This Kentucky Butter Cake recipe is CRAZY moist, buttery and coated with a sweet buttery sauce that crusts the outside and soaks into the cake making it amazing for days. What you get is a stunning, sweet, buttery, soft cake that is as perfect on its own as it is topped with strawberries and whipped cream!
Kentucky Butter Cake: What To Expect
- Simple Ingredients. Chances are you have everything in your kitchen right now to make this incredibly delicious cake.
- Great to make ahead! I am going to tell you this Kentucky Butter Cake is even better the second day! It gives the cake a chance to absorb all the sugar syrup while relaxing a bit and settling into all its moisture. Certainly it can be enjoyed the same day, but if you have patience, give it a day to become its best self!
- Flavor. While at heart, this is simply a butter cake, the way all the flavors combine with the buttery sugar syrup makes it extra vanilla, while giving it a slightly crunchy crust. Kind of like a huge glazed donut.
- So many serving options! Serve this with whipped cream and strawberries for the best strawberry shortcake of your life!
What Is Kentucky Butter Cake?
Kentucky Butter is the most delicious vanilla pound cake you will ever have. The texture is dense, but tender and it’s topped with a RIDICULOUS butter/sugar/vanilla sauce that soaks into the cake while also leaving it crispy and sweet on top. It’s perfect on its own, along with a cup of coffee, topped with ice cream, or with whipped cream and strawberries. The possibilities are endless.
Ingredients / What You Will Need
Like I said above, this cake recipe is made up of simple ingredients, so I recommend using high quality ingredients. The flavors make the cake! Make sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post to the recipe card for the full ingredient list and instructions.
- Butter. I use salted butter i this recipe, but you can also use unsalted if that’s what you have on-hand or prefer. You use butter in both the cake and the butter glaze.
- Sugars: Use granulated sugar in the cake batter and the butter glaze, and I also use powdered sugar to garnish the cake when done!
- Eggs. Use large sized eggs in this recipe as well as all my baking recipes unless otherwise stated.
- Vanilla extract. You can also use vanilla bean paste if you have that too. Vanilla bean paste will make the cake and the syrup slightly darker in color due to the vanilla beans.
- Dry Ingredients: All purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt.
- Buttermilk. Using buttermilk in this recipe makes the cake tender. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own at home easily. Use My Homemade Buttermilk Recipe!
How To Make Kentucky Butter Cake
The batter goes together in a snap…
- Prep the Pan: Make sure you heavily grease your bundt pan. You can use baking spray/nonstick spray, or you can coat it with butter or shortening and dust it with flour or powdered sugar. You need to make sure your pan is greased liberally because not only will the cake stick, but the sugar syrup can also stick a but too.
TIP: If you do use nonstick baking spray I recommend that you spray it just before adding the batter. I’ve found this technique helps prevent sticking more than spraying the pan and letting it sit before adding the cake batter.
- The batter goes together easily and all the ingredients can be added at the same time just like you would for a cake mix. This cake is pretty foolproof!
- Once the cake is baked make the sugar syrup. Cook the butter, sugar, vanilla, and some water together until the sugar is dissolved, but doesn’t come to a boil.
- Poke holes all in the warm cake and then pour the sugar sauce all over the top! Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan. You can even let it sit overnight in the pan, just run a butter knife around the edges to help the cake from sticking.
Tips:
- Make sure your butter is completely room temperature so you don’t get any lumps! Since you mix everything together at the same time the butter needs to mix in well. If your butter isn’t quite room temperature mix it with the granulated sugar alone to combine and then add in all the other ingredients.
- Allow the bundt cake to cool completely in the pan so the sauce has time to soak in. You can even leave the cake in the pan overnight if you want! The cake gets better the longer it sits!
- Loosen the cake from the sides of the pan with a butter knife! When it’s time, flip the cake out of the pan loosen the cake at its edges to help the process along.
- Finish the cake with a sprinkle of powdered sugar! Dusting it with powdered sugar not only makes it pretty, but helps hide any imperfections in the cake.
Serving Ideas:
The slices are perfect, the flavor is perfect, and you will probably be eating this for breakfast, lunch, and dessert until it’s gone!
- On its own because it’s perfect!
- With fresh fruit and whipped cream!
- Warm with a scoop of ice cream
- Use any leftover sliced thin for French Toast!
Variations:
- Add in a 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to add a little different flavor!
- Use bourbon or rum in the glaze instead of water to give it a boozy twist!
- Add mini chocolate chips if you love chocolate!
Looking for more Bundt Cake Recipes? Try These:
- Sour Cream Blueberry Bundt Cake
- Praline Bundt Cake
- Fudge Filled Vanilla Bundt Cake
- Marble Pound Cake
This recipe was originally posted in 2015, but has been updated with new tips in 2024!
