Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Buttermilk Glaze is a perfect snack cake. The tangy-sweet buttermilk glaze forms an ultra-thin coating over the melt-in-your-mouth cake.
If you read my blog with any frequency, by now you know that buttermilk is one of my favorite ingredients. I use it in all sorts of recipes from mashed potatoes to scones. But I absolutely love using buttermilk in cake batter, not only for the special flavor, but mostly for the tenderizing effect that the slightly acidic ingredient has on the cake crumb. No other ingredient makes as soft and tender a cake as buttermilk does.
Buttermilk is a great all-purpose ingredient to have on-hand!
Don’t be tempted to swap out yogurt or soured milk, it’s really not the same. If you don’t want to buy buttermilk because you don’t want left overs in the fridge (seriously though, use it in mashed potatoes. It will change your life!!) the best substitute is buttermilk powder. The buttermilk powder will keep in the pantry for months and you just mix the amount needed for your recipe.
Otherwise, this is a pretty straightforward butter cake recipe. As always, I use my favorite reverse creaming method. If you’re interested in learning why I use this method for mixing butter cakes rather than the traditional “cream the butter and sugar” method, check out my Cake Batter Mixing Methods post (I’m talking to you, baking science geeks!).
Glaze the cake on a rack set over a clean sheet pan. Collect the run off from the sheet pan and re-glaze the cake until the entire surface is covered.
The cake is delicious all by itself, but I love to serve it with fresh berries or seasonal fruit. I find it pairs especially well with apricots or peaches.
Special Equipment Used: 12 cup Bundt pan, cooling rack, 1/2 sheet pan, Kitchen Aid 5 Quart Mixer I recommend using buttermilk powder as the best substitute if you don't want to buy fresh buttermilk.
Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Buttermilk Glaze
Ingredients
Buttermilk Cake
Buttermilk Glaze
Instructions
Make the batter
Make the Glaze
Notes
Glazing the cake while it's slightly warm will allow the glaze to set to a shiny finish. If you glaze the cake while it's too warm the glaze will melt and if you glaze the completely cooled cake the glaze won't set as nicely.
You might also like:
Peach Up-Down Cake
Blueberry Crumb Cake
3x Citrus Poppy Cake
Meyer Lemon Olive Oil Cake
Chocolate Orange Beet Cake
Golden Beet Orange Cake
Kelly
Hi! Thanks for the amazing looking recipe! I have the cake in the oven right now. You don’t mention other than at the opening of the recipe how long the cake spends in the oven. So far I’m at 40 minutes and it’s still liquid in the center. How long do you typically bake this cake?
Eileen Gray
Sorry for not responding sooner. The baking time will vary based on your oven and the cake pan. For me the baking time was about 35 minutes. The best test is not time but to check by using a toothpick or pressing on the cake as described in the recipe.
Kelly
Thanks, Eileen! I think I ended up baking it 50 minutes, but that was probably 4-5 minutes too long. Still an absolutely delicious cake! Thanks again for posting the recipe! 🙂
Eileen Gray
Sure, glad you enjoyed it. I recently discovered that my oven was running 25-50 degrees too hot so I may have baked this cake at a higher temp than listed in the recipe. I’ll have to remake it and double check the time posted. If your cake took 45 minutes that might be closer to the correct time. But always go more by how the cake looks than the clock. Thanks for checking in!
Julia
I love your suggestion about using dry buttermilk powder! I use it for baking bread and making crepes but I didn’t know I could use it for cakes as well.
Eileen Gray
That’s great Julia. I almost always have buttermilk on hand because I love to use it. But I know it’s a pain to buy a quart and end up throwing half of it away. Buttermilk powder is great if you don’t use buttermilk that often.
Lita
I love the cake and the ideas what to serve with it like fresh berries, seasonal frui, apricots and peaches. Thank you, Eileen.
Eileen Gray
You’re welcome.
TSandy
I used to swear by buttermilk powder and then I purchased a heritage buttermilk starter culture. I make my own buttermilk weekly(or more frequently when I cook/bake more often). You keep 2oz out of the old buttermilk to add to a quart of fresh milk. Leave it out overnight and in the morning I have a quart of new buttermilk! Whether it’s baking, making buttermilk waffles for breakfast or a new batch of buttermilk ranch dressing everything is better when I use fresh buttermilk in the recipe. Thanks for a new buttermilk cake recipe. I can’t wait to try it.
Eileen Gray
Hi! What a great idea to use the starter. Personally, I never have trouble using up buttermilk. I almost always have it in the house. It’s absolutely one of my favorite baking ingredients.
Cheryl
I freeze buttermilk in 1/2 cup portions in plastic baggies and then I use my food-saver for extra protection. Once it is thawed I just throw it in the blender.
Eileen
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.