I love baking cakes for friends’ birthdays. I mean, what’s not to like; it’s a celebration of being given one more year, there’s presents, smiles all around, and cake, of course! Today I present you with a cake I made for no celebration at all—simply the celebration of a random Thursday. I encourage you to do this, too. I made the cake, took it over my friend’s house and we ate it. All. Go Thursday!
To start baking baking this Cornmeal Buttermilk Cake (from Tasty Kitchen member Kelly), you’re going to start by sifting all of the dry ingredients together.
Set the dry ingredients aside, and turn your attention to the wet ingredients. Mix together the melted butter, buttermilk, vanilla and eggs, until everything is nice and smooth.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. You’re going to mix this until it’s just combined; big lumps are perfectly fine.
Next, pour the batter into the two prepared cake pans. The recipe calls for two eight-inch pans, I used two nine-inch pans because that’s all I had. If you use the eight-inch, just know that your cake will be a tad bit taller. Definitely a good thing!
Transfer the cake pans to your preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer placed in the center comes out clean. While your cake is baking and cooling, make the frosting!
Melt some chocolate. Oooh!
Be sure to allow the chocolate to come to room temperature before throwing it in a bowl with the room temperature butter.
Grab your hand-mixer and beat the two together until they’re nice and creamy, and totally combined.
Next up, add the cocoa powder and powdered sugar, and mix once more. Then pour in the buttermilk, slowly, and mix a little bit more.
When your cake is cool, transfer the first layer to a cake stand or plate. I like to line mine with pieces of parchment so frosting doesn’t get all over the place.
Add a few heaping tablespoons to the center of the first cake’s layer, pushing the frosting to the outsides of the cake, and smoothing it out.
Place the second layer atop the first.
Add more frosting to the top, smoothing it out, and using the excess frosting from the top to cover the sides.
I had these ridiculously girly confetti heart sprinkles in my pantry, so I decided to use them. I bet a variety of sprinkles would work out just great. Or, you could simply stop here and serve it up!
I placed the sprinkles on the outside of the top, going in a circular direction. Nothing fancy here!
Slice it up! And serve with a big glass of milk. That’s a must!
This cake has great texture from the cornmeal and the buttermilk adds a lot of moisture. It’s definitely earned its way into my regular cake rotation, for sure! A big thanks to Kelly for this lovely cake recipe–it’s a keeper! Go visit her blog Evil Shenanigans for more of her, well, evil (yet incredibly delicious) shenanigans.
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Adrianna is the lovely lady behind the scrumptious blog A Cozy Kitchen. It’s filled with all kinds of mouthwatering recipes and gorgeous photography. Whether you’re in the mood for something vegetarian or meaty, fancy or pure comfort, light or decadent, there’s sure to be something there for everyone.
29 Comments
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DIVAlicous on 6.28.2012
Tonight for dinner I cooked up a chicken taco mix with black beans, corn and green onion to put on top of a salad!
Renita Hix on 6.28.2012
I cooked fresh greenbeans (my father-in law grew) fresh squash from my garden, fresh corn (dad again) and meat loaf, using fresh peppers I grew.
Paul Laws on 6.28.2012
I cooked Mac and cheese last week while my wife was out shopping.
Rita Laws on 6.28.2012
I cooked Cajun chicken pasta for dinner yesterday.
sandy jack on 6.28.2012
Grilled honey-mustard pork chops with mushroom-pea rice pilaf. Pretty tasty
Tonnie Jones on 6.27.2012
The last thing I made was eggplant parmesan.
Samantha on 6.27.2012
Fideo two days ago for lunch.
me on 6.27.2012
Steak for dinner last night.
Nancy L Grew on 6.27.2012
For dinner today I made potato packets on the grill
a nice top sirloin and a spinach salad.
Linda on 6.27.2012
Last night we had:
scrambled eggs mixed with ground lamb
cherub tomatoes with olive oil, salt & pepper
sliced cucumbers
kalamata olives
and of course warm pita bread.
Mmmm…. perfect summer supper.
Amy Starke on 6.27.2012
for Dinner last night we had Grilled Brats with homade relish and a pasta salad.
finished off with fresh strawberries over vanilla ice cream.
Mary Martin on 6.27.2012
I made homemade potato salad from fresh produce from the garden for lunch today!
Betty Fenton on 6.27.2012
I fixed a spinach, strawberry and bacon salad. Super delish!
Cindy Bastion on 6.27.2012
Made a new recipe — Chicen Pasta bake with Spinach and Mushrooms.
Audrey Kennard on 6.27.2012
Made crockpot beef stroganoff with noodles, green beans, and strawberry shortcake last night and banana bars this morning!
Jean York on 6.27.2012
cooked eggs for my Dad this morning.
Meghan @ After the Ivy League on 6.14.2012
Thursdays are the perfect occasion to bake a layered cake! I love that this is a twist on the classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting, looks fantastic!
Grace C. Vaught on 6.14.2012
Yum! This has gotta be good! Thanks!
Living The Sweet Life on 6.13.2012
This is such a simple cake, but it looks sooo special. I love it!! Great idea I bet the chocolate and cornmeal were a great combo.
Ana on 6.13.2012
AngAk, thank you very much. I appreciate your help. Have a lovely day, Ana x
AngAk on 6.12.2012
for Ana: you would use Polenta, but run it through a blender or food processor to make it a bit finer. Polenta is usually a bit more coarse than cornmeal. cornstarch would not work.
Laurie {Simply Scratch} on 6.12.2012
I remember when she posted this recipe! I’ve wanted to make it ever since! Thank you for the reminder!
Ana on 6.12.2012
When you say cornmeal, do you mean cornstarch or polenta? Sorry to be asking daft questions, I’m European and we call them both with the same term.
Allyn on 6.11.2012
Thanks so much holliberri! I’d wondered before if that would work. Can’t wait to try it!
holliberri on 6.11.2012
Allyn ~
Our daughter is also allergic to dairy, we make ‘buttermilk’ by starting with 2-3 tbsp cider vinegar or lemon juice…I prefer lemon juice… and then adding either plain rice or soy milk until you have one cup.
Kelly on 6.11.2012
Thank you so much for posting my cake recipe! I am so glad you liked it, and I must say your cake came out beautifully! I love the sprinkles, I feel they are almost always appropriate!
Wendy on 6.11.2012
Looks like a lovely recipe. The addition of cornmeal I think is a great addition. I’ll certtainly be trying this one soon!!!!
Allyn on 6.11.2012
I love the hearts! Such a sweet, old fashioned cake.
Sadly my husband is allergic to dairy, and while some recipes I can tweak using coconut milk (like my vodka sauce: http://lollingabout.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/foodie-friday-vodka-sauce/ ) I just don’t know what to do about buttermilk.
Sigh.
Heather (Heather's Dish) on 6.11.2012
the melted chocolate totally stole my heart – looks heavenly!