Picture Perfect Cooking

I seem to collect cookbooks.  I don’t intentionally do this, but whenever someone comes around selling them for a fundraiser, I can’t help but buy one.  I can sit down and read one like a regular book!  One of my favorite “hometown” cookbooks was published by the local Homemakers Group of the State Extension Office.  It is full of good, homey recipes, and the bonus is that I know most of the cooks in there!

I reached for this cookbook the other day when I needed a little dessert inspiration.  There were a couple of recipes that I had wanted to try, but I seemed to be one ingredient short.  Eureka!  Kentucky Butter Cake met all the requirements: never tried…check, all the ingredients on hand…check, and does it sound good?  Double check!

CAKE:

3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda

2 c. sugar
1 c. butter, room temperature
4 eggs

1 c. buttermilk
2 tsp. vanilla

BUTTER SAUCE:

3/4 c. sugar
3 tbsp. water
1/3 c. butter
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare a bundt pan.

Sift all of the dry ingredients together and set aside.  Beat butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add eggs one at a time.

Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately in batches and stir until combined.  Add vanilla.  Bake for 60-65 minutes or until tester inserted in the center comes our clean.  Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for a few minutes.

Right before the cake is done, prepare the sauce.  In a medium saucepan over low-medium heat, combine all sauce ingredients.  Stir occasionally and cook until the butter is melted and the sauce is warm.  Do not boil. 

After the cake is removed from the oven, poke holes in the cake using a long fork or thin knife.  Pour the sauce over the warm cake and allow to soak into the cake. 

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 20-30 minutes and then turn out on to a cake plate.  Slice and sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.  It is really not necessary, just pretty.  The cake can stand by itself just fine.  This is really good with a fruit salad on the side.

Come join the fun at the My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats Holiday Recipe Swap sponsored by Kerrygold