Nailed it?

December 4, 2018 5:15 PM

I have unexpectedly on hand plenty of buttermilk. I have less than a scant 1/4 cup of cocoa powder. Otherwise a pretty normal pantry of baking staples and a modicum of baking ability. Please suggest what I should bake right now.

I want to must eat cake in the next two to three hours. Thank you for your suggestions!

posted by sestaaak to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

here's a very simple cake from my grandmother's repertoire:

2 eggs
100g butter
1 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups self rising flour (make your own if necessary, very easy, just do 2 1/4 cups regular flour minus 2 tsp, and then add in 2 tsp baking powder)
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
peel and juice of one small lemon
~50g (a few tbsp) of chopped chocolate

mix this up any old way, really. I usually cream the butter and sugar first, add eggs and mix well, then alternate in the dry ingredients and the rest of the liquids, then chocolate at the end. bake in a loaf pan at 350.
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:22 PM on December 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

Want more lemon? Try something like this.
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:23 PM on December 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I have neither lemons nor fresh nor frozen berries nor ripe bananas. :( I do have lotsa clementines.
posted by sestaaak at 5:27 PM on December 4, 2018

Brown sugar buttermilk cake, but maybe with a streusel-type top? Accompanied by a couple of cups of cocoa.
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:32 PM on December 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

that first cake will be fine substituting clementine zest/juice. the lemon is just a background note and clementine will be delicious. however if the clementines are waxed then you might want to omit the zest. add another extract if you have it (lemon ideally, or almond would be tasty) or even just add a bit more vanilla and it will be very nice.
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:37 PM on December 4, 2018

CLEMENTINE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

just peel the clementines and separate them into wedges (removing pith, and seeds if applicable) and sub them in for the apple slices in this recipe. Or you could prepare this fancier version. Either will be good.
posted by halation at 5:43 PM on December 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

oh if you do mine, add half a tsp of salt!
posted by fingersandtoes at 5:48 PM on December 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

Sounds like you're looking for cake recipes but I would be remiss if I didn't share this buttermilk cookie bar recipe.

The first time I made these it was because I had more buttermilk than I could otherwise use. Then the second and third and fourth times I made these I went out of my way to buy more buttermilk because I needed the cookie bars in my life.

They're very good.
posted by phunniemee at 6:19 PM on December 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake is one of my absolute most favorite things to make. If you have vanilla bean paste, all the better, but I think extract may work fine. If you don’t have lemon extract, all will be fine. Maybe a drop of almond extract for interest? It’s a very forgiving and insanely yummy cake.
posted by kellygrape at 6:49 PM on December 4, 2018

Response by poster: Thank you for the suggestions - Made fingersandtoes’ recipe. Perfect moist crumb. I’m gonna make the others next!
posted by sestaaak at 8:02 PM on December 4, 2018 [6 favorites]

Marinate a chicken in the fridge for 24 hours, then roast that bird! The buttermilk tenderizes and keeps the meat moist.
posted by honey badger at 11:04 AM on December 5, 2018

Response by poster: Honey badger, that’s exactly why I have leftover buttermilk in the first place!
posted by sestaaak at 11:36 AM on December 5, 2018

Cole slaw.
posted by DMelanogaster at 9:20 PM on December 5, 2018