Kentucky Butter Cake

Kentucky Butter Cake – amazing homemade pound cake recipe! SO delicious!! The cake is soaked with a sweet butter sauce that makes the cake so moist and gives it a nice crust on the outside. Butter, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. Will keep for days, although it didn’t last that long at our house! This butter cake is CRAZY good!

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Homemade Pound Cake

I’ve had this Kentucky Butter Cake recipe on my “to-make list” forever. I decided it was finally time to test it out with the Kentucky Derby coming up next weekend. OMG! I can’t believe I waited so long to try this pound cake. It is SO good. My favorite part? The sweet butter sauce is poured over the top of the cake when it comes out of the oven. The result is a moist cake that is to-die-for delicious! One bite and you will be blown away.

slice of pound cake on a plate

How to Make Kentucky Butter Cake

This cake is very easy to make with only a few simple ingredients. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt cake pan. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs to the mixer one at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until fully combined. Stir vanilla extract into the batter. Spoon cake batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes back clean. 

While the cake is cooking, prepare the sweet butter glaze. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and water. Cook over medium heat until the sugar has melted and the sauce is combined. Do not boil the mixture.

Remove the cake from oven and let cool in pan on a cooling rack. Poke holes over the bottom of the cake in the pan. Slowly pour the sweet buttery sauce over the warm cake. Let the cake cool completely in the pan. Invert the cake onto a cake plate and slice.

Helpful Tips & Frequently Asked Questions

  • One cup of flour weighs 4.25-ounces or 120 grams. To properly measure flour, give the flour a stir to loosen it up in the container. Use a spoon and lightly spoon the flour into your measuring cup. Use a flat straight edge (like the straight back of a knife) to level off the top of the flour in the measuring cup. Do NOT compact the flour in the measuring cup.
  • I use Bakers Joy or Pam Baking Spray to grease and flour the tube pan. Either works great. You can also use Crisco or butter and dust the pan with flour.
  • Can pound cake be made in advance? Yes! You can make the cake ahead of time and store it in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days at room temperature. The cake will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.
  • Can pound cake be frozen? Yes! You can freeze the baked cake. Wrap the cooled cake in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. The cake will keep for up to 6 months in the freezer.
  • I use vanilla extract. Feel free to add some rum extract or almond extract for extra flavor.
  • If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can make the cake in a large mixing bowl with a handheld mixer.
slice of pound cake on a plate

Moist Butter Cake Recipe

As I said, this cake is a favorite at our house. We love all the buttery flavor and that glaze is AMAZING! This is the perfect cake for any upcoming Kentucky Derby parties, potlucks, or family get-togethers. Serve the buttery cake with some fresh fruit or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Either way, it is sure to be a hit!

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slice of cake on a plate with text overlay

Kentucky Butter Cake

Yield: 12 people
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Kentucky Butter Cake – amazing homemade pound cake recipe! SO delicious!!! The cake is soaked with a butter sauce that makes the cake so moist and gives it a nice crust on the outside. Will keep for days, although it didn't last that long at our house! CRAZY good!

Ingredients:

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.
  • In a large bowl, mix together the 1 cup of butter and 2 cups of sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, mixing well.
  • Combine flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add ⅓ of flour mixture to batter, mix until blended. Add ½ of buttermilk and mix until blended. Add ⅓ of flour mixture, mixing until blended. Add remaining buttermilk, mix well. Add remaining flour mixture and 1 tablespoon of vanilla, mix well. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
  • In a saucepan combine the remaining ¾ cups sugar, 6 tablespoons butter, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and the water. Cook over medium heat, until fully melted and combined, but do not boil.
  • Prick lots holes all over cake. I used a wooden skewer and went all the way down in the pan. Slowly pour butter sauce over cake. Let cake cool before removing from pan.

Steph

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Comments

  1. Great cake!
    Made it today, sooooo yummy!
    Thank you for recipe!
    Found one first, but directions were confusing, then found yours
    Directions were easy to understand

  2. I made a gluten free version of this and it was amazing! I followed the recipe exactly but substituted Cup4cup flour (same amount) instead of regular flour.
    Britni- one sugar for the cake mixture. the other sugar is for the butter/sugar topping

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