Football and Baking

(I wrote this on Saturday, but posted it today)

Yes. That's what I said. Football. and. Baking. They go together at my house. If there's a BYU football game, I'll be watching it -- either in the stadium or on TV. Well, today it's on TV.

While I watch, I bake. Yes, BAKE. The floorplan of my house allows me to watch TV from the kitchen with no problem at all. So, today the TV's on, the volume is up and my KitchenAid mixer is doing its thing. The oven is preheated and my experimental Buttermilk Cake is just minutes away from being taste-tested. I am a happy girl.

Buttermilk Cake with Berries in Ginger Syrup
For the Cake:
2 C cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 C unsalted butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 C buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line bottom of a buttered 9x2 round cake pan with parchment paper. Spray PAM onto paper.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5-6 minutes). Beat in vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Set mixer to low speed and beat in all of the buttermilk, just until combined. Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing after each addition just until combined. Do not overbeat batter.

Spoon batter into cake pan and smooth the top. Bake until golden, about 40-45 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around edges of cake to loosen it from pan. Invert onto rack then invert back onto a cake plate.

For the syrup:
3/4 C ginger ale
3/4 C water
3/4 C sugar
2-inch piece fresh gingerroot, peeled and coarsely grated
1 1/2 C raspberries
1 C blackberries or 1/2 C blueberries

Bring ale, water, sugar and ginger to a boil, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking until mixture reduces to about 1 cup (about 15 minutes).
While syrup is simmering, place berries in a deep bowl. Pour hot syrup through a fine sieve onto the berries, then stir to combine them. Make sure the berries are covered in the syrup. Let berries stand at least 20 minutes, but no more than 2 hours before serving.

To assemble:When cake is cooled, lightly pierce the outside edge of the cake with fork tines. Drizzle just a bit of the gingered syrup along the outside edge of the cake. Next, place soaked berries in the center of the cake. Add a dollop of whipped cream on top of the berries.

Note: this cake can tend to be a little bit dry for my taste, so when I serve individual slices, I drizzle a bit more of the ginger syrup on the edge of the cake slice that doesn't have berries on it.