of oil or water to make it more moist. The dryer tops of the muffins taste like sugar cookies. I LOVE it with the Mocha Chocolate Frosting which I added while the cake was still warm. It made a sort of shell as it cooled, but next time I make this cake I will try a peanut butter frosting between the cake and the Mocha Chocolate, much like the TastyKake from Philly (introduced to me by my lovely Philly-Italian neighbor), or perhaps I will make it in three thin 9" layers and use a creme filling. Okay, I'll just admit now, that while making this I had to kneewalk myself to the drawer in the kitchen where I keep my Metformin, and I spent at least two hours in a time warp sugar coma on the sofa. I mean LOOK at this thing!

Mocha Chocolate Frosting

6 TB Cocoa (Hershey's unsweetened)

6 TB Hot Coffee (I love French Roast Starbucks)

6 TB Butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups confectioner's sugar (10x powdered)*

So easy...Combine coffee and cocoa, add vanilla and butter, beat until smooth. Add sugar gradually, still mixing, until it is well blended and spreading consistency. * I actually used closer to 4 cups, maybe 3 1/2 because I had a small box and I think that was what was in there. If you want this frosting to be workable, you can apply to a hot cake in a pan, or spread it over a warm bundt cake like I did. I love the way it sets after it's cooled.

There you go! Don't hurt yourself. I'm still looking for that strawberry cake recipe, and I can't WAIT until it warms up enough to make ice cream. I've found several recipes for that. You'll probably be on your own for the peach version, since I can't get really great peaches here in Alaska, but I do remember her making chocolate and vanilla flavored for us.

Coming up..More meatballs, the spaghetti variety from Sissy's red Betty Crocker Book.