3 cups sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup Crisco...combine these three and beat.
Then add and beat in 5 eggs, one at a time. Alternately add 3 cups flour and 1 cup buttermilk, ending with the flour.
Add 1/2 tsp soda dissolved in 1 Tbsp boiling water. Add 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond flavoring. Grease and flour a tube pan and pour the cake mixture in.
Bake 350 degrees for 45 minutes and 325 degrees for 30 minutes (total of 1 hour, 15 minutes or a little less if cake is done before that time). Cool cake for about 20 minutes and carefully slip it out upside down (bundt cake) and let cool.
Buttermilk Icing
2 cups white sugar, 1 cup buttermilk, 1 tsp. soda, 1 stick butter...Cook in a large heavy pan until a teaspoon poured in ice water reaches a soft Ball, cool and add 1 tsp vanilla and beat until starts to get a little hard then put on top and sides of cake. don't let it get too hard as it hardens when it cools.