The Butter Revival

The last few decades, western cultures have moved to a universe made up of margarine, bleached flour, milled sugar, white bread, and processed cheese food (not kidding, saw that in a lunch meal once). Since these sterile, science driven decades of food transfiguration, we have realized that nature (and our fore bearers) probably had it right. Food as close to the ground as we can get is the best way to go. Calories and fat are not satan's handymen. Where we get our nutrients are as important as what we get. A calorie from a home grown tomato does not equal that of a cheeseburger.

We have also found that we just can't beat nature (or God, whichever you prefer) at her own game. It is like the move to replace nursing with formula; everyone was under the impression we were doing the best for our children. It has since come to the world's attention that, no matter how many times we reformulate, there are some things formula just can't do. Like transfer immunities. Or stimulate the same level of brain activity that occurs during nursing. Because of all these things, we have returned to "the Breast is Best".

I firmly believe we can't beat nature (or God) at his own game when it comes to nutrition, as well. I figure, if humans have been eating this food for hundreds or thousands of years, it must be alright. I am calling for a butter revival. I want to shed this burden of tasteless, "space age" food to go back to the food of our roots. Home cooking, comfort food, the food of love. I want to eat meat and veggies and fruit and grains and dairy. I want to look at a food item and know it is FOOD, no label reading involved. I want to trust that evolution (or creation, if you prefer) has tuned us perfectly to the food available. The food we were meant to eat.

Agree? Then I fully invite you to join me on my quest for the butter revival. Part food blog, part recipes, part bitching about stuff, and for sure a lot of butter, so please join me! I promise at least one post every friday; that is for sure. Apart from that, I'm sure it will vary a lot. I am a 20 year old college student, taking far too many credits. But I love to cook, and I love to blog. I have had one other blog for over a year and a half now. Not every one of my recipes will feature butter. I do love to bake bread and things of that nature, so there *will* be butter. I do eat a balanced diet though, and I tend to use olive oil for many cooking tasks.

So let's start with our very first recipe!


My mom wanted me to make a rum cake for her birthday. I felt it would go against various natural laws to use cake and pudding mix like almost EVERY recipe calls for (HELLO guilt from my mom). So I called up my boyfriend's sister, a baker extrodinaire, and she shared this recipe.

At this point, I have a horrifying confession. Prior to this morning, I had never bothered to learn how to properly cream butter and sugar. TERRIBLE, I KNOW. This step pretty much decided whether your cake is all fluffy and light and delicious, or dense. But this is my mom's birthday cake, for christsake! I can't be lazy when making my mom's birthday cake! Hello guilt! We've covered this already! So I read a website, and watched a video on youtube from epicurious. And I borrowed my boyfriend's electric mixer.

Quick back up for story time. I have to leave hunting this afternoon, and only have a short break between my classes. Meaning I had to make it before my classes this morning. So up I got, at 7. I set my 4 sticks of butter on the counter (unnnngh) and headed to take a shower. I figured, they'll get the right temperature as I shower. Slightly more chilled then room temperature. I also used this as an excuse to take a niiiiiice long shower. Hello, all the hot water for the building. Climbed out, and put on unders and a bra. Wrapped my hair up in a turby twist. And then I thought, wait, this will undoubtedly be messy. No one is around. I'll just make the cake in my underoos! And so I did. (Lordy I love living alone).

And so I added my sugar and butter to the bowl. One cup butter, two cups sugar. Put the mixing blades in the mixer, plugged it in, here we go! And promptly blew sugar and butter chunks all over my kitchen. Which is also my living room, since I have a studio apartment. Hello picking chunks out of my couch for three weeks. Anyway. Valuable lessons here people; if your butter is too cold, it won't blend right. Mine was too cold. I have since read that in this case, you should grate it, wait a couple minutes, and then go to town. Also. When creaming butter and sugar? Start with blending just the butter, then add the sugar gradually. Or you will end up looking like me, sugar up to my eyebrows. (Won't switch you into just your underoos though, have no fear). In case you share my dirty little secret and have never creamed butter and sugar? It should take a good 8 minutes. Use a rubber spatula and push everything down into the bowl and occasionally scrape the bottom. Forgive yourself if you feel the need to dip in a pinky and have a taste. You're checking the consistency! You had to make sure it wasn't grainy, and had become smooth! See? You were being a responsible cook. Good job!

I did plan ahead enough to have all my other ingredients measured out and waiting for me. I had my four eggs cracked in a bowl with a pour spout, since we have to add them one at a time. I had the baking powder, baking soda, and salt all mixed in a little bowl. And my flour measured out. I also had my buttermilk, vanilla, and rum in one measure cup. This way, I would pick everything up and add it while still blending. This part actually went pretty well, believe it or not. I then buttered and floured my bundt pan (which I had to buy specially for this cake) and poured the batter in.

Cook for one hour at 350. (I actually pulled mine out about 4 minutes early. I was afraid it would burn). At about 15 til you need to take out the cake, prepare your glaze. Put your two extra sticks of butter and a cup of sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add the rum. For your own sake, turn on your fan before adding the rum. I forgot to. Hooooooo boy. Remember, we need to have our wits enough still to finish the rest of the cake. Leave the bottle of rum alone and turn on your fan. The rum will also steam and bubble some when added, so be sure not to burn yourself. Bring out the cake, stab the hell out of the top (well, actually, bottom, but top for now.. the part open to the sky) with a toothpick. Now the fun. Pour the glaze allllll over the cake. Cover it with a plate (or don't, whatever) and let it sit at least two hours.

Yay! Now you have something that will make you sugar high and drunk at the same time! And oh lordy, the butter. Let's not forget the butter.

Rum Cake From Scratch
Cake:
1 c butter
2 c sugar
3 c flour
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder and soda
pinch of salt
1 Tbs dark or spiced rum
1 c buttermilk

Glaze:
1 c butter
1 c sugar
1/2 c dark rum (hoo yeah)

1. Cream butter and sugar
2. Add eggs, one at a time and mix in
3. Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whip.
4. Alternate the flour and the cup with buttermilk, vanilla, and rum while mixing. Mix until smooth.
5. Bake in a greased and floured bundt pan at 350 for 1 hour
6. At about 15 or 10 minutes until your cake comes out, prepare the glaze. Melt butter and sugar over low heat. Stir occasionally until a boil is reached. Turn off heat and add rum. Have on a fan, and be sure not to burn yourself on the steam.
7. Bring out the pan and poke holes all over the surface of the cake. Pour hot glaze over. Let sit at least two hours before flipping the cake.
8. To flip, place a plate on "top" of the bundt pan. Now flip the plate and pan, so that what was once top is now bottom. Lift off pan. Viola!