Kentucky Butter Cake is a classic dessert that has been enjoyed by generations of Southerners. This rich, buttery cake is made with simple ingredients but packs a delicious punch. It’s perfect for special occasions, potlucks, or simply as a treat to enjoy at home.
After one bite of this old-fashioned vanilla butter cake, you’ll understand how it won the 1963 winner of Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. Of course, it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that this Kentucky butter cake was drenched in a butter-rum sauce.
With my step-by-step images and easy-to-follow instructions, I know you’ll agree that my Kentucky Butter Cake recipe is the best on the internet!
If you love buttery cakes, make sure to try my Pineapple Butter Cake.
Ingredients to make Kentucky Butter Cake
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make Kentucky Butter Cake. In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
You're going to love this 12-cup bundt pan. Properly taken care of it will last a lifetime.
These are the spatulas I use in my kitchen. They are durable, heat resistant and easy to keep clean.
Perfect for measuring all of the ingredients for your baking and cooking recipes.
This is a great set of bowls for all your baking and cooking needs.
How to make Kentucky Butter Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven.
- Grease and flour a bundt pan. Set aside until needed.
- Add the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or an electric hand mixer with a large bowl).
- Add the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla to a large bowl and mix together until well combined.
- Add the butter and half of the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients.
- Mix on low speed for one minute, just enough to mix the ingredients together. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Turn the mixer on low and slowly add the rest of the buttermilk mixture. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.
- Increase the mixer speed to medium and continue whipping the mixture for 3 minutes. The finished batter will be creamy and pale. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
How to make Butter Rum Syrup
- Add the butter, granulated sugar, water, vanilla, and rum (or rum extract) to a small saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Bring the mixture to a light boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the sugar is dissolved (1-2 minutes).
*I prefer dark rum to make this glaze, but white rum will work. You can use spiced rum, but it will change the flavor.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles. Place the cake pan on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a cooling rack (still in the pan) to cool for 10 minutes.
- After ten minutes, use a wooden skewer to poke holes in the bottom of the cake. Go about three-quarters of the way down with the skewer.
- Continue until you have made 35- 40 holes.
- Spoon the sweet buttery sauce over the bottom of the cake so that it seeps down into the holes you poked in the cake. If the syrup is pooling on the surface, poke more holes in the cake so that it absorbs the syrup.
- Let the Kentucky butter cake cool for about 30 minutes. *Reserve about one-third of a cup of the butter syrup to brush the outside of the cake.
- Place a serving plate over the cake pan to invert cake, then remove the pan.
- Brush the outside of the cake with the reserved butter rum syrup and any syrup that oozes out onto the serving plate.
This old-fashioned Kentucky Butter Cake is best enjoyed with a cup of coffee or tea. Its rich, buttery flavor and moist texture make it a crowd-pleaser that everyone will love. Give this recipe a try and see for yourself why it has been a Southern favorite for generations!
Recipe FAQ’s
Butter cakes (aka creamed cakes) have a lighter texture and greater volume than pound cakes. Pound cakes are denser and were called pound cakes because, traditionally, they were made with one pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour.
To make Kentucky Butter Cake that is moist, it’s important to use the right amount of ingredients and not overmix the batter. Also, adding buttermilk to the batter helps to keep the cake moist. Finally, pouring the glaze over the warm cake helps to seal in moisture and adds extra flavor.
No, you can make Kentucky Butter Cake in different pans. You can use a 9×13-inch baking pan or two 9-inch round cake pans. However, you will need to adjust the baking time accordingly.
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Kentucky Butter Cake
Equipment
- 10-inch (12 cup) bundt pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
- 5 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 16 tablespoon unsalted butter -room temperature (2 sticks)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
Butter Rum Syrup
- 8 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 cups granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon rum or rum extract – optional
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven.
- Grease and flour a bundt pan. Set aside until needed.
- Add the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla to a large bowl and mix together until well combined. Set aside until needed.
- Add the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Add the butter and half of the buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix on low for one minute, just enough to mix the ingredients together.Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Turn the mixer on low and slowly add the rest of the buttermilk mixture.Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Increase the mixer speed to medium and continue whipping the mixture for 3 minutes. The finished batter will be creamy and pale. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles.
