Butter Cake Recipe

This basic Butter Cake Recipe captures everything we love about this classic cake.

It’s tender, with a balanced texture and fine crumb that melts in your mouth. And, of course, that luscious buttery flavour. Yum. Yum.

What is Butter Cake?

Butter Cake is an old-fashioned cake that makes butter the star ingredient – it’s known for its rich and buttery flavour as the name suggests.

It’s lighter in texture but greater in volume compared to pound cakes.

It has a denser texture when compared with a sponge cake (which generally contain very little or no butter or other fats).

Butter Cake is extremely versatile and can be enjoyed plain, or with various fillings, frostings, icings and glazes.

The history of Butter Cake

What we today know as a Butter Cake is thought to have originated from the English Pound Cake.

It’s evolved into the “quintessential American cake” and is often the cake of choice for birthday cakes, wedding cakes and other celebrations.

We’re also pretty keen on this particular type of cake here in Australia, too!

I remember my Mum bringing home blocks of buttercake with vanilla icing and sprinkles from the bakeries she worked at. Always wrapped in plastic food wrap and always delicious.

However, today we’re making it at home!

Here’s my traditional butter cake recipe detailed below in full and in the recipe card at the very end of this post.

Ingredients for Butter Cake

Here’s what you need to make this classic cake:

• a 7 inch round cake tin
• SR flour (or plain/all purpose flour + baking powder)
• salt
• butter
• vanilla extract
• caster sugar
• eggs
• milk.

Ingredient quantities can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post. Keep scrolling!

How to make Butter Cake

Prepping

Start by pre-heating the oven to moderate (180 degrees celsius/355 degrees fahrenheit, fan-forced) and greasing your 7 inch round cake tin (then lining it with baking paper).

Creaming and mixing

Cream the butter and vanilla extract until fluffy.

Add the sugar gradually and beat again.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Next, we need to add the flour and milk bit by bit as follows:

• Add half of the flour and fold into mixture.
• Add all of the milk and fold into the mixture.
• Add the rest of the flour and fold into the mixture.

Next, spoon the mixture into the tin.

Use a spatula to even out the mixture if necessary

Baking

Bake your cake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes before turning cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

Icing for Butter Cake

Sure, you can enjoy this rich butter cake recipe on its own.

But why not smother it in this lovely vanilla buttercream frosting?

To make the icing, you’ll need:

• unsalted butter
• icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
• milk.

And add some sprinkles if you want to make it really fancy!

Cream the butter before gradually adding the icing sugar and continuing to beat.

Next, add the milk and beat again until light and fluffy.

Use a spatula to spread buttercream over cooled cake. Add sprinkles, if desired.

And who wouldn’t desire some pretty sprinkles?

Recipe FAQs

Q. How long will this cake keep?

Store at room temperature – iced or uniced – for up to 3 days.

Q. Can it be frozen?

Yes. Wrap and freeze for up to 2 months.

Q. Do you have other classic cake recipes?

I sure do! Check out my recipes for sponge cake, boiled chocolate cake, carrot cake, swiss roll, sultana cake, coconut cake, Christmas cake, rock cakes, lamingtons, lemon cake, butterfly cakes, pumpkin cake, and choc ripple cake.