This recipe is adapted from the Tanyard Farm Buttermilk Cake recipe published by King Arthur Flour. Tanyard Farm, in West Hartford, Vermont, is an old-fashioned, family farm that includes Jersey cows, chickens, and pigs, and vegetables and flowers.  Although it no longer exists, it used to also have a bakery, where the original recipe was developed.

Thanks to the whole buttermilk, this recipe makes an incredibly light, moist and fluffy cake with an extremely tender constitution and a gooey, caramelized pecan topping.  It is absolutely sinful!

Ingredients

Cake

1/2 cup butter
2 cups light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups whole buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups organic All-Purpose Flour

Topping

6 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup whole, organic milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray with cooking spray a 9″ x 13″ cake pan.
Beat the butter and brown sugar together ; add the eggs, beating till smooth. Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla.

Add the powder, salt, and flour to the wet ingredients, beating till thoroughly combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 35 minutes.

When cake has 10 minutes to go, prepare the topping by stirring the butter and the sugar together. Add the milk, pecans, and salt. The glaze will be thick but pourable.

Top the baked cake with the topping, and return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes.

I recommend that you eat the cake warm with a hot cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk.