This Kentucky Butter Bundt Cake is a wonderfully moist, basic cake that can be served in many ways and for many occasions.  From a simple slice to one grilled and topped with whipped cream and berries, this is one tasty dessert! 

Kentucky butter cake baked in a bundt pan

Kentucky Butter Bundt Cake

This buttery, buttermilk Bundt cake is extremely versatile. The blank vanilla canvas can be tweaked for all sorts of occasions, from an afternoon tea to an elegant dinner party. Let me enlighten you on the possibilities.

Ways to Serve a Vanilla Bundt Cake:

  • Simply serve slices with a dusting of powdered sugar.
  • Grill buttered slices on a grill pan and top with vanilla ice cream and either chocolate sauce or berries. A sprig of mint is always a nice touch!
  • Don slices with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream and balsamic strawberries or your favorite sweetened fresh fruit. I vote peaches.
  • How about with a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream drizzled with a rich fudge sauce or, for the holidays, or with a scoop of peppermint stick ice cream and a dollop of marshmallow cream?
  • Lemon curd and berries are perfect for the citrus lover.
  • Cube up leftovers and make a trifle by sprinkling with the cake with a liqueur and layering with custard, whipped cream, and berries! This is especially pretty composed in a glass bowl to showcase the layers.

Kentucky Butter Bundt Cake slice on a white dessert plate garnished with blueberries and a sprig of mint

Tips for Making Bundt Cakes:

I’ve added my tips to the recipe notes but thought I’d reinforce these hints for making a beautiful Bundt Cake.

  • Older Bundt pans have a tendency to stick. Especially if they’re “non-stick” and the coating is scratched or wearing off.
  • Usually, I’d suggest using Baker’s Joy or another non-stick flour and oil-based spray, but I find it will puddle in the bottom of the pan if you aren’t prepared to pour in the batter immediately after spraying. This results in a marred crust.
  • PRO-Tip: A better alternative, unless you’re really speedy, is to grease the pan with shortening (generously, but you don’t want it so thick that you can’t see the pan through the grease), then dust the pan with flour. Tap out the excess flour. Shortening works better than butter, but butter can be used in a pinch.
  • The original recipe for this Kentucky Butter Bundt cake called for completely cooling the cake in the pan before releasing it. This could easily be disastrous if your cake sticks, so I decided to release it as I do my other Bundt cakes, after 15 minutes.
  • Before releasing, I gently shake the pan back and forth until I feel that the cake is loose. Then I flip the cake onto the serving plate.
  • If a few pieces do stick to the pan, carefully remove them and find the proper spot on the cake to patch it back together. If needed a nice dusting of powdered sugar or frosting does wonders for camouflaging.
  • Fill your Bundt pan a little more than 2/3 full, definitely not to the top. If you’re using a smaller Bundt pan, pour extra batter into greased muffin tins, ramekins or a mini-Bundt cake pan.

Kentucky Butter Bundt Cake on a wavy edge white cake plate

More Vanilla Sweets You’ll Love:

a slice of Kentucky butter bundt cake

Kentucky Butter Bundt Cake

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Yield 10

A simple, versatile butter cake that can be served in so many ways!

Ingredients

Cake:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 4 eggs

Glaze:

  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup butter
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
  3. Mix in the buttermilk, butter, vanilla, and eggs.
  4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat for 3 minutes at medium speed. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
  5. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
  6. When the cake is almost done, make the butter sauce.
  7. In a saucepan combine the remaining sugar, butter,  vanilla, and water. Cook over medium heat, until fully melted and combined, but do not boil.
  8. With a long-tined fork or skewer prick holes in the still warm cake. Slowly pour ⅓ of the sauce over the cake. Let cake cool for about 15 minutes (longer and it might stick in the pan), then flip it out of the pan onto a serving plate.
  9. Brush the remaining glaze over the top of the cake. Let it finish cooling. Serve slices with desired garnishes, ice cream, whipped cream, berries, etc.

Notes

Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.

Make sure your baking powder is fresh. It has a much shorter shelf life than baking soda. The cake won't rise properly if it has expired.

After the cake cools for 15 minutes, gently shake it back and forth to loosen the cake from the pan, then flip it onto the serving plate. Don't shake too vigorously or pieces of the cake may break off and stick.

Well-used Bundt pans tend to stick, so I use a generous coating of butter or shortening, then a dusting of flour as my non-stick coating.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1 slice

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 508Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 117mgSodium: 495mgCarbohydrates: 71gFiber: 1gSugar: 47gProtein: 6g

Thatskinnychickcanbake.com occasionally offers nutritional information for recipes contained on this site. This information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although thatskinnychickcanbake.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased can change the nutritional information in any given recipe. Also, many recipes on thatskinnychickcanbake.com recommend toppings, which may or may not be listed as optional and nutritional information for these added toppings is not listed. Other factors may change the nutritional information such as when the salt amount is listed “to taste,” it is not calculated into the recipe as the amount will vary. Also, different online calculators can provide different results. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information obtained is accurate.

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