This moist vanilla buttermilk cake is a favorite. It’s easy and bakes in a 13×9 inch pan, then it’s topped with a yummy glaze that soaks in making the cake super moist and tasty. This cake is one of the best cakes I’ve ever had and it’s sure to be a family favorite.
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Hey there! Before you scroll, there’s lot’s of important stuff in the post!…including the FAQ section, which may answer any questions you might have about this recipe. Enjoy!
Confession…I ate A LOT of this cake. I mean I gave some away as well, but I personally ate way too much. This isn’t an exaggeration either. I LOVE this cake and it’s one of my absolute favorites.
Let’s Talk About Some of the Ingredients in this Cake:
All purpose flour: You’ll just use regular all purpose flour here, so no having to go out and find cake flour.
Buttermilk: Of course a buttermilk cake is going to have buttermilk in it. First, if you don’t like buttermilk, don’t panic. I don’t like buttermilk either and you will never catch me drinking it, but when it’s an ingredient in a cake, it will NOT come out tasting like buttermilk.
What buttermilk does in a cake is it gives it moisture and a really amazing taste, but nothing like if you were to drink it straight from the glass. So if you’re hesitant about trying it in a cake, don’t be. It’s seriously good.
The glaze also uses buttermilk, but don’t be scared away by that either. I promise, it does not taste like buttermilk. Also make sure to read the Tips and FAQ section in this post to answer questions about substituting it if you have to.
Vanilla Extract: Ideally I’d like to use vanilla bean paste (which you can still do if you want), but lately vanilla is super expensive, so vanilla extract does the job and it’ll still taste amazing.
Unsalted butter: This will be used for both the cake and the glaze. Read the Tips and FAQ section in this post to answer questions about substituting it.
Sugar: This recipe calls for regular granulated sugar for the cake and brown sugar for the glaze…(because brown sugar makes everything better, right?).
Mixing Method for this Cake:
For this cake, you’ll use the reverse creaming method. Don’t worry, it’s easy and I go through all the steps in the recipe card below.
The reverse creaming method just means you’ll mix up all the dry ingredients in one bowl, the liquid in another bowl, then you cut in the room temperature butter into the dry mixture and mix until it’s crumbly.
Then you’ll add in the liquid in two parts and mix. I actually find that the reverse creaming method is easier to do than the regular creaming method where you alternate adding in the ingredients…that’s kind of a pain sometimes.
Just remember that there is a video in the recipe card below that will show the mixing method as well.
Now, the easy thing about this cake is that it’s baked in a 13×9 inch glass pan, so there’s not worrying about having to remove the cakes from layer pans or anything like that. And you don’t have to get fancy with icing either.
The glaze is cooked on the stove (it’s really easy though) and then it’s poured over the warm cake (that you’ve poked holes in) and allowed to soak in. Don’t skip that part as that’s what really sets this cake apart.
Tips and FAQs for the Vanilla Buttermilk Cake:
This recipe calls for unsalted butter, which I find best for baking. You don’t really want to substitute it with margarine as that isn’t the same as butter and you may get an unintended result.
If you only have access to salted butter, you can use that, but omit the salt that the recipe calls for.
Yes, the butter for the cake batter, needs to be almost room temperature. Don’t microwave it as that over-heats it and can heat it unevenly.
Just cut the butter up and let it sit out on a plate to warm up a bit (for reference…that’s usually about an hour or a bit longer in about a 73 degree room).
As for the eggs, you can set them out when you start the mixing process and they should be just fine if they’re a little cold.
Don’t substitute them out as they are different. (For more info. on that, see this post: Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder)
Either is fine to use as they are generally interchangeable. I used light brown sugar though.
Mixing this way, will give you a tender cake.
It’s scientific, but essentially, if the cake batter is a little acidic, then it will help to make the cake more moist and tender because it will break down the longer strands of gluten that can be tough.
Well you’re in luck because you don’t really taste the buttermilk in cakes. I actually don’t like the taste or the texture of buttermilk, but it’s great to use for baking cakes. It makes them moist and just brings out all the other flavors.
If you have access to buttermilk, use that as that’s what will taste best in this recipe.
If you absolutely cannot get buttermilk, then you can substitute it by adding one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a measuring cup, then pour in regular milk until it measures one cup. Let it sit for five minutes before adding to the batter. For this recipe, you’ll need one and a half cups, so make the substitution above once and then make half that amount.
