Martha, Martha, Martha

I had a little buttermilk left over from the pancakes I made recently. I hate letting things go to waste and I remembered that I had seen a buttermilk cake recipe. I looked online last night and found several different recipes and equally mixed reviews. I figured, you can't go wrong with Martha Stewart. I found this Cocoa Buttermilk Cake recipe and when I realized I had all of the other ingredients on hand, I thought I would give it a whirl.

I of course made cupcakes because I think they are the perfect sampling size. And given the amount of cake coming out of my kitchen these days, I can only afford to sample! The batter was so thick that my arm literally started getting sore even using the electric mixer! That explains why the cake was brownie like with a thick inside and crusty top. I'm not sure if the texture would have been different if I had done it in a sheet or round pan.

The icing was a different story. The ingredient list was daunting to say the least. I momentarily eyed the simple recipe on the back of the confectioners sugar but I thought, Martha knows best! Surprisingly, I was still working on the frosting when the cupcakes were ready to come out of the oven. One hand on the mixer, one mitt in the oven 'cause that's how I roll! I didn't have quite enough sour cream, but I figured I'd still get the general idea. Mixy, mix. Stir, scrape, stir. Mix. And voila!

I iced one for Jody one for me and poured two cups of milk. Let the sampling begin. I was initially surprised by the crusty top, but I could live with that. I was disappointed in the frosting. I guess my expectations were over the top with the long list of ingredients. It was a runny, semi-sweet chocolate, cheesecake frosting. Not bad but it didn't blow me away like I had imagined. As I formed my own opinions I wondered if Jody would offer any input. I hesitated to ask but when I did he shared my brownie like sentiments. He said he really liked the consistency. However, he said, "There's some kind of weird sour cream taste." The frosting was definitely potent. We tried the cake unfrosted and decided... Cake stays. Frosting goes.

Maybe it was just poor execution on my part? Who knows... but at the risk of committing baking blasphemy I shake my head and say, "Martha, Martha, Martha."