buttermilk Archives | butter loves company

kentucky butter cake

August 15, 2019 by Butter Loves Company

This butter cake will surprise you. I had never had Kentucky Butter Cake before the random Tuesday when I made this recipe and sat in awe of its deliciousness.

While the ingredients are uncomplicated, and the cake is seemingly simple with no icing or frosting, you’ll be surprised at the satisfying flavor the moment you take a bite. I officially want to make this Kentucky Butter Cake recipe a weekly occurrence.

The butter and buttermilk in the cake give it moistness and body and baking it in a bundt pan leaves it with a sweet, thinly crisp exterior that reminds me of the top of a corn muffin from Dunkin’ Donuts. (Or, I guess just Dunkin’ now.) And, if you’ve had one of those, you know how good that flavor and texture is.

After you bake this rich butter cake, you pierce its warm top with a skewer or toothpick to make tiny little tunnels for your BUTTER SAUCE to seep in. I mean, enough said. The key is to pour the sauce, which you prepare while the bundt cake is baking, over the poked cake while it is still hot and in the pan. It soaks into the crumb of the cake to add flavor and moisture into its crevices.

I’m not positive where Kentucky Butter Cake got its origin, having just stumbled across it when looking for a simple and delicious vanilla pound cake, but after doing some research it seems to me that the luxurious butter, sugar, vanilla sauce is what makes this butter cake an official Kentucky Butter Cake. Wherever it came from, I’m glad it’s here!

If you’re looking for other delicious cake recipes, might I suggest:

Berry Ricotta Cake

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

chocolate buttermilk cake with tangerine curd and toasted meringue

March 9, 2017 by Butter Loves Company

It has been far too long since I’ve broken out one of my favorite culinary tools: the kitchen torch. This is the little flamethrower of flavor that elevates crème brulée to more than custard and makes snowy meringue frosting golden-tipped and tasting of toasted marshmallows.

This recipe for Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Tangerine Curd and Toasted Meringue has what may seem like a lot of steps, but you can easily split them up as to not feel overwhelmed. Bake the cakes and prep the curd one day, then make the meringue and assemble the next. The cake is super moist from the buttermilk and lusciously chocolate-y from the cocoa (I used special dark). The tangerine curd is tangy and quite citrus-forward, but also so smooth and creamy. If you prefer, you could use any kind of oranges or stick to a traditional lemon only curd. Top with fluffy meringue fired up with your kitchen torch and you have yourself a super fun and delicious cake!

Torched desserts always make me think of my mom. Along her love of crème brulée for its toasted tops, I inherited my mom’s style inclination for black clothes and tailored fashion. This watch from JORD watches is a perfect example of that and served as the inspiration for this recipe and its deep chocolate color and golden meringue tips. The band is made from ebony wood so it’s lightweight, but bold in style and I absolutely love the large watch-face and gold accents. JORD makes these gorgeous wood women’s watches and men’s watches with all different wood materials and in a variety of colors. I can’t wait to wear it all spring long. It goes perfectly with my wardrobe and with this fun chocolate buttermilk cake if I do say so myself!

The wonderful JORD team is also offering a giveaway to help you to grab your very own! Enter to win a $100 Gift code to use towards your own JORD watch. Click here to enter!

To make things more fun, everyone will automatically receive a $25 code just for entering! The contest will close on 3/26 at 11:59pm. Both the $100 and the $25 codes will expire on 5/31/2017. Best of luck everyone!

A big thank you to JORD Watches for partnering with me on this post. All opinions are my own!
Luxury Wooden Watch

rosemary honey buttermilk biscuits

January 5, 2016 by Butter Loves Company

These rosemary honey buttermilk biscuits are what dreams are made of. From their soft, buttery layered centers and lightly crisp edges to earthy rosemary and sweet honey flavors, these biscuits are the real deal.

Four and a half years ago, I bit into the best biscuit of my life. It was a Monday night, right after Greg and I began dating and we were perched at the bar of one of our favorite Boston restaurants, Island Creek Oyster Bar. We had made it a little tradition to go there for oysters and doughnuts. An odd pairing, yes, but doesn’t a meal that consists of the freshest, most cleanly shucked, perfectly chilled oysters on the planet and piping hot, homemade, seasonal doughnuts sound heavenly? We think so. How could it get better?

Enter: The biscuits. A tip from a fellow diner led us there and, after one bite of the rosemary, honey coated buttermilk beauty, we were in dreamland. With crisp edges that balance the soft, buttery layers within, this is a biscuit you will definitely fall in love with.