Now, just understand that you won’t end up with the same exact cake if you use this substitute, so if you’re really just wanting a good vanilla cake that doesn’t use buttermilk, then you can find my recipe for that here: Favorite Vanilla Bean Cake
Yes, it’s great if you can get full fat buttermilk, but lately it’s been hard to find. I used the reduced fat buttermilk and it turned out great.
Yes and no. The cake batter will bake up the same whether baked in a 13×9 inch pan or two, 8″ round cake pans. However you may not want to use the glaze if you’re making this into a layer cake because it will make the cake layers very very soft and may not lift out of your cake pans properly.
If you do decide to make this as a layer cake not use the glaze, you may want to check out my recipe for vanilla buttercream here: Vanilla Bean Buttercream
You also want to make sure that you’ve poked holes in the warm cake with a skewer to help the glaze soak into the cake.
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Supplies Used for this Cake:
- KitchenAid Artisan mixer or handheld mixer
- Flat Beater Attachment if using a stand mixer
- Stainless steel measuring set
- Glass batter bowl
- Whisk set
- Glass 13×9 inch pan
- Rubber spatulas here or here
- Cooling racks
- Liquid measuring cups
- Wooden skewers (You can sometimes find these in smaller quantities at the dollar store or at your local Walmart or grocery store.)
Video:
Ok, let’s get to the recipe!
Note About Recipe Measurements: I write recipes using volume (cups) measurements because here in the U.S., this is what people are more familiar with and I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated when baking. For metric/weight measurements, click the ‘metric’ button under the ingredients in the recipe card below. The weights are converted by a program, not me, and it’s just a best guess. I can’t guarantee that weighing the ingredients will produce the exact same results, since I test recipes using volume measurements.
Recipe:
Moist Vanilla Buttermilk Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk (full fat is best, but low fat will work as well)
- 3 large whole eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks) (room temperature – do not microwave)
For the glaze:
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- ¼ cup packed brown sugar (dark or light brown sugar, I used light)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- 2 cups confectioner’s sugar
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Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray or grease a 13×9 inch glass pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk well and set aside. In another bowl, add the buttermilk, whole eggs, egg yolk, vanilla extract and vegetable oil. Whisk well and set aside.
- Cut the room temperature butter up into pieces (if not already done). Add in the butter pieces slowly to the flour mixture while you mix on medium speed. (You can use a hand mixer as well.) Once all the butter is added, mix until the flour mixture becomes crumbly and resembles sand.
- Add in half the liquid mixture and mix on medium speed, just until incorporated. Add in the last half of the liquid mixture and mix only until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again just until all the ingredients are mixed well. Only mix for about 10 seconds or so. Mixing for a minute or more is too long and can cause a dense or tough cake.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 325 degrees for approximately 45 minutes.
- Cake is done when it is golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake, comes out with a few moist crumbs. (You do not have to wait until the toothpick comes out clean as that can over-bake your cake. Just make sure there is no raw batter on the toothpick and a few moist crumbs are fine.)
- Once the cake is baked, set on a wire rack to cool for about 15 minutes, then poke holes into the cake with a skewer and cover with the warm glaze. Let the cake sit for about 30 minutes before cutting and serving.
For the glaze:
- Once the cake is out of the oven, make the glaze. (You want the cake to still be warm when you pour the glaze on it, so don’t let the cake cool completely.)
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over low/medium heat. When the butter is completely melted, turn off the heat and immediately add in the brown sugar, vanilla and buttermilk. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add in the confectioner's sugar and stir well. If it's clumpy, just keep stirring until most of the clumps are dissolved. The rest will dissolve as it sits for a bit.
- Set the glaze aside (not in the fridge) until the cake has cooled for about 15 minutes, then poke holes in your still warm cake with skewers, then pour the warm glaze over the warm cake and let it soak in. If the glaze has cooled off a bit, you can turn the burner back on just enough to warm it back up before pouring over your cake.
- When you pour the glaze over the warm cake, the glaze should still be warm, but not hot.
- Let set up for about 30 minutes before cutting and serving. This will give the glaze enough time to soak into the cake well.
Notes
Nutrition
How to Share
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Other posts you might like:
- Favorite Vanilla Bean Cake
- One Bowl Vanilla Cake
- Spiced Eggnog Cake
- French Vanilla Cake
- Moist White Cake
Don’t forget to pin it below!
Kim Lane
This cake is sooooo good. I wanted to make something with my little 3 year old nephew . The recipe is that easy, He enjoyed poking holes in the cake and spreading that sweet delicious caramel- like frosting. He said it tastes like a glaze doughnut! Love it & I will be making it again. Thank you for ALL of your great recipes. I will follow you as long as you keep blogging and putting them on here! Your recipes have not failed me yet so In my opinion ,You are indeed the cake Queen!
