Kentucky Butter Cake is an insanely moist pound cake with a sweet, buttery sauce that soaks through the cake. This cake tastes even better the next day!
This Kentucky Butter Cake isn’t overly sweet and has plenty of butter flavor. It is the perfect cake to snack on while sipping a cup of coffee or tea. This is a typical pound cake type recipe with a dense texture, but not too dense. It’s easy to make from ingredients you likely have on hand.
All the ingredients get mixed together using a stand mixer, then the batter is poured into a Bundt pan and baked for about an hour.
While it’s still warm, you poke holes in the cake and let a delicious butter sauce seep down into the cake. The outside gets a little buttery and crispy and the inside is so buttery and moist.
Kentucky Butter Cake freezes really well. Just wrap it well in plastic wrap or foil.
You’ll like this cake so much, you’ll be making an excuse to eat it first thing in the morning for breakfast.

Watch the short video below to see how easy this cake is to make!
Kentucky Butter Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Butter Sauce
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a Bundt pan or use baking spray with flour.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
- Using an electric stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes.
- Mix in eggs one at a time.
- Add the vanilla to the buttermilk.
- Add flour mixture to butter mixture., alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
- Pour batter into Bundt pan and bake for 60 minutes.
- Make butter sauce when you are getting ready to take cake out of the oven. Bring sugar, water, and butter to a low boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- After cake is removed from oven, poke holes in the top and pour the butter mixture down into holes. Let cake cool for about 10 minutes and then remove from pan. Don't let it cool much longer before removing from pan or it will stick.
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Recipe Source: AllRecipes.com
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This cake is so moist and tasty. It’s now a family favorite!
I love this recipe and have used it for so many occasions! I wonder if I could add a cup of mash sweet potatoes and make it a sweet potato pound cake! Any thoughts?
How do I store this?
Great taste. Very buttery.. excellent recipe..
It’s one of the best cakes that I’ve eaten. And when I serve it my friends, the expressions on thier faces are priceless.
This is the best recipe for “pound” cake I have ever made.
I make it often because it’s my husband’s favorite. It’s very moist, and buttery, and we use it for shortcake and trifles.
Absolutely delicious! So easy to follow the recipe.
The cake is delicious. I kept looking at the ingredients list and instructions to see if butter should have been room temperature for easy mixing. It didn’t say it anywhere. I melted the butter for the batter in the microwave and then added it to the sugar for creaming. The sauce recipe can be cut in half because it makes way too much. I will also reduce my cook time when I make it again because 60 minutes made it almost burnt. I know that ovens vary so I will adjust. Thanks for the recipe!