Kentucky Butter Cake

This scrumptious Kentucky Butter Cake Recipe is a super moist vanilla butter pound cake with a sweet butter sauce that soaks through the cake. The sweet buttery sauce is brushed on the outside of the cake, creating a heavenly crisp crust that takes this cake over the top with the flavor of vanilla and butter. Prepare to be wowed.

One would wonder why it is called Kentucky Butter Cake when the base for this recipe cam from Nell Lewis of Platte City, Missouri. She won the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest back in 1963 with this cake recipe.

Sometimes life just calls for cake and butter! This cake is what dreams are made of. If you have never made a Kentucky butter Cake, I am going to let you know that they are dangerous. Yes, I said it.  I am just putting it out there. If you have intentions of eating just a small portion of this cake, then you had better be prepared to deliver pieces to the neighbors as quickly as possible or freeze it as soon it cools. This cake is even more delicious on the second day. Trust me on that one! If you like this cake, you must try lemon pound cake, gooey butter cake, and cream cheese pound cake.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

See the complete list of ingredients below on the recipe card.

• Flour: All purpose or cake flour for a lighter softer crumb
• Butter: Usalted or salted. If using salted butter eliminate the added salt.
• Buttermilk: Or one cup of milk (whole milk is best) and one tablespoon of white vinegar. In the recipe I mixed my own buttermilk.
• Vanilla extract: Use the real stuff, please
• Brandy: You can substitute whiskey, bourbon, or rum.

How to make a Kentucky Butter Cake

This is the summary version; see the recipe card below for the complete list of ingredients and the instructions.

First, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Now cream the butter and sugar together using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or hand mixer until it is light and fluffy. Then, combine your milk and vinegar to make buttermilk. While the buttermilk is working its magic, add the eggs one at a time and the vanilla to the butter mixture stirring just until incorporated between each egg.

Stir in the buttermilk and the dry ingredients in intervals alternating between the two. Stir just until combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake. During the last few minutes of baking, in a saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, sugar, and brandy. Cook until the sugar is dissolved, stirring very frequently. Do not let the butter glaze boil. Remove the glaze from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

Reserve 1/3 cup of the butter sauce to brush over the top of the cake. Remove the cake from the oven but do not remove it from the pan. Poke holes in the cake using the small end of a chopstick. Pour the butter sauce into the holes slowly and carefully. Let the cake cool on a cooling rack for a total of 30 minutes before inverting. Gently brush the remaining glaze over the cake.

Preparation Tips

• Butter and flour the cake pan very well, as there is a lot going on here, and you don’t want it to stick. I love Bakers Joy, which is a nonstick baking spray, but I was out of it this time, so I really had to work with the butter and flour to get all those nooks and crannies.
• Alcohol and its fumes are flammable, so put the brandy for the butter glaze in the pan away from the flame.
• Use the smaller end of a chopstick, a thick bamboo skewer, or even a straw to poke holes in the cake.
• The cake should cool for about 30 minutes total time after taking it out of the oven before inverting, so plan everything accordingly. Too little time or too much time could cause the cake to stick.

Store and Freeze

Store this cake wrapped with plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. 

To freeze, first thoroughly cool, then wrap in two layers of plastic wrap followed by a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. For best results thaw in the fridge overnight.

More Cake Recipes

Chocolate Cherry Cake

Cherry Cheesecake

Peanut Butter Cake

Apple Dump Cake

Chocolate Pound Cake

Zucchini Cake

Kentucky Butter Cake

An easy-to-make scrumptious butter vanilla cake with a four-ingredient glaze that creates an amazing crust and soaks into the cake, keeping it moist for days.

4.96 from 42 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Southern

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 servings

Calories: 416kcal

Author: Beth Pierce

Ingredients

Butter Cake

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Butter Glaze

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons brandy water can be substituted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour or spray with nonstick Baking spray a 10-inch Bundt cake pan (12 cups).
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes.
• Mix milk and vinegar together in a separate small bowl or measuring cup.
• Add the eggs one at a time to the butter mixture stirring just until incorporated. Stir in the vanilla.  Stir in the buttermilk mixture and dry ingredients in intervals alternating between the two: stirring just until combined. Scrap down the bowl and beater as needed.  Spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven but do not remove from the pan.
• In the last few minutes of the cake baking, add the sugar, butter, and brand to a small saucepan. Place over medium-low heat and stir very frequently until the sugar dissolves.  Do not allow it to boil.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Reserve 1/3 cup of the butter glaze. 
• Poke holes in the butter cake using the smaller end of a chopstick or similar-sized instrument. Go close but not all the way through to the bottom.
• Slowly and carefully pour the butter glaze over the poked holes.  Allow the cake to cool on a wire cooling rack for 30 minutes from the time it is removed from the oven to the time it is inverted. Once inverted and cooled, gently brush the remaining glaze over the top of the cake.

Notes

• Butter and flour the cake pan very well, as there is a lot going on here, and you don’t want it to stick. I love Bakers Joy, which is a nonstick baking spray, but I was out of it this time, so I really had to work with the butter and flour to get all those nooks and crannies.
• Alcohol and its fumes are flammable, so put the brandy for the butter glaze in the pan away from the flame.
• Use the smaller end of a chopstick, a thick bamboo skewer, or even a straw to poke holes in the cake.
• The cake should cool for about 30 minutes total time after taking it out of the oven before inverting, so plan everything accordingly. Too little time or too much time could cause the cake to stick.

Nutrition

Calories: 416kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 89mg | Sodium: 158mg | Potassium: 70mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 38g | Vitamin A: 616IU | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 1mg

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