Homemade butter: Use freshly churned sweet-cream butter made from heavy cream. Bring it to room temperature before making the cake.

Homemade buttermilk: If you’re making cultured butter, the liquid left behind after churning can be used as traditional buttermilk in the cake.

Organic ingredients: I like to use organic flour, organic cane sugar, pasture-raised eggs, and high-quality vanilla alongside homemade dairy for a simple, from-scratch version of this classic cake.