Many thanks to Saveur Magazine for sharing our love of “The Biscuit” and getting the Island Creek team to reveal the recipe. I could have sworn there was rosemary inside the biscuits as well as on top, so I adjusted the recipe to meet my memory. The real key here is shredding frozen butter into the dough with a box grater. It will give the biscuits their many layers. Get ready to fall in love.

apple pie buttermilk biscuits

September 17, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

If you’ve ever found yourself craving apple pie for breakfast, these biscuits are for you. These fluffy treats are portable, completely 8am acceptable versions of apple pie with a sweet cinnamon apple filling folded into two fluffy, buttery buttermilk biscuit layers. Shopping for and making this recipe is extremely easy as it requires just one apple, one spice and no electric mixer of any sort. Let’s consider this our simple stepping stone into the various apple-ly pies and treats we make in the coming months. Prepare to have a super awesome smelling kitchen!

I made these last Sunday as part two of the Joy the Baker and King Arthur Flour Baking Boot Camp series. The concept of the series is simple: four recipe challenges using four different King Arthur Flours + photos + Instagram #bakingbootcamp = a chance to win awesome baking prizes. If you’re interested in participating you can find out more details on Joy’s blog. Also, if you have an Instagram account, I would love to see your results. I’m @butterlc. Let’s be web buds!

This challenge featured self-rising flour, which I learned is made using soft wheat flour rather than the hard wheat flour that goes into all-purpose flour. This causes it to have a lower protein content (8.5%) than all-purpose flour (11.7%) which aids in making the flour light, and resulting tender and fluffy biscuits. Apparently, this type of flour also already contains non-aluminum baking powder and a dash of salt. Whoop, whoop! Cheers to learning! Love this stuff.

I don’t know about you but I had five types of flour on hand, but self-rising was not one of them. Luckily, you can make your own using this easy formula: 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon salt. Whisk this mixture together until thoroughly combined. You will need a double batch of this for the recipe below.

Aside from having these on a casual Sunday, I can picture serving them with brunch on a crisp fall day, or even into the Thanksgiving holiday season.

*Truthfully, if you find yourself craving apple pie for breakfast, please also feel free to eat the stinkin’ pie. I know I have. That’s the beauty of being an “adult.”

apple-pie-biscuits-joy-the-baker-bootcamp-5

buttermilk lava!

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your dough will start coming together.

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roll out the dough

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add your sweet apple filling

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cut and place on a cookie sheet pan

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sprinkle tops with cinnamon sugar, because that can only make things better

biscuits.

I love how the apple peeks out!

apple pie buttermilk biscuits
Joy the Baker

prep time: 15 minutes
cook time: 12–14 minutes
total time: 30–40 minutes
makes 12 biscuits

Ingredients:

For the Apples:
1 Fuji or other baking apple of choice, peeled, cored and sliced very thin
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar (I was generous with this)
For the Biscuits:
2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Self-Rising Flour, or your own self-rising flour mixture (directions above)
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2/3 to 3/4 cup cold buttermilk
For the Topping:
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt

Instructions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
Prepare the apples: Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the apples, cinnamon and brown sugar. Toss the apples until the sugar is melted and the mixture on the apples is warm and glossy. The apples will be coated but won’t be cooked through. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Prepare the biscuit dough: Place flour in a medium bowl. I used a baking dish with a nice flat bottom and wide top so I could get my hands in easily. Add the cold butter cubes and use your fingers to quickly break the butter down into the flour until some of the butter bits are oat-sized and others pea-sized. Stir in the granulated sugar.
Create a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in 2/3 cup buttermilk. Stir the mixture together until it is well moistened and holds together if you gently gather it together into a ball. Add the remaining buttermilk as needed. If you’re using your own homemade self-rising flour, you’ll want to add the full 3/4 cup of buttermilk.
Lightly dust a work surface with all-purpose flour. Gently gather the dough into a ball and transfer it to the floured surface. Pat it into a small rectangle.
Assemble: Use a rolling pin to gently roll the dough into a rectangle 1/2-inch thick, about 7-inches x 10-inches. Arrange the cooled apples in a single layer over one half of the rolled-out biscuit dough. Fold the empty side of the dough over the apples and gently seal in the apples by pressing the edges of the dough together. You can use your hands to pat the dough into a 6-inch x 8-inch rectangle and smooth the edges.
Use a sharp knife to slice the dough into 12 squares. Use a spatula to place each biscuit onto the prepared baking sheet, about 2-inches apart.
In a small bowl, whisk together sugar for topping, cinnamon and salt.
Brush each biscuit top with beaten egg and sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the biscuits are risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve warm, or cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Biscuits are best enjoyed within two days of baking.

blueberry buttermilk scones with cinnamon sugar butter

July 10, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

When spending your vacation at a house on the water, you’d better not forget to pack your bathing suit, sunscreen, aloe vera for when you inevitably get burned regardless of the sunscreen, boogie board, frisbee, Stephen King or Emily Griffin novel (pick your poison), kitchen tongs and measuring cups/spoons. You’re probably thinking those last two don’t scream ‘sand between the toes,’ but if you have access to a kitchen, these tools will make life much easier and breakfast much more delicious.

