Listen, there’s something you should know about me: I hate, truly hate, throwing away food. I will reinvent leftovers a million times before they go bad to ensure nothing’s wasted. We donate our bad produce to compost at my husband’s school but, really, the worst culprit is buttermilk.
Are you in the same boat? (Probably not because I doubt anyone obsesses over this like me. 😅) If you are, I’m here to help! If you’re not, I’m here to be obnoxious about recipes I love.
Here’s a few of my favorite recipes to use up the last of that buttermilk in your fridge.
- JoAnna Gaines’s pancakes. These are our go-to pancakes and gosh if they aren’t perfect. We always halve the recipe for our family. *Pro tip–bake your bacon and use the leftover grease to cook your pancakes. I KNOW.*
- Joy the Baker’s buttery layered buttermilk biscuits. Stop your search for the perfect biscuits because *ta da* it’s these. Sprinkled with some flaky sea salt before baking? Get outta here.
- Mel’s Kitchen Cafe biscuit cinnamon rolls. These are the preferred cinnamon roll at my house. They’re quick to whip up and with no rise time. Wins all around.
- Blueberry pancake casserole. This recipe has saved me on so many occasions. I halve for our family and it’s the perfect “oh shoot what are we eating for dinner” recipe. Bonus: this is great for those half-used bags of frozen fruit in your freezer. You know you have them.
- sweetish.co’s dark chocolate muffins. When I say this recipe is forgiving, what I’m really saying is my almost 4 year old “helped” make it. Everything was out of order and chaotic but this turned out amazing! It’s the perfect “I want chocolate cake but I don’t want to make a real cake” recipe. We made it in a loaf pan and wouldn’t change a thing.
But it wouldn’t be my blog if I didn’t push one more recipe on you. 😏 Let me just say, this pound cake is so. good. It’s a mashup of a few of my favorite things and I am so pleased with how it turned out. If you’re not into almond extract, fear not! I’ve got ingredient swaps.
Make for a snack, a sweet breakfast, dessert, or for whatever the heck you want.
orange almond pound cake
Combining my favorite things into an orange almond pound cake with a crackle-y glaze. Not into almond? Head to the notes for ingredient swaps! Make sure to read the notes for instructions on loaf pans. Not into glaze? Sprinkle some coarse sugar on top before baking. You'll still get the crunch!Adapted from this recipe by the phenomenal Erin McDowell.
Ingredients
for the cake
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened, aka room temperature
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- zest of one large orange
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ teaspoon almond extract* see notes for swaps
for the glaze
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract*
- tiny pinch of salt
Instructions
for the cake
- Before anything else let's make some orange sugar! In a medium bowl, combine the sugar and orange zest. Use your hands to really work the zest into the sugar. You'll smell the orange oils and the sugar will change in color–this is good. REALLY good! I do this about 10-15 minutes before the next step. This gives the sugar time to absorb the orange oils and flavors.
- Preheat your oven to 325.* SEE NOTES!
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (using the paddle attachment) cream together butter and orange sugar until light and fluffy, at least 4 minutes. I usually let it go for about 5 minutes. Make sure to pause about halfway through to scrape down your bowl and the attachment.
- While the butter and sugar mix, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. (I use the same one from the orange sugar because I hate extra dishes.)
- After 4-5 minutes of mixing, add in your eggs one at a time. Scrape down the bowl and attachment each time! Once your eggs are added, add in the extracts, stirring briefly to combine. It might look weird and lumpy–don't freak out!
- Add ⅓ of your dry ingredients to your butter and egg mixture. Mix just until incorporated.
- Follow with ⅓ of your buttermilk, again mixing just until it's incorporated. Repeat the flour/buttermilk alternations until everything's added. Scrape the bowl one last time to make sure it's all combined, taking care not to overmix.
- Pour your batter into a greased and lined loaf pan*. Spread the batter as evenly as possible.
- Bake your loaf until a toothpick comes out with minimal crumbs or clean. Mine usually takes about 1 hour 20 minutes, but you know your oven! I start checking at 45 minutes. If you can touch the pan and the center jiggles it's too soon. Don't start testing with a toothpick until you can tell the top is set or you might collapse the cake! If you're worried the top is browning too quickly cover lightly with foil for the rest of baking.
- Remove and place on a cooling rack, then start on your glaze.
for the glaze
- In a small saucepan, combine orange juice and sugar.
- Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until you just start to see bubbles around the edges. No need to fully boil here! You just want to make sure the sugar is fully dissolved and heats up.
- Remove from heat and stir in extracts. Make sure to combine well!
- Immediately pour over your cake. Yes, while it's warm and still in the pan! This allows the cake to cool in the glaze so it's fully covered. (It's theee best.)
- Let your cake cool completely. Then use the parchment to lift and remove the cake. You might have to run a knife around the edges–that's fine!
- Slice, serve, enjoy.
- Store at room temp tightly, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap or else you'll have stale cake. Hard pass. The cake is good for about 3-4 days if it lasts that long!
Notes
Ingredient substitutions:
Okay I get it, not everyone’s into almond extract. (y tho?!) You can leave it out and increase the vanilla extract! I’d do 1 teaspoon in the cake and 1/2 teaspoon in the glaze.
Loaf pans:
I used this dark nonstick loaf pan because it’s what I have. If you have a lighter metal or glass loaf pan, I think you could increase the temp to 350. Dark metal pans conduct heat differently so I adjusted the temp to ensure the outside didn’t bake faster than the middle. Either way, I cannot state this enough, I do not know your oven so you will need to monitor bake time. Check your cake starting around 45 minutes!
To line your loaf pan:
I take my parchment and crinkle it up a bit so it’s easier to mold to the shape of the pan. After putting it in the pan, I use the butter wrappers from my softened butter to ensure alllll the pan is covered. You can use baking spray if that’s more your lane!
