I was doing a little retail therapy on line and as I was ordering away, up popped a picture of a cake, on the clothing site(!)...it was a difficult decision...continue with my purchase or click on the cake...and, of course, the cake won!
This cake had me rethinking my Dang Meter...five dangs has always meant the recipe was excellent in every way and definitely worth whatever coma would ensue...but this cake, this rich, dense, buttery confection is in a class by itself...it falls into my secret category - one I've never mentioned before because I didn't think I could stand the backlash I'm certain to receive...but now that I'm brave (it's the new me) I'm going to tell you...I call it my Too Good to Share category.
There are only a few recipes in my Too Good To Share category and while this is one of them, I felt it was my culinary duty to pass this one along...because it's so perfect for summer, 4th of July parties, family reunions and a great way to end the summer on Labor Day. Just know this, after the family eats, after the company leaves (empty-handed even after they say, "That cake was the best thing I've ever tasted, wow, you sure have a lot left!" Their blatant attempts/hints to take some of the cake home with them hopefully will fall on deaf ears! You'll be sorry if they don't!), after the coma wears off...this cake will call, no scream, for just one more taste! It's too good to send home with company, it's too good to share with neighbors, it's too good to let the mister have the last piece! Coma be dammed!
"As God is my witness...If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill..." Scarlett was so dramatic, but I'm here to tell you, this cake would be worth any amount of lying, stealing or cheating...I may not go as far as to kill...depending on the person...because after the cake is baked and your kitchen is filled with the heady scents...you make the sauce...But-but-but-Buttermilk Butter Sauce...hallelelujah!...so thickity-sweet the Sweettooth Fairy herself would give it 5 dangs! Holes are poked in the cake, while it's still warm in the pan...I started with a skewer but soon realized the holes were not nearly big enough so I switched to a chop stick - which worked great. Then the buttaaaah sauce is poured over the cake so it can ooze ever so slowly into each hole, caressing every little buttery-crumb...oh man, is it hot in here or is it just me?!?
Listen, this is down-home, old-fashioned goodness with a touch of e-vil...do not underestimate this cake...it's looks are deceiving...but when the scale jumps THREE pounds overnight you'll know what I'm talking about! (Another reason why I love this cake, it reminds me of home. My grandma sitting on her pink stool in her pink kitchen, my mom driving her little red Renault, my sisters fighting/crying/fighting, my bike that I rode to Ramona's house; everything about being a kid is wrapped up in this cake for me...I don't know why it's called a Kentucky Butter Cake, it should be called a Memory Cake!
I'm so glad I clicked on that cake picture - it took me to a great site, Just A Pinch Recipe Club, zillions of tried, true and tasty recipes! Click here to see Laura Davis' recipe, her Kentucky Butter Cake was the recipe I adapted, and I only changed the butter sauce (I love the addition of buttermilk to the sauce), the cake itself is perfect. Read all of her comments, 167 at last count, and all say this cake is a 5-star cake - or put more succinctly, a 5-DANG cake! Because it's dang, dang, dang, dang, dang good!
Kentucky Butter Cake - Adapted from Laura Davis
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup real butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla
Buttermilk Butter Sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Fresh strawberries, sliced and slightly mashed, for serving, optional