Birthday Baking – Buttermilk Spice Cake
Looks like DC might be gearing up for a couple inches of snow tonight. On Friday, the temperatures were in the 70’s and I was contemplating breaking out my first skirt of the season…guess I’ll be waiting a little while longer after all! We have been very lucky in comparison to a lot of other cities on the East Coast this winter, that’s for sure.
One of the major perks of working in a bakery are that I get to bake almost every day of the week. One the major downfalls? I get to bake almost everyday. After coming home from a long day or during my time off, I don’t end up baking nearly as often during my free time as I would have before I got this job. Even if you love something, sometimes we all need a break every once in a while.
That being said, I love having an excuse to bake or make something a little bit special for an occasion. Birthdays absolutely fit into that category, so when Connor’s birthday popped up in the calendar, I was excited to start thinking of what I could make for him.
I considered a traditional layered birthday cake, but after much deliberation, decided on a non-traditional choice. A simple buttermilk spice cake—specifically, a recipe I had been eyeing in Bon Appetit (recipe here) for quite some time now. It was a zero frills cake, easy to throw together, and simply adorned with a few shakes of powdered sugar…and stewed bosc pears with a hint of lime juice for some extra zestiness!
One of the things that intrigued me most about the cake was the mixture of spices it called for—including groundblack pepper, as well as some harder to find spices such as ground star anise (which I unfortunately couldn’t find for the life of me in whole or ground form and had to substitute with ground cloves).
The recipe also gave an excuse to finally break out my one of my vanilla bean pods, which I had received as a stocking gift at Christmas. Just the smell of one of these guys will get you hooked.
To lighten it more, I omitted the crème fraiche in the original recipe. This cake would work perfectly for a tea or breakfast cake, as well!
The combination of all the flavors was definitely a winner, not too heavy, and perfect for celebrating with after a filling restaurant birthday out. Next time, I might up the spice quantities a bit to add an extra kick and make it a little bit more interesting. Another major plus? It didn’t require more than an hour or so to put together—baking time included— which gave me more time with the birthday boy himself.
What’s your favorite excuse to get in the kitchen and bake?
13 Comments on “Birthday Baking – Buttermilk Spice Cake”
I would definitely make this cake.
Very true 😉
Hehe 😉 There’s also the evergreen “I’m PMSing and I need cake now!!!”
Really?! I just found Star Anise at Whole Foods the other day, I was bummed. I’ve definitely heard that you can grind it at home. Oh well, next time! 🙂
Haha, love these!
My favorite excuse….hmmmm…
but there’s so many!
Some of my favorites:
If I don’t do something with it now, it’s going to go bad
You need a new recipe on your blog
It’s a nice day outside so you could actually get a decent picture
So and so promised they would try it and you could use some real feedback
I wonder what would happen if I swapped *ingredient* for *ingredient*
I have made this exact recipe before! Twice! Once for my grandfather and then for my friends while in grad school last year! Everyone loved it! I found whole star anise at the farmer’s market and ground some pieces with a cheese grater. Topped with whipping cream 🙂 It is so good, and you just made me want to make it again. The flavors are awesome!
It didn’t actually have pears inside, just poached pears on the side! But it was still good. Thanks Monique! 🙂 Come to think of it, I’ve never tried pear sorbet. Need to get on that!
Anything with pears baked in has to be my favorite. I even am addicted to pear sorbet 🙂 This sounds like a wonderful birthday cake, and the pictures look amazing!!!
I totally agree! 🙂
That’s so great that you’ve been able to successfully make the transition to gluten free baking. Definitely takes a lot more trial and error sessions! That’s something I definitely want to provide more of on the site. Thanks Valerie!
I don’t really need an excuse – I have rediscovered baking now that I know I am gluten-intolerant. Before eating my own baked goods made me at best lethargic, at worst it made me feel like I was putting on weight by the minute (no surprise, considering how badly my body was reacting to the gluten). Now it is a joy to be able to bake, especially savory baking – I love making crackers 🙂
Not that I need an excuse…but I love potlucks, work luncheons, holiday dinners, etc because I get to show off a little bit! I love cooking for just myself (occasionally friends and also for the blog), but it’s always fun to get to have a ton of people sample your goodies!