Kim Lane?
#cakecakecake
Kara Jane
Awe thanks Kim! I love that! I’m so glad y’all got to spend some quality time making it together!
Mary k lannon
Cake cake be served from refrigerator…. N not warm?
Kara Jane
It can, but it’s really best served warm. Store it in the fridge, but set slices on a plate and heat up a bit in the microwave to get the best taste and texture.
Ronak Mehta
I tried out cake with the above recipe. The cake was very soft and tasty. Thank you.
Kara Jane
Wonderful! Thanks so much for the great review and I’m so glad you liked it.
Angel
Can cake flour be used or strictly regular flour?
Kara Jane
I haven’t tried that out with this cake, but it should be fine. To use cake flour instead of all purpose flour, you’ll need to use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cake flour for every cup of all-purpose flour that’s called for in the recipe.
Angel
LISTEN PEOPLE! THIS CAKE IS EVERYTHINGGGGGG!!!!! I made mines in 3, 8in layer cake pans because I wanted little individual cakes to give away. When I say moist, I mean MOIST! I tweaked mine just a hair because I only had cake flour so I added the extra tablespoons as Kara advised me. And then instead of a teaspoon of vanilla for the glaze I used 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon of butter extract. I was craving a butter glaze for some reason? Anyway, It tastes good but I am definitely going to try it without the butter flavor the next time.
Kara, I have another question for you. I LOVEEEE lemon.
Can I turn this recipe into a lemon buttermilk cake? If so, how much lemon extract would you suggest I put in the cake batter? And as for the glaze, would I substitute the brown sugar for regular? Would l use fresh lemon juice instead of lemon extract in this glaze. What do you suggest? I also want to thank you for this recipe. The most perfect cake I have every made! Thank you SO much ?
Kara Jane
Angel, you are a treasure for saying such nice things. This cake is one of my favorites and it makes me so happy that you love it too. I’ve thought about how to change this one into a lemon cake and I have some suggestions. Now, I haven’t tested any of this out yet, but if you’re up for experimenting, then here goes: For the cake batter, you can add in the zest and juice from one lemon plus 1/2-1 tsp of lemon extract. That should give it a good lemon flavor. You don’t want to add in anymore juice than one lemon though or else you could throw off the liquid ingredient ratio.
So for the glaze, you could go two different ways here. You could go with the cooked version like in the original recipe, but add in 1/2 tsp of lemon extract instead of the vanilla and add in some lemon zest as well (that’ll add flavor and make it pretty). I think I’d just go ahead and try it with the brown sugar though and see how that comes out. So the second way you could do it is to just make a general confectioner’s sugar/lemon glaze that’s not cooked. So you could mix up a couple cups of confectioner’s sugar with lemon juice and maybe a bit of milk and mix it until it’s drizzling consistency and then just drizzle it over the cake. That glaze would be sweeter than the cooked one, but I think either would be good.
Ok, I hope this works out! I’m curious to know what happens if you try it. Now you’ve got me all interested and I may have to put a lemon version on the blog!
Angel
It was AMAZING! Can this be recipe be used to make a Lemon Buttermilk cake? How much lemon extract should I use in the batter? As for the glaze, use fresh lemon juice instead of lemon extract and should I replace the brown sugar with regular sugar?
Kara Jane
Yay! So glad you liked it! I saw your other question about changing it into a lemon cake. I’m going to answer that one in a separate comment. I need to think on it for just a bit. 😉 Thanks for the amazing review!
Angel
Oooops! I thought the previous review didn’t take so I inadvertently asked the same question twice ?
I’m going to make it on Friday and give it to my brother for his birthday. I’ll definitely let you know how it turns out. I think I’ll stick with the cooked brown sugar version for the glaze. Let’s go! Weeeeee! ?
Kara Jane
No worries Angel! Yay! I’m excited to see how it turns out!
ShellF
This recipe is a keeper! The cake is very good! Thank you!!!
Kara Jane
Oh yay! I’m so glad you liked it!
Nancy
Absolutely amazing! It is so moist and yummy–It truly was easy to make! I wouldn’t change a thing!
Kara Jane
Oh thanks so much Nancy! I’m so glad you liked it! 🙂
Ya
Why do you use oil in the cake?
Kara Jane
Oil in a cake is generally for moisture.
