This buttermilk cake recipe has the perfect flavor and fluffy texture. It’s a classic buttermilk cake that you will make repeatedly. It’s perfectly paired with a chocolate buttercream frosting or made into a bundt cake with a dusting of powdered sugar. This is a foolproof recipe that works every time!
For more simple yet delicious cake recipes, try my moist chocolate cake, carrot cake, and old-fashioned pound cake.
Buttermilk Cake
If you’re looking for a classic cake recipe with the most delicious buttermilk flavor, this is it! The recipe uses oil, butter, buttermilk, and eggs to create a super moist and tender texture.
The baking soda and baking powder give it a beautiful height and make it incredibly fluffy. It’s a versatile cake perfect for birthdays, dinner parties, or simple gatherings.
We made this cake for a simple dinner party and everyone loved it. It’s an easy recipe and we’re confident you will love it as much as we do!
Also, try our lavender cake and coconut loaf recipe too!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Super Moist and Fluffy: The buttermilk, oil, and butter make this cake incredibly moist with the perfect fluffy texture.
Works in Any Pan: Make it as a sheet cake, bundt cake, or round layer cake – this recipe turns out great every time!
Delicious Flavor: The buttermilk gives this cake the most wonderful flavor that pairs perfectly with any frosting.
Buttermilk Cake Ingredients
Cake Flour – Cake flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour and a finer, lighter texture. If you don’t have cake flour, no worries! You can make your own cake flour.
Baking Powder + Baking Soda – Both are dry leavening agents used to increase the volume and lighten the cake’s texture.
Unsalted Butter – Use good quality, pure butter when baking. Butter creates a light and tender texture, gives the cake a buttery flavor, and also helps it rise. Make sure the butter is at room temperature and soft.
Granulated Sugar – White sugar sweetens the cake. If you want to use a different sweetener, check out these sugar substitutions.
Large Eggs – Eggs add structure and moisture to the cake. Use large, organic eggs when baking this recipe.
Vegetable Oil – We use a little oil in the recipe as it helps create the moistest cakes. Oil captures the gases that are released from the interaction of the baking powder and baking soda, and slows down gluten formation to keep specific baked goods tender and fluffy in texture!
Buttermilk – Use 2% reduced-fat cultured buttermilk. You can find this at your local grocery store. You might also see cultured, low-fat organic buttermilk, which is even better. You can make your own using my recipe if you don’t have buttermilk.
Vanilla Extract – Use a good quality, pure vanilla extract. You can also use vanilla bean paste, which will give it more of a vanilla flavor and make it a vanilla buttermilk cake. The best vanilla to use is Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract.
How To Make Buttermilk Cake
Preheat and prepare: Heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare your cake pan with parchment paper, butter, and a little flour.
Sift dry ingredients: Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
Mix wet ingredients: In a measuring cup, combine the buttermilk, vanilla extract, and vegetable oil.
Beat butter and sugar: Using a mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs: Beat in one egg at a time until fully combined.
Make batter: On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the buttermilk mixture in 2 parts. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
Bake: Pour batter into your prepared pan and bake for 25-35 minutes depending on the pan size, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool: Let the cake cool in the pan while you make the frosting.
Make chocolate frosting: Melt chocolate and butter together, then add hot coffee and vanilla. Mix this with sifted powdered sugar until smooth.
Frost and decorate: Once the cake is completely cool, spread the chocolate frosting over the top and decorate with edible flowers or sprinkles!
Storage
Room Temperature
You can store this buttermilk cake at room temperature in an airtight container for 1-2 days. If you’ve added the chocolate frosting, make sure it’s kept in a cool spot away from heat to prevent the frosting from melting.
Refrigerate
For longer storage, keep the cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The buttermilk cake actually tastes even better after a day in the fridge!
Freezer
To freeze your buttermilk cake, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap as soon as it cools completely. You can freeze it unfrosted or frosted.
The cake will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. The frozen cake thaws quickly and makes a great base for adding frosting later.
Eden’s Tips
Room Temperature Ingredients: Make sure all your ingredients, especially the butter, eggs, and buttermilk, are at room temperature before starting. This creates a smoother batter and helps the cake rise properly.
Real Buttermilk: Use real cultured buttermilk from the grocery store for the best flavor. If you don’t have it, you can make your own using my buttermilk substitute recipe.
Quality Vanilla: Use a good quality, pure vanilla extract like Nielsen-Massey for the best flavor. The difference between pure and imitation vanilla is noticeable in simple cakes like this one.
Sifting Matters: Don’t skip sifting the dry ingredients! This step helps create that perfect light and fluffy texture that makes this cake so special.
Proper Pan Prep: Line your pan with parchment paper and leave some hanging over the sides for easy removal. I also butter and flour the sides to ensure nothing sticks.