I learned from my mom that you should always travel with tongs.* The reason being, she told me, you never know what the kitchen supply situation will be. With this in mind, I decided that because of my baking obsession I should also always travel with measuring tools. You see, some vacation rentals are equipped for a chef, while others are equipped for a stack of take-out pizzas (no knock there, love me some take-out pizza). Luckily, even if you’re staying in the latter, you can make delicious homemade treats because, with just your hands, you can be quite the little bakeshop.

You’ll already be all sandy after the beach; why not also get a little flour on your hands while making some blueberry buttermilk scones with cinnamon sugar butter? The butter—oh the butter—may be my new little obsession. It is SO easy to make, and with just just three ingredients, you can have this addictive sweet spiced spread at your disposal in no time. I’m going to start making it by the pound.

Your cohorts will thank you when they’re slicing through the sweet, juicy blueberries in the light, buttery scone and smearing it with the cinnamon sugar butter. They may actually volunteer to make you a piña colada for your hard work. (Our little secret will be how easy the ‘work’ was, but go on, accept that island drink reward ;-))

* For clarification: this applies when you have a kitchen to work with. I did not, for example, bring tongs to Las Vegas for a girl’s weekend. That would be strange. Probably not all that surprising, but definitely strange.

blueberry buttermilk scones with cinnamon sugar butter
Adapted from M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger, 2007

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 16–18 minutes
Total Time: 30–35 minutes
Makes 8 large or 16 medium-sized scones

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 egg lightly whipped with 1 tablespoon water (for brushing)
A dash more granulated sugar for sprinkling
Cinnamon sugar butter (recipe follows)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and ground cinnamon in a large bowl. Add butter and mix with your fingertips or with a pastry blender until it reaches a coarse meal and the butter is in pea-sized pieces or just smaller. Add buttermilk and mix until almost combined. Mix in blueberries until everything is just combined.
Transfer dough to a floured board (divide into two parts if you’d like smaller scones). Roll into 1-inch thick rounds for larger scones or into 3/4-inch thick rounds if you divided the dough and are making smaller scones. Cut each round into 8 wedges and place slightly separated onto the prepared baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg mixture, sprinkle each lightly with sugar and bake for 16–18 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve warm, split in half with a smear cinnamon sugar butter.

cinnamon sugar butter

makes 1/4 cup

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened at room temperature (I use salted, but if you use unsalted, add a dash of salt)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions:

In a small bowl, stir together butter, light brown sugar and ground cinnamon until completely combined and fluffy. Chill and serve.

lemon loaf with lavender glaze

April 30, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

Since, after three days, we’ve officially finished the final crumb of this bread, I thought it was time you all should know about it. Three days is actually a pretty impressive length of time, which I’ll attribute to my trying to be “good” about my sweet intake this week. I consider this a success even if only for the fact that each time I ate it I actually cut a slice and put it on a plate, rather than jabbing a fork into the loaf for a bite each time I passed its platter. (Does anyone else leave a fork on the serving plate ready for this move at any time?) If When I make this again, I’d estimate a one- to two-day counter life based on deliciousness alone.

This loaf was the result of yet another ‘Buttermilk Conundrum,’ as I like to call it. I often purchase buttermilk for a recipe that only requires a half-cup of it. Before I know it, the carton has taken up residence in my fridge until I finally realize expiration is approaching and google, “what to do with leftover buttermilk.” It’s a classic tale—a Buttermilk Conundrum.

Well my Google search was a little more targeted this time knowing I also had lemons in the fridge, it was early on a rainy Saturday morning and I much preferred to stay in pajamas than put on real-people-clothes to go to the store for anything. I found a well-reviewed Ina Garten lemon cake recipe as a starting point. Her recipe made two loaves, which we didn’t need in the apartment (see, I was being good!), so I started to tweak a little bit as I scaled the recipe down. It turned out to be quite good with a perfect bread loaf texture—moist with a tight but not-too-dense crumb. There was a noticeable citrus flavor—without it being too bitter or too tart—from the additions of lemon zest in the cake and lemon juice in a syrup spooned over the warm loaf after it comes out of the oven. I decided to call it a bread versus a cake solely to make Greg and me feel better about having it for breakfast.