Rebecca A
I rarely leave reviews for recipes but this cake was sooooo delicious I just had to. I stumbled upon it when googling for recipes to use up leftover buttermilk I had. So glad I found it, everyone asked for the recipe so of course I shared it. Will definitely be making again and again! Yummm ☺️
Kara Jane
Oh yay!!! I’m so glad you loved it. I have to say…this cake is definitely one of my favorites. Thank you for leaving such a wonderful review! 🙂
Banke
Mine turned out lovely. Except got burned at the base (ps can you tell.me why)… But the cake itself was excellent. Thank you
Kara Jane
The bottom of this cake does brown a bit faster, especially if you use a glass pan. You can try using a metal pan next time, or you could even place a cookie sheet under the pan or on the rack below the pan to sort of offset the heat on the bottom a little. Also, you may check the cake about 7 minutes earlier than the time called for and see if it’s ready to come out as some ovens just run hotter and it might be done at that point. Glad you liked it!
Kendra
First, oh, my. I licked the pan with the frosting. Delicious. Second, I have the reputation of ALWAYS biting into cakes I bake before serving, kind of a joke. Well, the frosting enamored me enough that I threw caution to the wind and did not, I repeat, did NOT wait 30 minutes before I took a corner off the edge. This is fantastic.
Kara Jane
Haha!! I love it! And I’m so glad you liked it! This one is one of my favorites, I have to admit. And I think I have the same reputation as you…I ALWAYS have to ‘sample’. 😉 Thank you for the wonderful review!
Melissa
I am always looking for the perfect yellow vanilla cake and I think I found it! This beat Shirley Corriher’s in my opinion. Just curious what you think is the main difference between this one and you favorite vanilla bean cake recipe?
Kara Jane
Oh yay! Glad you like this one. 🙂 Those two recipes are similar, but the difference to me is that this one uses buttermilk plus an extra egg yolk and the other one uses sour cream. There’s also a buttermilk glaze that soaks into this cake, so it adds even more yumminess. If you just made this one by itself with no glaze, I think it would taste very similar to the vanilla bean cake, but I feel like this one is just a little richer since buttermilk and an extra yolk are used. Both are good in my opinion…just a bit different from each other as one uses buttermilk and one uses sour cream.
Melissa
Do you think I could use the buttermilk cake recipe for a pineapple upside down cake?
Kara Jane
Yes, I think that would be just fine. If you’ll be using just one round pan though, I’d mix up only half the batter.
Sarah Ort
I bake, a lot. I have made a ton of vanilla cakes. Like thousands. This cake is everything you want it to be and more. It is simply delightful. It’s moist and delicate. Sweet, but not too sweet. This will be one of my go to recipes many times in the future. This is a fantastic cake.
Kara Jane
Yes!!! This review just made my day! I’m so happy you liked this one so much. Thank you for the wonderful review. 🙂
Maria Underwood
This will be the first recipe review I have ever written. This cake is AMAZING!! I had buttermilk to use up and found this recipe. Easy and delicious! My husband and son raved!! Will definitely make this again, even if I have to buy buttermilk only for this! Thank you for sharing!
Kara Jane
Oh Maria what an amazing review! Thank you! I’m so happy you loved it…and I have to say it’s also one of my favorites too. 😉
Jen
Hi! Do you think I could use buttermilk powder and water/milk to substitute? I have the powder from a previous recipe. 🙂
Kara Jane
Hmmm…I’m not sure, but I think it might work. It’s worth experimenting with!
Jen
I used the buttermilk powder and it was great! Everyone is eating it now and it is DELICIOUS! Seriously best ever!
Kara Jane
Oh that’s so good to know! Really glad it came out 🙂
Melanie
Excellent
Anna
Oh my goodness!!! Soooooo moist!!! Yummmmmmm!!!
I followed the recipe, but used a significantly less amount of sugar for the batter (between 1/2 cup and 3/4) and completely cut out the confectioner’s sugar from the glaze. That’s just my family’s taste preference, though.
But really. I love baking and seldom do I come across a recipe which delivers such a light cake!! Thank you!!
Kara Jane
Oh wonderful! I’m so glad the changes didn’t affect it and that it turned out so well!
Anne
Sounds wonderful … I love vanilla-ish cakes. I’ve made Kentucky Butter Cake a bunch of times (always in a Bundt pan but I would like to try that in a 13 x 9) and now I have to try this (as written) to see how they compare.Thanks for posting!
Kara Jane
Hi Anne, I hope you love this one! Let me know if you try it and what you think 🙂