- Place the cake pan on the center rack of the preheated oven and bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and place it on a wire rack (still in the pan) to cool for 10 minutes.
- After ten minutes, use a wooden skewer to poke 35- 40 holes in the bottom of the cake. Go about three-quarters of the way down with the skewer.
- Spoon the butter rum syrup over the bottom of the cake so that it seeps down into the holes you poked in the cake. If the syrup is pooling on the surface, poke more holes in the cake so that it absorbs the syrup. Let the cake fully cool for about 30 minutes.*Reserve about one-third of a cup of the butter syrup to brush the outside of the cake
- Place a serving plate over the cake pan and invert the cake and remove the pan.
- Brush the outside of the cake with the reserved butter rum syrup and any syrup that oozes out onto the serving plate.
Butter Rum Syrup
- Add the butter, granulated sugar, water, vanilla, and rum to a small saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Bring the mixture to a light boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the sugar is dissolved (1-2 minutes).
Tom
I made it as prescribed except I dialed down the sugar just a little. The cake is excellent, moist with great butter flavor. One change I would make is the glaze. I found the rum glaze to be light in flavor. And if this is a Kentucky butter cake I will make a fitting robust bourbon glaze instead of the rum glaze.
Wynetta
Love this cake recipe can’t wait to prepare for my family. Thank you
Mindi D
Incredibly moist, buttery and soft! Cannot get enough of this yummy cake!
Shery Sullivan
Can’t wait to make this. Hopefully it will look like yours.
Enriqueta E Lemoine
What a delicious, moist, flavorful bundt cake, Ched. I can’t wait to bake it again.
LaKita
I absolutely love a good butter cake and this one came out so sweet, buttery, and delicious!
Madelyn
Delicious recipe! My family told me they’d love for me to make it again soon, and we don’t usually eat cake. It was wonderful.
Debbie
A few years ago, I ate a piece of Kentucky butter bourbon cake thst had glazed pecans all over the 9 × 13 pan in which it was baked. Do you think this recipe would work, changing up the bourbon for the rum and toasting the pecans before spreading them on top? I’ve looked for that recipe ever since I ate it and so far, this sounds closest. What say you?
Chef Dennis Littley
using bourbon wouldn’t be a problem and as long as the pecans go on after its baked that should be fine too. If you add them to the bottom of the pan before baking you may have issues getting it out of the pan.
E
Takes me back to my childhood. I still have my mother’s Pillsbury recipe book. A family favourite.
Kristina
This was an amazing flavorful cake. It may become a go to for desserts at parties because my family loved it.
Amy Liu Dong
Oh my gosh, this cake was so delicious and I love how easy it was to make. Thank you!
Jamie
This was such a great-looking cake, and it was absolutely delicious and very yummy! The texture and color make it so enticing and very appealing! Loved it!
Elena
I baked this cake yesterday for a dinner party. It was so rich and buttery, my guests couldn’t get enough. They loved it so much that they asked for the recipe.
Pat Michelin
Absolutely wonderful cake. Easier to make than I thought it would be. I needed the cake right away to serve dinner guests and didn’t have any Rum or Rum extract on hand so I used Bourbon instead because that was all I had. It got raves from everyone. I will be making this again and will make sure I have Rum on hand so that I may make it properly as written.
andrea
this butter cake was something special! so rich, bold, and sweet with every bite!
Sharon
I love this butter cake recipe I had all the ingredients and it was delicious!
Mikayla
I saw this and thought of the whiskey cake I used to make. So we had to make it, oh my goodness it was so good!
Elizabeth
Everyone loved this cake, it’s going to be the perfect treat for summer barbecues! Thanks for the recipe!
nancy
deliciously butter rich this cake is. It is so moist and I just want to eat it all myself
Oscar
Loved how buttery and rich this cake was. Making it again next week to bring to a bbq, thanks for the recipe.
Lisa Henry
I’m baking this right now. Will let you know how it turns out.
Barbara
Your Kentucky butter cake sounds delish!!
Have to wait a bit but will be making it for sure. Cant wait to taste it!