cake turned into... biscotti (aka dried out cake)

I wanted to try out a cake from the 101 cookbooks website - Salt-kissed Buttermilk Cake Recipe... only the baking dish I used wasn't large enough, and by the time the middle of the cake was baked the rest of it had dried out.

Gigi got to be the guinea pig for this one... and we both agreed that it made a good "biscotti" - super to dunk into the tea we were drinking. Next time I'll use a bigger baking dish, likely a rectangular dish instead of a tart dish - and make this more of a square rather than a slice of tart.

BUT even with the dryness of this one, I'd make this again - it's a great take on a pound cake - berries, brown sugar and coarse sea salt top this buttermilk cake. A great treat to have when you want something not too sweet or heavy.

Salty-Berry Buttermilk cake
Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 tbsp. b. powder
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla salt (or plain salt)
2 eggs
1 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. butter, melted and cooled a bit
zest of two lemons
1 c. of mixed berries (or whichever berry you have on hand)
3 tbsp. large grain brown sugar
1 tsp. coarse sea salt

Preheat your oven to 400 F, racks are in the middle. Line the bottom of your pan with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, b. powder, b. sugar and salt in a large bowl.

In a smaller bowl, whisk the eggs and the buttermilk (buttermilk is 1 c. milk to 1 tbsp. lemon juice - let sit for 5 minutes). Whisk in the melted butter and the lemon zest. If you really want to punch up the lemon flavour, add a tbsp of lemon juice at this point too.

Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture and stir until just combined - don't over mix... otherwise... you could end up with biscotti :0)

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, push it out toward the edges. Drop the berries on top (I placed them in the centre in the batter). Then you get to sprinkle the b. sugar and the salt over the top. Bake for about 20 - 25 minutes or until the cake is set (golden on top... the brown sugar gets a little brûlée)

The salty and sweet combo on this cake really compliment the lemony taste of the cake. I think you'll really enjoy this, Gigi and I certainly did!