Kentucky Butter Cake (AVERYbody Should Have a Go To Cake)

I hosted a postcard session a couple of weeks ago and as an enticement, I provided “snacks” for it.  Snacks in my book aren’t just a bag of chips and a bowl of dip, nope.  I mean to ask people to write and decorate a gazillion postcards, ya gotta have mouthwatering, lip-smacking, delicious food.  Am I right?

That day the weather was a chilly 55 degrees (remember we are talking California), so I made Sam Kass’ slow-roasted pork.  Just salt and pepper the meat, slide it into the oven and fuggedaboutit.  When it is done, shred and serve.  So darn easy and yummy.  I put out corn tortillas, guac, onions and salsa for taco “fixins” to go along.  For those who didn’t want tacos, I made  CRAZY GOOD OOEY-GOOEY Mac and Cheese.  So hard to pick which way to have my pork and eat it too.

No Dessert?

I didn’t have time to make dessert (I know, blasphemous) but luckily my friend’s daughter called while we were hard at work and volunteered to make dessert for us.  Yippee!  So sweet of Avery!  She arrived with a luscious Kentucky Butter Cake that was moist, buttery, sweet…downright delicious.  Oohs and aahs prevailed from all, including my kids who added: “this is the best cake ever”.  I immediately asked for the recipe.

Impatience got the better of me so I googled Kentucky Butter Cake and quite a few recipes popped up on my feed. I picked a recipe (using the scientific eenie-meanie-miney-moe method) from the blog, Cookies and Cups, and added a couple of tweaks from the blog Spicy Southern Kitchen.

I baked it, I glazed it, I cut it, I served it…to a resounding chorus of…

It’s OK, but Avery’s was much better

Repeated, ad nauseam …

I no longer like Avery.  Actually I no longer like my family, Avery is okay.

Just kidding. I got on the horn and called S (her mom), where’s the recipe?!  Her reply was, “I sent it to you days ago”. Oops, my bad…there it was buried in my inbox.

I noticed Avery’s baked at 325, mine at 350, used sour cream instead of buttermilk, and had WAY more of that delicious butter sugar glaze.

The version I used was like the “cooking light” version.  If you didn’t just have a bite of the original, it was perfectly acceptable.  If you put them side by side, fuggedaboutit.  Hands down Avery’s version comes out on top.

Cooking Light

I have included directions for Avery’s version and my “cooking light” version (for transparency’s sake).  A couple of tweaks could bring mine closer to Avery’s.  But then, you might as well just make Avery’s version. Your family and friends will be eating out of your hand.

Instead of that cup of low-fat buttermilk, use sour cream.  Yep, the start to a richer, moister cake.

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, then alternate flour with liquid (start and end with dry ingredients).  You’ll end up with a fluffy but substantial batter.

Bake the cake at 350 and you will get a nice brown crust, at 325 the cake will be lighter in color.  I would definitely bake the cake for less time if you use 350 degrees. Take the cake out and let it cool for 10 minutes.  Remove the cake from the pan to prevent sticking and then put it back in the pan for its luxurious bath of butter sugar syrup.  It will be easier to remove later, trust me, no actually, trust AVERY.

Use a skewer or skinny chopstick to poke holes ALL OVER the cake. Pour the sugar-butter glaze over the cake,  don’t be afraid, it will absorb all of it easily.  Let the cake sit a spell, remove from the pan and dig in!

This is a pic of my “cooking light version” which had considerably less glaze and cooked at a higher temp.  With Avery’s (yeah, that cake-baking brat again) you could see the glaze that had soaked into the cake, dreamy and delicious.

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Kentucky Butter Cake

Rich, moist, buttery, everything delicious in a bundt cake

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Bundt cake, Kentucky Butter Cake

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Ingredients

CAKE

• 1 cup butter cubed at room temperature
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup sour cream or 1 cup buttermilk

BUTTER GLAZE

• 1/2 cup butter deb version (which really isn't enough syrup) 1/3 cup
• 1 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water 2 Tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon vanilla 2 teaspoons

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 325°F/165°C (Deb's version 350, start checking cake at 45 minutes)
• Grease a 10″ bundt pan with butter or shortening very liberally. Dust the pan with flour and set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar with mixer until light about 2 minutes
• Add eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition
• Add vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and mix to combine about 1 minute
• Add flour and sour cream or buttermilk, alternating. Start with flour and finish with flour
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for ~65 minutes until a toothpick entered into the center comes out clean.
• When the cake is done make the glaze. Combine all ingredients into a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir continuously until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Do not bring to a boil.
• Remove cake from pan and then put it back in pan to glaze cake. This helps keep the cake from sticking after glaze.
• Poke holes all over the warm cake using a knife or skewer or skinny chopstick and pour the glaze evenly on the cake while still in the pan.
• Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan and then invert the cake onto a serving plate.
• Make this cake a day in advance, so the syrup has time to infuse the cake.