Redfield Recipes: Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Simple, fast and perfect for science experiments

1²/₃	cups	flour
1	cup	sugar
¹/₂	cup	cocoa
1	tsp	baking soda
¹/₂	tsp	salt
1	cup	buttermilk or sour milk
¹/₂	cup	melted shortening or oil
1¹/₂	tsp	vanilla

Sift dry ingredients together (or stir with a wooden spoon until well combined). Beat in milk, oil, and vanilla. Stir just until smooth and spread in a greased and floured 9x9 square pan. Also good as cupcakes (one recipe makes 12 cupcakes; a double batch makes enough batter for 2 round layers or 1 large rectangular cake with some left over).

Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes.

Raspberries and Cream

If you make a double batch, you can cook it in two round pans. Depending on the results of your science experiment, it is likely to sink in the middle. If it does, put the bottom layer, top up, on the serving plate and put a thin layer of Whipped Cream on top. Put a large handful of fresh raspberries in the cavity in the center of the cake. Place the second layer on top, top down, so the raspberries fill the hole made by the two sunken tops. Frost with the rest of the Whipped Cream.

Walnut-Brown Sugar

Make a double batch and bake in two round cake pans. Fill with Wing-and-a-Prayer Brown Sugar Icing. Sprinkle filling with chocolate-covered cacao nibs and chopped toasted walnuts before adding the second layer. Frost with more Brown Sugar Icing. Decorate the top with more cacao nibs and press walnuts into the sides of the cake.

Science!!

This is an excellent cake to explore the role of acidity and leavening in baking. If you use Hershey's cocoa, the standard method for generating sour milk from fresh milk (1Tb vinegar + enough fresh milk to make 1 cup replaces 1 cup sour milk), and the specified quantity of baking soda, the cake will have a dark brown, moist, very chocolatey texture and will sink in the middle as it cools. If you reduce the amount of baking soda, you can vary the finished cake through dark brown and mostly flat to slightly domed, lighter brown, and with a much less chocolatey flavor. Changing the cocoa or the amount of vinegar will also change the character of the cake. They're all yummy, so have fun experimenting!