Categories: Cake
Ingredients
- The Cake Batter:
- 1 cup softened butter (2 sticks, 8 ounces, 1/2 pound)
- 2 cups white (granulated) sugar
- 4 whole eggs ***
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
- 1 cup buttermilk (If you don’t’ have buttermilk on hand, you can use cream. The cake will taste a bit different, but it’ll still be wonderful.)
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- 1 cup white (granulated) sugar
- 1/4 cup water (I’ll just bet you could use Kentucky Bourbon instead of the water here, but I haven’t tried it yet.)
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick, 4 ounces, 1/4 pound)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
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- Brown Butter Icing:
- 1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick, 2 ounces, 1/8 pound)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar — pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (you could also use Kentucky Bourbon)
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream (that’s whipping cream, but you could also use half and half which is light cream)
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional — to sprinkle over the top of the cake after you frost it.)
Directions
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Get out a 9-by-13-inch cake pan (metal or glass, either will do) and either spray it with Pam or another non-stick baking spray or butter it generously on the inside. (If you use butter, this could bring the total butter count up to a pound!)
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By hand in a large bowl or with an electric mixer (it’s easier with a mixer, of course) beat the butter for a minute or two.
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Sprinkle in the white sugar, beating as you sprinkle. Mix the butter and the sugar together until they turn into a light fluffy mixture.
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Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the salt, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla extract. Mix them in thoroughly.
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Add 1 cup of the flour and beat it in. Mix in half (½ cup) of the buttermilk. Mix it in thoroughly. Add the second cup of flour and mix well. Mix in the rest of the buttermilk (½ cup). Add the remaining cup of flour and beat until the batter is smooth and without lumps.
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Pour the cake batter into the 9-by-13-inch cake pan you prepared. Smooth out the top with a rubber spatula so it’s evenly distributed in the pan.
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Bake the cake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 50 minutes. Then take it out of the oven and set it on a cold burner on the stovetop or a wire rack to wait for its Butter Sauce.
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Put the cup of sugar, the ¼ cup of water and the ½ cup of butter in a medium-size saucepan.
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Hannah’s second note: Don’t use a saucepan that’s black or brown on the inside. You’ll be using it again later when you make the frosting and you need to be able to see when the butter you’ll heat in it turns brown.
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Heat the three ingredients on medium heat until the butter is melted, but DO NOT let the mixture come to a boil.
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Hannah’s third note: You can also do this in a microwave-safe bowl on high for 90 seconds. (I used a 4-cup pyrex measuring cup). If the butter is not melted at the end of that time, microwave it on high in 20-second increments until it is.
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Pull the saucepan over to a cold burner, shut off the hot one, and add the tablespoon of vanilla extract. (Be careful — it could sputter a bit).
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Use a fork, food pick, or a thin wooden skewer to poke holes all over the top of your cake. Don’t be too gentle. You want the holes to go all the way down to the bottom of the cake pan. (I used a thin wooden skewer and poked about 45 holes in mine.)
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Pour the warm butter sauce over the top of the cake as evenly as you can. If you used a saucepan, don’t bother to wash it. You’ll be using it again when you make the frosting.
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Hannah’s fourth note: So far there’s ¾ of a pound of butter in this cake. Add it up if you don’t believe me. If you frost it with Great-Grandma Elsa’s Brown Butter Icing, it’ll be only a quarter cup shy of a whole pound!
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Let the cake sit out on the wire rack or cold burner for at least 10 minutes so that the Butter Sauce has time to soak into the holes you poked.
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Refrigerate your Butterama Cake for at least two hours. At the end of that time, just leave the cake in the refrigerator and start the Brown Butter Icing.
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Put the ¼ cup butter into a medium-size saucepan. (You already have one sitting on a cold burner if you made the Butter Sauce on the stovetop. If you used the microwave instead, make sure that the saucepan you choose is not colored black or brown inside. (I made that mistake and I couldn’t see when the butter had browned.)
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Place the saucepan on the stovetop and heat it at medium-high heat. The butter will melt and then it will brown. Continue to heat it until it has browned.
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When the butter is a nice caramel color, (this took about 5 minutes for me), remove it from the heat and shut off the burner.
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Stir in the 2 cups of powered sugar. Stir in the vanilla extract.
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Put the 2 tablespoons of heavy cream in a small cup and drizzle them in, stirring as you go until the frosting is smooth and spreadable.
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This is another one of those wonderful no-fail frostings. If it turns out to be too runny, add a bit more powdered sugar. If it turns out to be too thick and stiff, add a bit more cream. Continue to adjust these two ingredients until the frosting is the right consistency.
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Take the Butterama Cake out of the refrigerator and frost it with Brown Butter Icing. If you like, you can sprinkle some chopped pecans and or walnuts over the top to decorate your cake.
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Return the cake to the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it. Like revenge, this dish is best served cold.