Butter Cake

A simple and versatile butter cake is an essential recipe. My lightly sweet, gorgeously tender version is easily dressed up or down with frosting or whipped cream and is equally delicious served plain with fresh fruit. Definitely one to keep as your failsafe birthday cake!

Why You'll Love This Butter Cake Recipe

This is a simple enough cake, calling for the usual suspects of eggs, milk, and butter. And yet. When capped with a creamy swath of chocolate buttercream (or almond buttercream, as I did in another iteration) it borders on the sublime. Everyone needs a simple, solid cake recipe that you can turn to again and again when you need a birthday cake or just a quick afternoon cake. This butter cake recipe ticks all the boxes.

I've been making this cake for years, through many moves and in many countries! It's forgiving and can be made dairy-free if needed with either coconut oil or non-dairy butter for the butter, and your favorite non-dairy milk for the milk. I've tried it all! A few reasons why I know it'll be a hit:

• Super simple ingredients - All the easy, good, reliable stuff is here, from baking powder to vanilla to butter and eggs. You probably can make this cake in the time it takes to get to the end of this post!
• Adaptable - Yep, this is IT, your building block to so many desserts. Make a sort of strawberry shortcake cake with berries and cream, top it with chocolate frosting and sprinkles for the quintessential birthday cake, and basically anything you can think of, it will be perfect.
• Make it gluten free - Swap your favorite 1:1 gluten free flour to easily make this into a gluten free butter cake, or see my post for my gluten free butter cake recipe!

What You'll Need

There's a short and sweet ingredients list for this simple butter cake recipe. I've outlined them below. The full ingredient amounts and detailed instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.

• All-purpose flour - Use the spoon and level method rather than scooping the flour so that your cake doesn't turn out overly dense.
• Baking powder
• Salt - Use fine sea salt or table salt.
• Butter - Unsalted butter is best, at room temperature, so that it doesn't compete with the sweetness of the cake.
• Granulated sugar - To make this cake refined sugar-free, substitute coconut sugar, although the color of the cake may be a bit darker.
• Eggs - Large eggs were used to develop this recipe so use large eggs if you can.
• Milk - Whole milk is best to give the cake a soft richness, but 2% milk will work in a pinch.
• Vanilla extract

How to Make Butter Cake

• Prep: Preheat your oven to 350℉. Line the bottom of an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan with parchment.
• Make dry mix: In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Cream butter: Cream the butter, then add the sugar and beat until the mixture is very light in color and texture.

• Add eggs: Beat in the eggs.
• Combine: Add the flour, milk, and vanilla in alternating additions.

• Place in the pan: Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
• Bake: Now bake for 25 to 30 minutes, then cool on a rack.

Serving Suggestions

One of the reasons I love this cake recipe is that it can be used in so many ways. You can make it into a layer cake, keep it as a single layer, add frosting, or just a dusting of powdered sugar. In the photos, I've topped it with my favorite chocolate buttercream and it's simply the best. Here are a few more ideas to get you started:

• Frosting. Chocolate buttercream is such a dream of a frosting. See my recipe for homemade buttercream, or use your favorite recipe to top this cake. You could do any type of frosting you like though - vanilla, cream cheese, salted caramel, lemon ...
• Whipped cream. A soft cap of sweetened or unsweetened homemade whipped cream is amazing with this cake! Or, split the cake in half and fill with with whipped cream and strawberries for a simple strawberries and cream cake.
• Powdered sugar. Keep it ultra simple and dust the top of this cake with sifted powdered sugar for a little extra sweetness.
• Fruit. Serve slices of cake with fruit like a mix of blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries (this is also a great moment to add that dollop of whipped cream!).

Tips and Substitutions

See a few tips below to make this cake perfectly:

• Bring ingredients to room temperature - This is important in any baking recipe. Bringing the ingredients to room temperature helps them better blend together.
• Make a double batch - For a layer cake, double the ingredients to make two cake layers. You can either use two layers for the cake or split each layer in half to make a stunning presentation.
• Bake in an 8-inch or 9-inch pan - I prefer to bake cakes in an 8-inch cake pan because they bake up a bit thicker and I adore a thick slice of cake. However, you can also bake the batter in a 9-inch cake pan.
• Do cupcakes - One batch of butter cake batter will yield 12 cupcakes. Use cupcake liners or well grease a cupcake tin, then fill each cup ⅔ of the way with batter and bake for about 20 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.

Storage Options

This cake holds up well and it's a nice choice to make ahead and freeze for later. Here's how to store butter cake:

• Fridge - Cool the cake and place it on a plate, well covered with plastic wrap and foil, and store it in the fridge for up to 5 days (frosted or unfrosted).
• Freezer - After the cake has cooled to room temperature, wrap it in a layer of plastic, then a layer of foil. Store the cake in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw the cake in the fridge overnight before frosting or serving it.

More Simple Cake Recipes

• Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes
• Busy Day Cake
• The Best Chocolate Cake

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Butter Cake

Nicole Spiridakis

A simple and versatile butter cake is an essential recipe. My lightly sweet, gorgeously tender version is easily dressed up or down.

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Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 10 servings

Calories 247 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ▢ 1 cup granulated sugar,
• ▢ 2 eggs lightly beaten
• ▢ ½ cup whole milk

Easy Chocolate Frosting

• ▢ 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• ▢ 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
• ▢ ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ▢ 2 tablespoons whole milk, plus more if needed
• ▢ ½ teaspoopn vanilla extract

Instructions

 

• Preheat your oven to 350℉. Line the bottom of an 8 or 9-inch round cake pan with a circle of parchment.
• In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to mix well and aerate.
• In a large bowl and using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until the butter is lighter in color, about 45 seconds. Then add the sugar in a steady stream and scrape down the bowl again. Continue to mix on medium speed until the mixture is very light in color and texture, about 4 to 5 minutes.
• Slowly pour in the eggs a little at a time, and beat very well for about 2 minutes.
• Combine the vanilla and milk in a small bowl or measuring cup.
• With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture in four doses, alternating with the milk in three doses. Scrape down the sides of the bowl in between additions.
• Pour the batter into prepared cake pan, place in the oven, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven and set on a rack to cool for 10 minutes then turn out onto rack to finish cooling completely.

Frosting

• Heat chocolate in a double bolier until melted. Let cool to room temperature. In a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter. Add the chocolate, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, then reduce the speed to low. Add more sugar and milk as needed.
• If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it is creamy but still holds peaks.
• Liberally frost cake.

Nutrition

Calories: 247kcalCarbohydrates: 35gProtein: 4gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.4gCholesterol: 59mgSodium: 112mgPotassium: 54mgFiber: 1gSugar: 21gVitamin A: 351IUCalcium: 61mgIron: 1mg

Disclaimer: Nutrition information is automatically calculated and is an estimate (I'm not a nutritionist and can't guarantee accuracy!). Even when not specified, be sure to check that all the ingredients you use are gluten free if you need them to be by reading labels on all packaging and/or confirming with the manufacturer.

Did you make this recipe?Let me know in the comments how it went!