Once the loaf cooled completely, I topped it with a lavender glaze to play around with some dried cooking lavender in my cabinet. It added a subtle floral note, which was a nice compliment to the citrus. If you don’t have lavender, a simple lemon glaze or powdered sugar and milk glaze would have also been super as the bread itself is the star here.

Lemon Loaf with Lavender Glaze
Adapted from Ina Garten

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: About 1 hour 30 minutes (including cool time)
Makes one 8-inch loaf

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

1 stick (¼ pound/8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1¼ cups granulated sugar, divided
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup grated lemon zest (from about 3 lemons)
1½ cups flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon table salt
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided (from about 2 lemons)
½ cup well-shaken buttermilk
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Glaze:

½ cup milk
1 tablespoon dried lavender (from a food store, not a flower store)
1 cup confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8 x 4 x 3 inch loaf pan (or comparable size), or coat with a non-stick baking spray.
Cream the butter and 1 cup granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then the lemon zest.
In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, combine 2 tablespoons lemon juice, the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter—beginning and ending with the flour. Spoon into loaf pan, smooth the top and bake for 45–55 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan while you prepare the lemon syrup.
To prepare the lemon syrup, combine ¼ cup granulated sugar with ¼ cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat.
Remove the cake from the pan and set it on a rack set over a tray or sheet pan. Spoon the lemon syrup over it. Allow the cake to cool completely.
To prepare the glaze, heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat until it starts to boil. Remove the pan from heat and add the dried lavender. Let the mixture steep for 5–8 minutes then strain the milk into a small bowl or cup to remove the dried lavender. Whisk the confectioner’s sugar into the milk, a tablespoon at a time, until you get a smooth glaze. Pour or spoon over the cooled loaf.

raspberry lime buttermilk cake with coconut cream cheese frosting

April 2, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

Light, moist buttermilk layers dotted with fresh raspberry bursts and swirled with lime zest; all topped with tropical coconut cream cheese frosting.

I’m pretty sure the red-eye home from sunny California last night made me crazy this morning. I mean, after indulging on SoCal treats like tacos, churros, baseball game fare, and a delicious key lime pie made by Greg’s cousin (to the entire family, we are so grateful!), I should’ve immediately banished all junk, hit the grocery store, and stocked up on every single green, crunchy vegetable available in preparation for a string of signature “post-vacation detox” salads.

Instead—in my red-eye haze—I made this Raspberry Lime Buttermilk Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting. I had most of the ingredients staring at me in the fridge; sad we had left them for the palm trees and Hollywood glam of the west coast. What was I supposed to do?

The layers of this cake are incredibly moist because of the buttermilk, and in every other bite you get juicy, tart bursts of raspberry with a citrusy lime undertone. The raspberries could easily be swapped out with any other berry you have on hand. In the past I’ve made it with diced strawberries and Greg and I enjoyed it unfrosted as a breakfast cake. In this case, I decided to layer it with coconut cream cheese frosting for a rich, sweet taste of the tropics—and one last bite of vacation.

Raspberry Lime Buttermilk Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
Cake adapted from Smitten Kitchen, which was adapted from Gourmet, June 2009
Frosting, my own

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50–60 minutes
Makes two 8-inch cakes and enough frosting for a “tom-boy” style* cake filling/topping

For the Raspberry Lime Buttermilk Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons finely grated lime zest (from about two limes)
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk, well shaken
1 cup fresh raspberries
¼ cup toasted sweetened shredded coconut, for garnishing (optional)

For the Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese (1 standard package)
½ stick (4 tablespoons), unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup sweetened shredded coconut
2–3 cups powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon coconut extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. (If using toasted coconut for garnishing the cake, you can now spread the ¼ cup sweetened shredded coconut onto a baking sheet or sheet pan and bake in the oven as it heats to 400 degrees until edges are lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let cook completely).
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a large bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce to low speed and add vanilla and lime zest. Then, beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl between additions.
At low speed, mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined. Scoop batter into prepared cake pans, smoothing top (batter will be thick). Drop raspberries evenly over top (it won’t matter if they land face up or face down).
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 completely.
While the cake is cooling, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl, or the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the shredded coconut, vanilla, and coconut extracts and mix until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add the 2 to 3 cups of powdered sugar until combined into a light, creamy frosting that is thick enough to spread and hold its form.
To assemble: Place 1 cake layer, flat side up, on platter. Spread just under ½ the frosting over top of cake. Top with second cake layer, flat side up. Spread remaining frosting over the top (you may have enough frosting to cover the sides, if desired). Top with extra fresh raspberries and toasted coconut, if desired. Enjoy! (If not serving immediately, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator and bring to room temperature 45 minutes before serving).

*Tom-boy style is with the frosting just between the layers and on top, leaving the sides bare.