Best Birthday Cake!

It's my birthday today. I don't want to lose my Mom card, so I won't reveal my true age. Let's just say I am not 40, yet...

In honor of my birth (Thanks Mom!), I thought I'd share my very favorite cake recipe of ALL time. Seriously-this cake is a little bit of heaven. It is especially delicious with some sort of fruity sauce - like rhubarb or strawberry- and some REAL homemade whipped cream on top.

Oh. My. Goodness. It's to die for.

This is not a cake for those who shun fat and calories, but, even if you are one of those type of folks, you should make it anyway. Afterall, you don't eat cake everyday - it's for celebrations! So, you can afford a few extra calories now and then.

Kentucky Butter Cake
(How can it be bad with the word Butter in the title?)

Cake
3 c flour
2 c sugar
1 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 c buttermilk (or 1 c milk "soured" with 1 T vinegar or lemon juice)
1 c butter, softened
2 t vanilla extract
4 eggs

Butter Sauce
3/4 c sugar
1/3 c butter
3 T water
2 t vanilla extract

Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. Do NOT skimp on the grease! Trust me, I of what I speak. In mixing bowl, add butter and whip until fluffy. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix again until fluffy. Add dry ingredients and milk a bit at a time, alternating between the two, and mix on low speed until just moistened, then mix for 3 minutes on medium. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 325 degrees for 55 - 70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle.

In small saucepan, combine all butter sauce ingredients. Heat over low heat until butter and sugar are melted.

Using the end of a wooden spoon or a long tined fork, poke about 20 holes all over the bottom of the cake (which is still in the pan at this point). Slowly pour the sauce over the cake and watch it soak into all those holes. Remove cake from pan as soon as sauce is absorbed. Just stick a plate over the cake, hold the plate and cake together and flip the whole thing over. You may have to give it a couple of knocks on the counter. You can eat the cake either warm or cold, plain or with sauce, with or without REAL whipped cream.

I just have one birthday request- if you use Cool-Whip, please don't tell me about it. Thanks.