King Arthur's Farmhouse Buttermilk Cake

Since stuck inside, not being able to work at my antique shop (my other job), I am just doing my thing....baking and cooking.....baking....cooking....baking and baking.

I have actually LOST weight since this quarantine, because I have a nervous stomach.
I have been also driving to friends' houses and leaving cake or muffins on their porches and waving from my car.

I decided this week's cake would be King Arthur's Farmhouse Buttermilk Cake.

Since it is a large cake, using 3 cups of flour (and flour is scarce lately with all the hoarders in the grocery stores), I decided to cut the original recipe in half, and bake it in a 9" springform pan.

Of course, I never have buttermilk, so I make my own by combining any milk (I had skim, but 2% or whole is fine too), with a tablespoon of lemon juice. Let this mixture sit 10 minutes, and voila, you have sort of buttermilk. The acid from the lemon mixed with the baking soda in the recipe does something wonderful to baked goods.
Science, my dears.

The cake is glorious. May I use that word? Well, it is.

It is sweet and moist, and I sprinkled some Maldon sea salt on it after I took it out of the oven, so it was sweet and salty with a pecan pie profile.....without corn syrup (which I hate).

If you want to make the original recipe, and a larger cake, here is the link to the original recipe from King Arthur.

My way:

For the cake:

1/4 cup butter (half a stick, softened)
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk (1 cup milk w/ 1 tbsp lemon juice if you don't have buttermilk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking SODA (NOT baking powder)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For the topping:

3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
2 tablespoons half and half
3/4 cup of roughly chopped pecans (I mixed in sliced almonds too)
Maldon sea salt for the top (optional)

Mix the cake batter ingredients together, the usual way.....wet first, then the dry (flour etc).

Pour batter into a 9" cake pan (springform preferably), that has been sprayed w/ cooking spray and lined on the bottom with a circle of parchment paper.

Bake 30 minutes in a 350F oven.

While the cake is baking, make the topping.

After the 30 minutes, spread the thick nut topping over the cake w/ a silicone spatula (you can also just pour it on top, it will spread).

Bake an additional 10 more minutes, until topping is caramelized and golden.

Let rest in the pan for 20 minutes, before unmolding it.

I think this cake begs for whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, so treat yourself.

Stop worrying about carbs and sweets. Enjoy your life.
Cake makes me happy (as does pizza).