Buttermilk Cake with Fresh Strawberries

I have a confession to make, but promise to keep it a secret and I'll tell you what it is.

Promise?

Okay then, I know I can trust you.

I'm addicted to magazines. There, I've said it. If I had all the money I've spent on magazine over the years, I could retire and live in the little beach cottage of my dreams.

The problem is I had a hard time getting rid of them. They piled up worse than the dust bunnies. I just never knew when I'd want to go back and find a particular recipe or make that needlepoint Christmas stocking I fell in love with, so I kept them all.

About twenty years ago or so, I knew I had to do something. They were taking over the house and it would have taken me months to find the one that I was looking for that had that cute applique wall hanging in it, so I went out and bought about twenty three-ring binders and about a gazillion sheet protectors and starting organizing what I wanted to keep for future reference. They were all neatly organized and categorized. I pulled out my very favorites and recycled what remained of the magazines.

Now I'm in the process of going through them and purging things that I look at and ask myself why I ever kept that particular article for in the first place. My tastes and trends have changed and honestly, I don't think I'll ever get around to making that quilt with family photos that I've kept the directions to for at least ten years. There just isn't enough hours in the day.

Going through the recipes I have those that are my favorites, the ones I've made many times over. I'm in the process now of digitizing them and my children will be so glad not to have to deal with all these notebooks when I'm gone. I'm tossing the ones I never got around to trying, after all, if I feel a need to try something new, all I have to do is wander around all your blogs on Foodie Friday. Then again, I can just look in the Foodie Friday file on my computer of all those things you've shared that were just irresistible.

While I was perusing all these old notebooks I ran across one of those tried and true recipes that has become a favorite. I don't know what magazine this came out of, but it is dated May 1996. I scanned in the photo from the article, because it is what caught my eye in the first place. So, I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I have over the years.

Buttermilk Cake with Fresh Strawberries

Ingredients:

Buttermilk Cake
2 tablespoons fine dry breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups unsifted cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Orange-mascarpone Filling
2 cups nonfat vanilla yogurt, drained overnight
in a cheesecloth-lined sieve in the refrigerator
1/4 cup mascarpone (Italian cream cheese)
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Orange Syrup & Strawberry Layers
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur
4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup red currant jelly, melted

To make the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil a 9-inch round cake pan or coat it with nonstick cooking spray. Add breadcrumbs, tilting the pan to evenly coat the inside. Tap out excess.
2. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Cook, swirling the pan, until the butter turns a nutty brown, about 30 seconds. Pour the butter into a small bowl. Whisk in oil, then buttermilk; set aside. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a small bowl; set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Beat with an electric mixer on high speed until the mixture is thick and pale and falls in a ribbon when the beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
4. Sift half of the reserved dry ingredients over the egg mixture; fold in with a rubber spatula until blended. Fold in half of the reserved buttermilk mixture. Repeat with remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk mixture.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then turn out of the pan and place right-side up on the rack to cool completely.

To make filling and syrup and assemble cake:

1. In a bowl, whisk drained yogurt, mascarpone, confectioners' sugar and orange zest until smooth.
2. In a small saucepan over low heat, dissolve sugar in 1/2 cup water. Simmer gently for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in orange juice and liqueur.
3. With a long serrated knife, cut the cake horizontally into 2 layers using a gentle sawing motion. With a pastry brush, brush all of the syrup on the cut sides of the cake. Place the bottom layer on a cake plate, cut-side up. Spread half of the orange-mascarpone filling over the bottom layer. Arrange about one-third of the sliced strawberries in an even layer on top. Spread with the remaining filling. Place the second cake layer on top, cut-side down.
4. Brush the top of the cake lightly with about 2 tablespoons of the melted jelly. Arrange the remaining sliced strawberries in straight rows on top. Overlap the slices and reverse the direction of the slices in each row. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour.
5. Just before serving, remelt the remaining currant jelly and brush it over the strawberries on top of the cake.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and if anyone wants any old magazines, you know who to call. Now get on over to Michaels at Designs By Gollum for some more fantastic Foodie Friday links.