This is the butter cake recipe that I cannot stop making. A soft, tender butter cake, made with sour cream for moisture, with an impossibly light and fluffy crumb. I finish mine with sugar for a crunchy finish, but this cake is the perfect base recipe you will find yourself turning to again and again.
Hi hi! I am just popping into share this super easy butter cake recipe with you! This Butter Cake is high up on the list of recipes I've been making over and over the last year and have finally stopped gatekeeping to share with you (ahem, vanilla pound cake).
While I know there are a lot of butter cakes on the internet, I think that this one is a little bit special. It has a slightly different method which gives it the most amazing fluffy texture, and a hit of moisture from the sour cream also adds the most amazing delicate tang to the cake.
We are OBSESSED with this butter cake - I have given up on making a single of it because it just disappears so quickly in my house, so I always double the recipe. It is perfect as is, (AMAZING slightly warm from the oven), and makes a beautiful dessert paired with some fruit or whipped cream.
This Butter Cake is, to me, the perfect dessert: Great to make ahead, and just so, so versatile. I hope you love it as much as we do! For a cinnamon sugar version check out my Donut Cake, and for a spiced version, my spice cake recipe is so good!
This Cake was meant to be a Pound Cake
This cake also came from my friend Chelsea who I gave me the pound cake recipe. She knew we had been making the pound cake for about a year and were totally obsessed with it, then texted me saying 'Try this, I think it might even be better than the last one'.
We tried it and while it was amazing, I wanted to see what would happen if I adapted it to be a flatter cake, more of a snacking style cake. A bit lighter and fluffier than the pound cake recipe, but still with an amazing texture, and something that you find yourself cutting a piece of every time that you walk past the kitchen.
I ended up tweaking it just a bit and playing around with the baking time - 330°f / 165°c seems to be the sweet spot, a longer, slower bake than other cake recipes. The result is magic. You can see my recipe testing notes below!
A few sneaky secrets for the fluffiest cake
This cake uses a slightly different method to give it that beautiful light and fluffy texture - you whip it HARD once you add the eggs. What this does it it beats up the eggs to make them super thick and the batter really light, so that it can take a fair amount of sour cream added for moisture and flavour without it being too weighed down.
This also starts to dissolve the sugar, which helps to give you that perfect crackly, almost meringue-like top to the cake. This is a similar technique used in brownie recipes ( I really nerd out about it over there if you're interested) to give that nice crackly top.
Granulated Sugar for the perfect crackly top to your butter cake
Another thing that I love doing when I am baking is adding a crunchy sugar top. I do this for muffins, banana bread, cookie bars, and cookies, so it only made sense to also do it for this butter cake!
Just a little sprinkling of granulated sugar on the top of this butter cake before going in the oven gives it the most amazing crinkly finish that is so delightful to bite through.
❤️ Made this recipe and love it? ❤️
I would LOVE for you to leave me a review and star rating below to let me know how you liked it! Also, please make sure to tag me on Instagram!
Answers to your baking questions
Over the years, many of you have asked me questions about:
- baking in grams
- adjusting oven temperatures
- what kind of salt to use
- and many more!
I've curated and answered them all for your easy reference in this frequently asked questions post!
The Butter Cake That I Can't Stop Making
- Author: Erin Clarkson
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Prep Time: 15 minutes -
Cook Time: 50 minutes
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Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
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Yield: 12 Servings -
Category: Cake -
Method: Baking -
Cuisine: American
Pin RecipeDescription
This is the butter cake that I cannot stop making. A soft, tender butter cake, made with sour cream for moisture, with an impossibly light and fluffy crumb. I finish mine with sugar for a crunchy finish, but this cake is the perfect base recipe you will find yourself turning to again and again.
Ingredients
- 150g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 320g granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 large eggs (about 110g, not including the shell), at room temperature
- 165g sour cream, at room temperature
- 250g all-purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt (use less if you are using table salt or salted butter)
- Extra granulated sugar for sprinkling on top of the cake (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 330°f / 165°c. Grease and line a 9" (23cm) square baking pan, extending the parchment paper over the edges of the pan so that you can use them as a sling later to remove the cake. I like to clip down the edges with little binder clips.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium to high speed until very light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing to combine between each, then beat the mix for a further 2-3 minutes on high speed until it has thickened up, and is very light.
- Measure out the sour cream into a small bowl. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Alternately add the flour mixture and the sour cream, starting and ending with the flour - add the flour in three additions and the sour cream in two, and briefly mix between additions. Switch to a spatula and give the mixture a few turns to ensure that it is evenly mixed.
- Transfer the mix to the prepared pan and smooth down with a spatula or the back of a spoon, making sure that there are no large air bubbles in the mixture.
- Sprinkle the top with extra granulated sugar if using.
- Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, until the middle springs back when lightly pressed with a finger, and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached.
- Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes, then use the parchment paper sling to remove it from the pan and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Store the cake at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
To make a peach and passionfruit version: I baked mine in a 10" (25cm) pan, and topped with sliced canned peaches (I used 4 large halves) which I patted dry with a paper towel before slicing. The cake took about 55 min to bake to account for the extra moisture / weight from the peaches. When it was hot from the oven I added passionfruit ice cream topping (I used the Delmaine one), but covering it with a jam of your choice would also work perfectly, or it is very delicious just with a sprinkle of powdered sugar!
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