Buttermilk and cake, together

As of this week, I've lived in Portland for over a year. The past 365 days just slip-slid past me until the Providence Bridge Pedal two Sundays ago. It's a bicycle tour of all the Willamette River bridges in Portland - the third largest bridge pedal worldwide! Raymond and I were peddling up a ramp on Interstate 405, under cloudy skies and through a refreshing light mist, when our Portlandiversary dawned on us.

Those are all pedestrians and bicyclists

We've been here a year already? The journey's been unreal. And real. Surreal perhaps. And we'd unwittingly picked the best way to celebrate: by exploring Portland, from the Ross Island bridge all the way north to the St. Johns bridge, by bicycle. Raymond broke in his new helmet and I broke in my new Schwinn Suburban. (She's named Coraline, in honor of our new home.)

Now with generator-powered headlight!

Over 18,000 people joined us for the ride. Some pedaled over five bridges, some over 10, but we all had a good time (and carbo-loaded afterward.) Thankfully there was a food festival happening right next to the finish line, and Sunshine Dairy gave all the riders free Popsicles and ice cream bars. Bless them!

My life and expectations of Portland evolved this year. I expected Portland to be a place where self-righteous hipster vegans and microbrew-loving bicyclists shared conversations about urban farming and politics. A bunch of soft-headed West-coasters who like their libraries and their forests and their public transportation just so, with no compromise.


Now I know that the flavors of Portland are more subtle. Hikers love soft rain in the evergreens, the lung-filling oxygen-rich forest. Vegans are in paradise because fresh produce and political groups grow wild. Not all bikers are spandex-clad superjerks or dewy-eyed hipsters on cruisers. I know people who are cruel and kind and who love animals and who love burgers and who love video games and love to be outdoors. And it's better this way.

So, I've mellowed out about Portland like I've mellowed out with this cake. It's a version of producer Melissa Gray's Naughty Senator Cake, a collision of sharp mint and chocolate, with a little rum. My version evolved because I couldn't bear to part with a whole pound of butter in one go. I subbed in some yogurt, and the flavors all changed. Suddenly, I knew mint would overpower the delicate cake. Understudies buttermilk and lemon stepped in and saved the show. Raymond and I toted some with us on our last trip to the coast. This not-so-naughty cake exceeded my original hopes.


Not-so-naughty buttermilk-chocolate swirl cake
adapted from The Naughty Senator Cake
serves 8

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt (not non-fat!)
  
• 4 large eggs
• 3 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 6 - 8 drops lemon oil
  
• 2 tsp. rum

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, making sure the baking rack is centered. Heavily grease a 12-cup bundt pan with butter or coconut oil.

Cream the butter with a mixer at medium speed. Slowly cream in the yogurt, working until the butter and yogurt are smooth and consistent. This may take several minutes, but be patient! Gradually incorporate the sugar, beating until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each one.

In a new bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add 1 cup of the flour mixture to your batter. Beat on a slow speed until it's incorporated. Keeping your mixer on that slow speed, add 1/3 cup of buttermilk. Repeat this process until all of the flour mixture and milk are incorporated.

Pour half of the batter into a clean bowl. In that new bowl, beat in the lemon oil and rum on a medium speed. Set aside. In the first bowl, mix in the cocoa on a low speed (so the cocoa doesn't fly everywhere!)

Layer the two batters in the bundt pan, using a third of each batter each time. Use a knife to cut through the middle of the batter ring to the side of the pan--as you rotate the pan 90 degrees clockwise. Repeat this process three more times. You will have created four curved, overlapping "cuts" in the batter.

Bake for an hour, or until the cake tests done (and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.) Cool the cake for 30 minutes in the pan, then overturn and unmold it onto a cake rack. Serve warm, or toasted later, with cream cheese.

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Ms. Rita's banana bread
Chocolate cardamom swirl cheesecake
Pumpkin cream cheese muffins