Kentucky Butter Cake is a rich, moist, and buttery dessert that is easy to make! This recipe is the original unchanged Pillsbury Bake Off winner from 1964. Check out our tips to make this Southern treat that is flavorful and perfect for any occasion!
If you love this vintage cake recipe you’ll also love lemon lime jello poke cake or caramel cake.
This cake is not only incredibly moist because of the buttermilk in the ingredients, but the addition of the homemade sauce. Half of the sauce is placed by poking holes into the cake. The other half is used as a glaze. The glaze has a bit of a crunch to it as it dries on the outside of the cake, making it feel like a glaze on a doughnut.
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During a recent adventure to Amish country, I found a gold mine of vintage Pillsbury grand national championship cookbooks. These are the yearly ones that would be sent out. This recipe I’m sharing today comes from the 15th year. It has not been altered in any way, except for the process by which to get the cake out of the pan and adding the glaze to the outside of the cake. I had to change that up a bit so we all would have success with this recipe. If you’re looking for a true classic winner, this cake is it.
Other popular Pillsbury original recipes I’ve shared include chocolate cherry cake recipe and salted peanut chews recipe. Both are family favorites!
Why Someone Will Love This Cake
- Rich, buttery flavor: There is a lot of butter in a Kentucky Butter cake, hence the name. The butter gives it a deliciously rich butter flavor.
- Moist Texture: The buttermilk keeps the cake very moist, even after it has been baked. That tender melt-in-your-mouth texture is a real winner.
- Simple Ingredients: You’ll find all the ingredients are easy to find and simple to use. You have most of them in your pantry. And check out my recipe notes below on how to make your own buttermilk.
Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour: This is the most commonly used form of flour.
- Baking Powder: A leavening agent that helps the cake to rise.
- Salt: Salt enhances the flavor and helps to balance out the sweetness.
- Baking Soda: Another leavening agent to help the cake rise.
- Butter: A dairy product used for its rich and creamy flavor.
- Sugar: Sugar is a sweetening ingredient. What is a cake without sugar?
- Eggs: Eggs provide structure and moisture to the cake.
- Buttermilk: Adds tanginess and more moisture to the batter.
- Vanilla: Vanilla enhances the overall flavor of the cake. Only use pure vanilla for best results.
How to Make Kentucky Butter Cake
This recipe is the original recipe, it has not been altered in ingredients! I did alter how to get the cake out of the cake pan after a few failures. Learn from me!
- Sift together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.
- Cream in a separate bowl, the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Blend in the unbeaten eggs one at a time into the creamed butter and sugar. Beat well after each egg.
- In a third small bowl, combine the buttermilk and pure vanilla.
- Add alternatively the dry ingredients and the buttermilk mixture to the creamed sugar. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Blend well after each addition with your mixer on low speed.
- Grease and flour the bottom of a tube pan. Pour the cake mixture into the tube pan.
- Combine in a saucepan, sugar, water, and butter. Heat until the butter is just melted. Add vanilla. Set aside.
- Bake in a 325˚ preheated oven for 60-65 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched. Run a spatula along the edge and stem of the pan. Do not remove the cake from the pan. Prick the cake with a skewer or toothpick. Spoon half of the hot sugar sauce into the holes, taking care to avoid the edges of the cake. Let the cake cool in the pan for 30 minutes.
- Flip the tube pan onto the serving plate. Brush the remaining syrup on top. Let fully cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
Expert Tips
If you’re thinking of making a Kentucky Butter Cake, here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Use room-temperature butter: Make sure your butter is at room temperature before you start the cake batter. This will help ensure all ingredients blend together smoothly.
- Grease and flour the bottom of your pan well: Kentucky Butter Cake is a dense cake, so properly greasing the pan is important. Butter only the bottom and bottom edge of the pan well with butter. Sprinkle flour over the butter evenly.
- Poke holes in the cake: Using a skewer is the perfect width for the holes that your sauce will need to soak in. A toothpick or fork will work well as well.
- Let it cool for only 30 minutes before removing it from the pan: This is one area where I strayed from the original. After trying to remove the cake from a fully cooled pan, the sugar hardened and made it impossible to remove from the pan. Just 30 minutes is all you need for the cake to minimize and easily be removed.
- Store it properly: Kentucky Butter Cake will keep for a few days at room temperature if it’s stored in an airtight container. It also freezes well to enjoy at a future date.
More Homemade Cake Recipes
Kentucky Butter Cake
Equipment
- 1 tube pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 3 Cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Cup butter room temperature
- 2 Cups granulated sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 Cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
Butter Sauce
- 1 Cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 Cup water
- 1/2 Cup butter
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
Dusting on Top
- 1/4 Cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Prep: Grease and flour the bottom of a tube pan. Preheat the oven to 325˚ F.
Cake Instructions
- Sift together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. (Creaming means beating the butter and sugar together until fluffy.)
- Blend in the unbeaten eggs one at a time into the creamed butter and sugar. Beat well after each egg on low speed with your mixer.
- In a third small bowl, combine the buttermilk and pure vanilla.
- Add alternatively the dry ingredients and the buttermilk mixture to the creamed sugar. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Blend well after each addition with your mixer on low speed.
- Pour the cake mixture into the tube pan.
- Bake at 325˚ in a preheated oven for 60-65 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched.
Butter Sauce
- Combine in a small saucepan the sugar, water, and butter. Heat until the butter is just melted. Add vanilla.
Glaze the Cake with Butter Sauce
- Run a spatula along the edge and stem of the pan. Prick the cake with a skewer or toothpick. Spoon in half of the hot syrup into the holes, taking care to avoid the edges of the cake. Let the cake cool in the pan for 30 minutes.
- Flip the tube pan onto a serving plate. Brush the remaining syrup on top. Let fully cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
Comments & Reviews
need recipe in numeric not metric form
Have made this. Recipe for years ! Delicious! In the butter sauce I have used rum flavor instead of vanilla. That’s good too.