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Kentucky Butter Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 75 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: serves 12 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Oven/Stove Top
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
Kentucky Butter Cake is the moistest vanilla pound cake ever, made with simple ingredients.
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup butter, cubed at room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup buttermilk
Butter Glaze
- 1/3 cup butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F/165°C. Grease a 10- inch bundt pan with butter or shortening very liberally. Dust the pan with flour and set aside.
- Place all the cake ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low for 30 seconds and then increase the speed to medium and mix for 3 minutes.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 65-75 minutes until a toothpick entered into the center comes out clean.
- When the cake is done make the glaze. Combine all ingredients into a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir continuously until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Do not bring to a boil.
- Poke holes all over the warm cake using a knife and pour the glaze evenly on the cake while still in the pan.
- Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan and then invert the cake onto a serving plate.
- I actually like to make this cake a day in advance, finding it to be more moist and flavorful when it rests overnight.
Notes
Store airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 514
- Sugar: 47.1 g
- Sodium: 296.3 mg
- Fat: 23 g
- Carbohydrates: 71.4 g
- Protein: 6.2 g
- Cholesterol: 118.5 mg
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Hi, just a quick tip for greasing your pan. I grew up with my father greasing his pans and then flouring so I did that for a long time. What a mess!!!! Flour would go everywhere and then you had to dump out the rest in the trash and then it would end up on the floor. Then I started making a pan release that bakeries used. It’s called “Goop”, or you can just call it pan release. It’s equal parts flour, oil, and butter or shortening. Use a mixer to mix is until there are no lump and then just brush it liberally on. Nothing sticks with this mixture, it’s cheaper than the spray type (and better) and you can keep it in your refrigerator for several months. It’s like greasing and flouring a cake all in one technique with NO MESS!!! I’ll never go back to greasing and flouring separately again. Love your video and plan to make this for Christmas but will do a trial run before then if possible. Thanks for the lovely recipe.!!!
Great tips!!
OMG, I am laughing reading this tip, not because it is a good one but because there is a hand cleanser my husband always keeps in the garage and after working on greasy parts of a car he uses this 1stuff. What’s it called? GOOP!!
This is THE best cake. It is my go to for any parties/celebrations…and to just have at home for my husband and I to indulge in. So good. Also check out Kentucky butter cake cookie recipe too!
I made this cake in a loaf pan and it was delicious, though dare I say I wish it was even more buttery! I also made a bourbon caramel sauce to go with it. Yum!
I plan to make it again and was wondering if there would be any advantage to creaming the butter and sugar first. Would it make for a better/different texture? Always trying to improve.
I have always creamed the butter,sugar,and eggs with the vanilla myself. The cake comes out with a wonderful texture that melts in your mouth.
Thanks!
Does this recipe fill one loaf pan or 2? Thanks for any info!!
2 🙂
Sauce?
How many loads did it make?
Did you change the temperature or cook time?
Update: I unpanned this after 20, fearing the cooled glaze would harden it into all the intricate groves of my Bundt pan. It came right out, no problem. I flipped it back upside-down to finish cooling. Hope I didn’t mess up by taking it out early.
I just made this it was done in only 54 min. My oven is a bit fast and I always try hard not to over bake. I added a 1/4 t of fiori di Sicili I got from King Arthur to the glaze along with the vanilla. Flavor is great! If you haven’t tried this flavoring in your baked goods, I highly recommend it. Now just waiting to see if I can unpan it.
Baked this today. Used Country Crock to butter the pan. No flour. Only took 2 1/2 cups of flour. Baked 325 for 55 minutes. Perfection. Delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top! The plastic knife idea worked great to loosen cake from pan. Came right out on to the plate!
Can I half the recipe? If so, what size pan would you use?
9×5 loaf pan!
Made this cake for the 1st time today. It has a great flavor, but when I transfered to the cake plate out of pan, it cracked and opened up in 3 places. No powder sugar is covering this. Did I not cook it long enough or let the butter Glaze set up long enough( i did around 2 hrs)? Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, the toughest part IS getting it out of the pan. First, the sugar makes the cake stick to the pan. Run a wet knife around the edge to break the sugar free from the pan. Then turn the pan over and bang the heck out of it with a with a wooden spoon all around the pan. After doing this, and with a gentle shake …. ta da. Perfection and worth all the effort and worries.
I’ve made this cake a few times, it is my nephews favorite. I had him over for dinner a few weeks ago and my oven was broken so I couldn’t bake, but my oven goT fixed yesterday and this is the first thing I’ve baked and since my nephew is coming by today he will be so excited!
Love this cake!!!