Buttermilk by Debbie Moose expounds the wonderful array of flavors that can be spiked with the bright tang of buttermilk. Here’s her recipe for pound cake, now boosted with buttermilk flavor. You can eat this on its own, put a lemon or vanilla icing on top, or do what we did: adorn with fresh fruit. The texture — soft yet deep and fulfilling — gives any meal an ending of substance.

This cake is easily made and is a wonderful way to induce your children or grandchildren to help in the kitchen. Getting them to add the flour and buttermilk by thirds will give them a kitchen mission that truly makes them feel important. A couple of hours later, when they bite away, you can applaud their culinary mathematics.

We made this cake for our grandchildren in Austin. They did not have a 10-inch tube pan so we divided the batter into two 9-inch cake rounds. The baking time went from an hour to around 40 minutes. The cakes were superb when topped with some fresh fruit, sliced and sweeted with just a little sugar. Ice cream or whipped cream could have been added. But, honestly, we did not want to detract from the great buttermilk flavor.

Jan’s Buttermilk Pound Cake

Yield: 20 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 extra-large eggs or 6 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

Prepare a 10-inch tube pan by coating the inner surface with non-stick cooking spray or vegetable oil and dusting with flour

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on high speed until creamy and pale, about 5 minutes. Break the eggs into a small bowl and whisk gently to beak the yolks. Add the eggs to the butter mixture in two additions, beating well after each and scraping the sides of the bowl between beatings.

In a medium blow, whisk tougher the baking soda, salt and flour. On medium speed, beat 1/3 of the flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture. Stop the mixer and add half of the buttermilk. Turn the mixer on low to prevent spatters and bear for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 1 minute. Add another 1/3 of the flour, the rest of the buttermilk, the vanilla, and the rest of the flour mixture, beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl periodically to incorporate all the ingredients. The batter will be thick.

Scrape the batter into the prepared tube pan and rap the bottom of the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake in the lower third of the oven for about 1 hour or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. The cake make crack on top, but this is ok.

Source: Buttermilk by Debbie Moose, a Savor the South cookbook from the University of North Carolina Press

Photo Information: iPad