Buttermilk Pound Cake

As I've been playing with buttermilk lately, it seemed a good idea to make a cake with the leftovers from the buttermilk salad dressing. This cake is a little bit more like a modern cake than the old fashioned one I posted a few years ago. Since it has milk and leavening, it is more like a store bought cake - and more likely to be eaten by children who are used to such stuff ...

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 2.25 cups white sugar
• 6 eggs or 5 extra large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease one 9 or 10 inch tube pan. Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar. Mix in the eggs, one at time, beating well after each addition. Stir the vanilla extract. Gently mix in flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 90 minutes. Do not open oven door until after one hour. When cake begins to pull away from the side of the pan it is done. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Makes a little too much for a nine inch loaf pan - one little loaf extra.