Buttermilk Cake Toppings
This cake goes with so many different flavors and there are several ways you can top it! Here are some of our favorite suggestions:
Frosting – Top this cake with any frosting you desire. We prefer chocolate buttercream, but you can also add cream cheese frosting, vanilla frosting, or whipped Swiss buttercream.
Sprinkles and Edible Flowers – We love using sprinkles for a birthday cake and edible flowers for a simple gathering. Dried edible flowers work just as well as fresh ones.
Fresh Fruit – If you prefer a light cake, top it with whipped cream and fresh fruit and berries.
The possibilities are endless for this cake, so feel free to get creative!
Different Cake Pans You Can Use
Buttermilk cake is very versatile and can be made in different pans. Here are some suggestions on what pans you can use to make this cake:
Sheet Cake Pan – Sheet cakes are cakes baked in a rectangular cake pan that ranges in size from 9x13x2 to 10×7. Any of these sizes will work.
Bundt Pans – Also known as tube pans. This is a round pan with a hole in the middle. Some of them have designs and others are smooth. If you use this pan, make sure to butter and flour it as you can’t use parchment paper to help release the cake.
Loaf Pan – A loaf pan is a small rectangular pan that we use to make our coconut cake and pumpkin bread. If you use a loaf pan for this recipe, you will likely need to make two cakes. When you bake a cake in a loaf pan, it’s often called pound cake. So this would be a buttermilk pound cake recipe.
Round Cake Pans – If you want to make a layer cake, then use 2 8×2 round cake pans.
When to Serve Buttermilk Cake
This is the perfect dessert year-round and for any celebration. Here are some ideas for when to serve this easy buttermilk cake recipe:
- Brunch
- Birthday Party
- Carnival Party
- Garden Party
- Fall Harvest Party
- Christmas Party or Easter Brunch
More Cake Recipes You’ll Love
If you love this cake, here are more of our homemade cake recipes to try:
Let me know what you think about this cake by leaving a comment and review below! We’d love to know your thoughts.
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Buttermilk Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Buttermilk Cake
- 2 1/4 cups cake flour, sifted
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Chocolate Frosting
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate bar, chopped
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
- 1/4 cup hot coffee
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Buttermilk Cake
- Preheat and Prepare – Heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare the cake pans. You can use a 10 x 2 pan or two 8 x 2 round cake pans. Add parchment paper and butter to the bottom, and add a little flour for easy removal. You can also prepare the ingredients.
- Sift—Using a sieve or a sifter, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. If you don’t have a way to sift, simply add the ingredients to a mixing bowl and gently whisk them together using a fork. This will incorporate air and lighten the ingredients.
- Combine – In a liquid measuring cup combine the buttermilk, vanilla and oil.
- Beat – In a mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar n medium-high speed until light and fluffy. This will take about 3 minutes.
- Eggs – Gradually beat one egg at a time.
- Alternate Dry Ingredients and Wet Ingredients – Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the buttermilk in 2 parts. Beat until smooth and scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Bake—Depending on the pan, this cake will bake for 25 – 35 minutes. The 10 x 2 will take about 25 minutes, and the two rounds will take 30-35 minutes.
- Cool – Let the cake cool while you make the frosting,
Quick Chocolate Frosting
- Chop the chocolate and cube the butter.
- In a double boiler or heatproof bowl over a small saucepan, warm the chocolate and butter until it’s melted.
- Add in the coffee and vanilla extract.
- Pour the melted chocolate into a bowl with powdered sugar. The chocolate mixture might look a little curdled, but it's okay. It will smooth out.
- Using a spatula fold the mixture until it’s smooth.
- Frost the cooled cake using a spatula.
- Decorate with edible flowers or sprinkles.
Notes
- For best results, ensure the ingredients are all at room temperature.
- Baking time will vary. Check the cake by inserting a toothpick into the center. When it comes out clean, the cake is done
- Know the difference between cultured and traditional buttermilk (grocery-store variety).
- Use quality ingredients when baking.
I find this a little confusing…..eggs are added twice. “Combine – In a liquid measuring cup combine the buttermilk, oil, and eggs.
Beat – In a mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar n medium-high speed until light and fluffy. This will take about 3 minutes. Gradually beat in one egg at a time.”
i followed the second instruction for adding the eggs and the cake turned out nice and moist.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention! It’s now fixed!
It’s in the oven right now….with some lemon zest. I like lemon cake! I also used a bunt pan. I hope the cake will turn out oke because the steps in your describtion got me confused. Step 3, 4 ..in that order…can.t be done imo. Shoot, it just got me thinking that I forgot the vanilla extract because it’s never mentioned.
After step 3 I incorporated the oil,milk, eggs mixture and it started to curdle…I hope my cake wil turn oke now….
Wow – great recipe. easy to make and so delicious. My family loved it. Definitely making your. recipe again soon.
So moist and it has the perfect texture. I made it for dessert and also enjoyed a cup with my morning coffee!
This recipe is amazing! The chocolate icing goes very well with the cake and my children enjoyed this!