Quick and Easy Buttermilk Cake
As much as I love to bake cake, I often find myself without the time needed to get out my mixer and make a cake recipe from start to finish. This quick and easy buttermilk cake always comes to my rescue. It can be mixed by hand and will be ready for the oven in minutes. It’s as easy as making a cake from a boxed mix.
I love a good cake. I like to bake them. I like to decorate them. Based on how many recipes I have shared for them over the years, I also like to write about them.
I’ve shared plenty of cakes that require an investment of time to make. Boston Cream Pie and Buttermilk Sponge Cake immediately come to mind. They’re absolutely worth the effort, a delicious reward for a job well done. However, I don’t always have the time to create a cake batter that requires my stand mixer, whipping a meringue, and carefully folding the ingredients together before baking. Sometimes, I want to eat cake more than I want to make cake.
Luckily, this recipe is just the sort of cake recipe to make that possible. It is by far the easiest cake I make. It can be mixed by hand, so I don’t even bother to drag out my mixer to make it. Of course, you can use a mixer if you like, but it’s not at all necessary.
This cake batter is really as simple to make as a boxed cake mix. You’ll have it pulled together and ready to pop in a warm oven in minutes. It bakes up quickly with a wonderfully light texture. Its flavor is perfect for pairing with any sort of topping or just enjoying the light cake all on its own.
I like to finish this cake by spooning on ripe, syrupy peaches or berries when they are in season topped with a layer of whipped cream. I also like to spread thick, fudgy buttercream frosting on every surface and between the layers to make a cake worthy of a celebration. I’m happy to raise a slice to celebrate making cake, and more importantly, sharing cake with someone you love.
If you’re looking for a simple and delicious buttercream frosting to add to your cake, you’ll find a few of my favorites right here:
Quick Buttermilk Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- ½ cup cornstarch
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick butter melted
- ½ cup neutral flavored oil (I use safflower)
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ¼ cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Position the racks in your oven to the top and bottom third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare two 9 inch cake pans:
- While most recipes call for lining cake pans with baking spray and flour, I use my homemade pan release spread and granulated sugar. I prefer the light flavor and pretty appearance that the sugar imparts to the exterior of the cake over the look and taste of the floury film often left behind by a pan coated with flour. You can prepare your cake pans using your preferred method.
- Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit inside the bottom of each cake pan. Brush the bottom and sides of each pan with homemade magic pan release spread. Add a piece of parchment paper to the bottom of each pan. Coat the piece of parchment with the pan spread. Add a few tablespoons of granulated sugar (you can use flour if you prefer and tilt the pan to coat all surfaces with the sugar.
Prepare the cake batter:
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. I like to use a dry whisk to combine the dry ingredients, aerate them, and break up any small lumps. If you prefer, you can sift them together and achieve the same result.
- In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, oil, and sugar. Mix with the whisk until the mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla extract and the eggs and whisk until smooth. Add the buttermilk, mixing until smooth before adding the dry ingredients and mixing just until they are incorporated and no visible flour remains.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pans, dividing equally among them. Transfer the pans to the preheated oven. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time. The cakes are done when the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean or with small crumbs attached.
- Remove the cakes from the oven to a wire rack to cool. After 10-15 minutes, use an offset spatula or small knife to loosen the cakes from side of the pans. Turn each cake out on to the wire rack to cool.
Finish the cake:
- Allow the cakes to cool completely before adding your favorite topping. In the summertime when ripe fruit is abundant, I like to spread homemade jam or syrupy fresh fruit on top of the cake layers and then add a generous dollop of whipped cream or Chantilly cream.
This sounds wonderful and I’m sure real buttermilk will make this delicious! Thanks for all the recipes you painstakingly (tried and true) share with us.
I can’t wait for you to try this recipe and let me know what you think of it!
I have a question. The cake is baking in the oven right now.
It doesn’t seem to be rising very much. Should the baking soda
have possibly been baking powder instead ? Curious. Thanks.
I make this recipe with baking soda as it is written. I am sorry to hear that it wasn’t rising as much as expected. I hope that it did by the time it was fully baked. The baking soda should react to the acidity in the buttermilk to create tiny gas bubbles to help the cake to rise as it bakes.
Thank you for asking your question. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you will have a delicious buttermilk cake to enjoy.
So what do you suggest to between the layers when serving with strawberries.
