This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my privacy policy.
FREE EMAIL BONUS:
5 Secrets to 20 Minute Dinners!
Tips, tricks, and recipes for dinner in a hurry!
Butter Cake Recipe
This is the BEST butter cake ever! It is baked, tried and tested by hundreds of fans and readers.
This is the only recipe that you will need. You will bake this rich cake over and over again because it’s so delicious.
The cake is extremely rich, buttery, moist, soft and fluffy. Every bite transports you to heaven.
How to Make Butter Cake?
This homemade butter cake recipe is fail-proof.
It’s great for novice bakers and yields perfect results every time.
This is the BEST and easiest recipe you’ll find online and I am going to teach you how to make it from scratch.
Recipe Ingredients
The recipe calls for simple ingredients that you can get from any grocery stores:
- Unsalted butter
- All purpose flour
- Sugar
- Eggs
- Yogurt or Milk
- Baking powder
- Vanilla extract
This easy recipe and simple instructions take less than an hour for a rich and delicious cake, straight from your oven.
What Is the Difference between Butter Cake and Pound Cake?
They are both very similar as they use baking powder as a leavening agent.
Pound cake gets the name because the traditional recipe calls for one pound each for the three main ingredients: butter, flour and sugar.
Butter cake has a slightly different measurement (not in the same 1:1:1 ratio) but the ingredients are similar.
Baking Tips
Make sure you follow my tips below for perfect results every time.
- Use a high quality butter. I like Challenge brand unsalted butter.
- Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to make the cake batter.
- Sift the flour for a smooth cake batter.
- Yogurt is preferred over milk and will make the cake extra soft, fluffy and moist.
- To avoid over browning of the top of the cake, cover it halfway while baking with a sheet of aluminum foil. DO NOT COVER when the cake goes into the oven or it won’t rise properly.
- If you cover the top of the cake with aluminum foil, make sure the cake batter doesn’t stick to it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Butter Cake Need to Be Refrigerated?
No, you don’t have to refrigerate the cake.
The cake is best served warm, or at room temperature.
If you have leftovers, you can wrap it up with aluminum foil or plastic wrap to keep them from drying out.
You can keep them for up to 3 days at room temperature. DO NOT FREEZE the cake.
To serve the leftover, you can warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds. You can also heat the cake up using a toaster oven.
Can I Add Berries to the Cake?
Yes, you can.
You can add fresh berry such as blueberry to the cake batter.
You can also add dry fruits such as raisins and prunes to the cake.
How Many Calories per Slice of Cake?
This recipe is only 238 calories per slice.
Serve Butter Cake With:
I love having them with a cup of coffee or tea for afternoon. It’s absolutely delightful and delicious.
For an afternoon tea party for both sweet and savory treats, I recommend the following recipes to go with the cake.
Butter Cake (The Best!)
Ingredients
- 7 oz. (200g) cake flour or all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (225g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 7 oz. (200g) sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 tablespoons plain yogurt or full milk (plain yogurt preferred)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Lightly grease the pan (loaf pan, mini loaf pan, 8x8-inch (20x20cm) or 9x9-inch (23x23cm) square pan, round pan) with some butter. Mix the flour and the baking powder together and sieve. Add in the salt and mix well. Set aside.
- Use an electronic hand mixer or stand mixer to beat the butter and sugar until well combined or pale yellow in color, about 3 minutes.
- Add in the first egg. Beat well after each addition of egg until creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes after adding each egg.
- Scrape down the sides for even mixing. Add in the vanilla extract and mix well. Fold in the flour and mix well. Add in the plain yogurt or whole milk
- Pour the batter into the greased baking pan. Shake it lightly to distribute the cake batter evenly. Bake until golden brown and cooked, about 40 - 50 minutes. To prevent the top of the cake from over browning, cover the top of the baking pan with a sheet of aluminum foil once the cake top is set. Use a cake tester to test doneness.
- Remove it from the oven and let cool on the wire rack for 5 minutes. Cut into pieces and serve warm.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Hi Bee
Happy new year to u!
I made this cake yesterday n it turned out pretty solid with tight pores or hardly see any pores, hence not soft n fluffy at all. Thankfully, it still taste yummy. Also, oil oozed out when I pressed the cake top to check doness at abt 40 or 45 minutes. All in, I baked for 60 minutes aft seeing the oil.
I went back to your notes n comments again n realsed that I had creamed the butter n sugar for abt 10 minutes at speed 4 in Kenwood table top,, 4 is quite a fast speed for my machine with speed fr 0 to 7.. Do u think I hv over beaten it hence causing the sturdy texture outcome?
Thank you!
Grace
Singapore
Hi Grace, this butter cake is quite dense and not the soft and fluffy kind. Cream until the butter and sugar turn pale. I am not familiar with Kenwood.
Thanks, Bee, for your v quick response. Just for my reference only, how many minutes did u cream your butter n sugar n at what kind of speed roughly, would u say – medium? Medium high or high speed?
I use a hand mixer, high speed for a few minutes.
Hi, i tried less sugar so only added 120g sugar, but the cake t the bottom tirned uncooked like rubbery… Is it because of less sugar?
Hye. I’ve tried your recipe. Its turns out good. Just that the cake texture is a bit rough. I use superfine all purpose flour. Do have any idea how to make the cake texture finer?
Mix it longer and it will be smooth. Also sieve the flour.
Hi, I tried this recipe today. The cake turned out delicious. Thank u so much for the wonderful recipe. And also I’m super surprised to see the comments from 2008 to 2018. Such a great work. Keep it up. Can I use the same recipe with wheat flour instead of APF?
Hi Meera, I am not sure about wheat flour as I haven’t tried it.
Made this with coarse sugar and without an electric mixer – mixture didn’t look creamy to me but the cake turned out yummy too! :)
Awesome, try to use fine sugar next time for this butter cake.
Hi, there are a few different sizes of pans mentioned. May I check for this amount of recipe, what suits best? Thank you!
You can make 1 loaf pan, 3 mini loaf pans, or one 8×8 square pan.
Pls I will like to know if Butter can be substituted with margarine and what quantity?
Yes, you can but I am not sure how much since I didn’t try.
Hi,
I made your Walnut Butter Cake (WBC) last week and it was so awesome. I want to try make your butter cake. Well actually I have in mind to make a flavored butter cake but I want to use your recipe as the basis. My question is, in your WBC recipe, the portion looks like 1/2 of your Butter Cake recipe. However, why is it the same amount of baking powder? In your WBC, it uses 1 tsp of baking powder and your Butter cake uses the same amount – 1 tsp. Since the BC recipe is 2x of your WBC, shouldn’t it be 2 tsps? Appreciate you can clarify this.
Hi Julie, the walnut butter cake, I used another website’s recipe, I was just following the instructions.
Ok then I will stick to your recipe for the BC. 1 tsp Baking Powder that is.
Thks :)
Good luck baking!
Tried this recipe for the first time. Cake turned out to be really good. My family loved it. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
Thanks for trying this butter cake.
Hi Bee, im in love with all your recipes can you help me make your butter
cake recipe sugarfree?
Hi TJ, thanks for your support, but I am not sure how to make butter cake sugar free. Can you have artificial sweeteners? I am sorry but I really don’t know how.
I would like to know the egg yolks and white should seperate? or combine for making this cake?
Combine.
Last time I make butter cake, i have failed miserably. Will give it another shot using this recipe. Thanks
You will have success with my butter cake recipe.