Recipe #50 - Blackberry Buttermilk Cake

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THE HALFWAY POINT!!!

This is my 50th recipe! Therefore marking the halfway point in my challenge. I realized, oddly enough, that I haven't made a single desert. Seriously?! 50 recipe in and not a single sweet dish. Who am I?! Well what better time to break the streak than the 50th recipe. A healthy(ish) sweet cake made from scratch. Just reading the ingredients - yum!

Position a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter pan; line bottom with a round of parchment paper. Butter parchment. Dust with flour, tap out excess. Arrange berries in a single layer in bottom of pan; sprinkle evenly with a 1/4 cup sugar.

Sift 2 1/3 cups flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a medium bowl; set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat 3/4 cup butter and remaining 1 1/3 cups sugar in a large bowl at medium-high speed, occasionally scraping down sides of the bowl, until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Beat in vanilla and oragne zest. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beating just until incorporated.

Pour batter over berries in pan; smooth top.

Bake until cake is golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour 25 minutes. Let cool in pan set on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then run a thin, sharp knife around egde of pan to loosen. Remove pan sides. Invert cake onto rack and remove pan bottom; peel off parchment. Dust top generously with powdered sugar and let cool completely.

I'm not the biggest fan of overly sweet cakes and this was the perfect mixture between sweet and tart. I never thought of adding orange zest to a cake batter before. I've only ever made cakes from the premixed boxes from the grocery store. It was kinda neat pulling it all together from scratch as well as experimenting with new ingredients. I'm definitely glad I chose this one for my halfway point recipe :)

Rating: 9
Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings: 8-10
Ingredients:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan and parchment
2 1/3 cups cake flour (sifted, then measured) plus more for pan
2 1/2 cups (10 ounces) fresh blackberries, quartered
1/4 cup plus 1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
Powdered sugar (for dusting)

Special equipement: Use a 9"-10" diameter springform pan.