I like to use fresh and lightly sweetened whipped cream when serving cake with fresh berries. I also like Chantilly Cream which is easy to make and I find to hold up quite well even with ripe berries. You can find that recipe right here:
https://1840farm.com/2019/04/buttermilk-sponge-cake/
This is a response to L. Marie’s question to Jennifer Burcke, as to why the Quick and Easy Buttermilk cake wasn’t rising very much in the oven while being baked – I have been baking for over-52 years, and I’ve noticed that the buttermilk sold in stores for the last several years seems to be less and less ‘sour’ – with very little ‘acid’ content in it … which is why cakes and muffins made with today’s not-sour buttermilk don’t rise very much. So, I began to add some vinegar to a measuring cup and then top up the measuring cup with the not-sour buttermilk to total the amount of buttermilk called for in the recipe. I add a 1:1 ratio of tablespoon to cup measure of vinegar to the not-sour buttermilk … that is, in this recipe for Quick and Easy Buttermilk cake, it calls for 1 1/4 cups of buttermilk … so, I would add 1 1/4 Tablespoons of white vinegar to a measuring cup and then top it off with enough not-sour buttermilk to measure 1 1/4 cups. I have also discovered that today’s ‘yogurts’ are also not sour enough .. which also causes cakes and muffins made with yogurt not to rise enough because the yogurts sold in stores today don’t have enough acid in them …. so, an East Indian man told me that if you leave the ‘plain’ yogurt , in its container, with the lid on, on your kitchen counter, at room temperature, for 2-to-3 days, the ‘plain’ yogurt will become increasingly ‘sour’ with each day, and will have enough sour acid in it to react with the baking soda in a cake or muffin recipe to make the cake or muffins rise well in the oven.
Thank you for taking the time to share your baking knowledge!
Made this. Wonderful easy to make
I am so glad that you enjoyed baking it!
How many grams is a stick of butter
A stick of butter weighs 4 ounces or 113 grams. I hope that is helpful for you.
Do You sale Cakes Etc.? Freeman.
Thank you for asking. We don’t sell our cakes or other baked goods. Lucky for you, we share all of our favorite recipes.
Wonderful cake. So moist. Love your homemade magic release, and the sugar sprinkle instead of flour!!!! All these years of baking, and I never thought of it. Thank you for developing and posting. We are BIG buttermilk fans, preparing cakes/muffins/cornbread/biscuits, along with coating chicken and chops. Have you tried Bulgarian buttermilk? It’s all we buy. Thick and rich, with just the right amount of tang. Thanks again, Jennifer.
I am so glad that you enjoyed the cake right down to that sugary sprinkle! I love buttermilk. I haven’t had the pleasure of trying Bulgarian buttermilk but now I feel that I need to. Thank you for sharing it with me so that I can seek it out. Stay tuned for more buttermilk recipes because I am working on a few of them to share!
I tried this last night with a chantilly cream and fruit, and it was so magical that I’m going to do it again today but with that amazing sounding vanilla buttercream but cupcakes! Should I adjust the baking time/temperature at all for regular and mini sized cupcakes?
I am glad that you enjoyed it so much! I would bake the cupcakes at the same temperature and fill each cupcake liner 1/2 or 2/3 full with the batter. I would expect that the cupcakes will bake in about 15 minutes, but I would start checking them around 12 minutes just to make sure.
I hope that you will love the cupcakes just as much. Happy baking!
I baked this cake a few minutes ago for my nephew’s new bride’s birthday today… 🤩🎂🥳✅❣️
I simply love knowing that!
Hi, Jennifer! Could you, please, also give the WEIGHT measures of the ingredients in your recipes? I prefer to WEIGH all my ingredients because that makes the amounts of the ingredients more accurate. I’m a retired Accountant, and i had several European Bakers with their own small gourmet bakeries, here in Toronto, Canada, back in the 1980s and ’90s … and they always weighed their ingredients …. these were mostly 5-Star European Bakers from Germany, Switzerland, France, and Holland … and their formal training as Bakers, in Europe, showed them that weighing the ingredients is more reliable than measuring by volume – except some liquid ingredients such as flavorings and oil … but even those liquid ingredients are sometimes weighed. Nowadays, it seems that more and more recipes on the internet are showing ingredient amounts both in volume and weight, in the same recipe, so viewers can choose which type of measure they prefer. You should give both volume and weight measures, side by side, in the same recipe, for your readers so they can choose which measuring method they are comfortable with.