Aunt Ava's Buttermilk Spice Cake
"Aunt Ava is a next door neighbor who became family to me when I moved into her neighborhood. I had no family nearby to give me a hand when I went through 11 years of illness and then the birth of twins, my third and fourth daughters. She adopted me and treated me like I was family and shared all her special recipes with me. She passed on about 10 years ago but I miss her so much. She'll always hold a special place in my heart and her recipes will continue to nourish my body and soul for years to come.
Bon appetit--"
photo by vrvrvr
- Ready In:
- 55mins
- Ingredients:
- 13
- Serves:
-
15
ingredients
- 591.47 ml all-purpose flour
- 236.59 ml sugar
- 177.44 ml packed brown sugar
- 4.92 ml baking powder
- 4.92 ml baking soda
- 4.92 ml salt
- 3.69 ml cinnamon
- 3.69 ml allspice
- 1.23 ml ground cloves
- 2.46 ml nutmeg
- 315.37 ml buttermilk
- 118.29 ml Crisco
- 3 large eggs
directions
- Preheat your oven to 350degrees*.
- Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan or 2 8in. round cake pans.
- Measure all ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
- Blend for 30 seconds on low speed. Scrape sides of bowl down. Blend on high speed for 60 seconds, scraping bowl occassionally.
- Pour into prepared pans. Smack pans gently on counter to get rid of any air bubbles.
- Bake 9 x 13 for 45 minutes; 8 inch rounds for 30-40 minutes or until wooden toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Frost cake with your favorite frosting**.
- Notes: *Many home ovens have widely varying oven temperatures. Buying an oven thermometer at your local discount store will cost you about $3 and guarantee you will have great success in your cake & other baking endeavors. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place the thermometer in the back of oven. After 5 minutes,check the thermometer and move it to the left side then the right side and then the front of your oven. Adjust your oven settings accordingly to how far off 350 degrees the temps are in your oven. Many of you will be surprised at just how far off a brand new oven can be. $3 is a small price to pay for successful baking. **When baking this cake in 8 inch rounds, I spread a thin layer of my cream cheese frosting on top of the first layer and then slice a couple of bananas on top of the frosting and then place the second layer on top and finish frosting the cake with the rest of the cream cheese frosting. When I bake it in x 13 pan, I like to toast coconut on a cookie sheet and after frosting the cooled cake with either my cream cheese frosting or my butter pecan frosting, I sprinkle the toasted coconut on top of the frosted cake. Either variation pleases my family and friends. Using your imagination you can customize this into your own family favorite.
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Reviews
-
This is a great cake! Such a breeze to put together - throw in a bowl and mix! The texture is pleasingly moist and the taste is very nice. It's spicy but subtle. I used 1 stick of butter in place of the Crisco, and I reduced the nutmeg to 1/4 t. It baked up well in a Bundt pan, and I covered it with a simple butterscotch glaze. Everyone loves it! Thanks plantfreek!
Tweaks
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I lowered both the white and the brown sugar by 1/4 cup each. Used whole wheat flour and soaked the flour in kefir for 12 hours before mixing in all of the other ingredients. Should have lowered the cooking time by about 10 minutes (for a 9X13) pan. Very nice blend of spices. -
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This is a great cake! Such a breeze to put together - throw in a bowl and mix! The texture is pleasingly moist and the taste is very nice. It's spicy but subtle. I used 1 stick of butter in place of the Crisco, and I reduced the nutmeg to 1/4 t. It baked up well in a Bundt pan, and I covered it with a simple butterscotch glaze. Everyone loves it! Thanks plantfreek!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
plantfreek
United States
Hello fellow gourmands and fellow foodies:-)
I'm presently living in Bloomington, IN home of Indiana University of which I, my DH and one of my daughters are all alums. I also have twin girls who are second semester juniors at IU who will be graduating next year. I'm originally from Sioux City, Iowa but my family moved to northern Minnesota when I was about 7. I've always wanted to return to MN because I really detest the heat and humidity of this area but that's just not in the cards for me. At some point my husband and I hope to have a small cabin in the woods up there so we can go up in the summers and fish fish fish. In the winter we hope to retire to the west coast of southern Florida. My family has a home down there and I try to spend as much time there as I possibly can, usually with a fishing line in the water out on our dock:-) To say I like to fish is an understatement! LOL. I am addicted to it and I'd rather be fishing if I can't be in the kitchen cooking and baking!!! The fishing in Minnesota is excellent as well as in Florida whereas here in Indiana I am hard pressed to find a decent lake let alone catch any fish in one of them. I grew up in the restaurant business learning at a very early age that dirty dishes have to be washed by someone:-) All kidding aside, spending that time in the kitchen alongside my Grandmother Ang in her diner/cafe/tavern taught me what hard work is all about and it is there that I began to develop a good work ethic as well as a deep and abiding love for all things having to do with the preparation and presentation of food.
I've also had some professional training as well and spent many years cooking in some fairly good restaurant kitchens. My DH and I grow all of our own fruit, vegetables and herbs and I put up somewhere between 500-800 jars of jam, jellies, salsas, sauces, vinegars, chutneys, vegetables, juices, pie fillings, fruit etc to help us eat really well thru every winter. I also give a lot of what I preserve away to family and friends. I am blessed to have a very generous brother who bags us a nice sized deer every fall and has it processed and my Mom, bless her heart, pays for it to be shipped to us here from MN. Now that's a really nice gift isn't it? We make venison and sausage from the deer meat as well as all kinds of marinated meat dishes, grill it, and we especially love to make venison stroganoff, stews and chili. It's wonderful to not have to buy so much at the grocery store too!! And the quality of fresh preserved foods can't be beat!
