Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cake
This Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cake is rich, moist, and dense like any good pound cake should be. Buttermilk adds extra richness and tang, while the caramel icing makes a wonderful sweet counterpoint.
If you’re looking for an easy cake that seems super fancy, then you’ve found it here. This pound cake is a super simple recipe but it looks and tastes like it’s a major undertaking. You’ll be the dessert hero without any heroics!
Table of contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It only uses a few simple ingredients.
- It’s an easy recipe that anyone can make.
- The pound cake is so rich and moist, and the frosting is incredibly decadent.
🛒Ingredients
This recipe uses simple baking ingredients to deliver its amazing flavor. You probably have most of the ingredients in your kitchen right now, and any you don’t have are easily found at your local grocery store. The main ingredients are listed here, but you’ll find the complete list along with amounts in the recipe card at the end of the post.
Pound Cake
- Butter
- Vanilla
- Eggs
- Buttermilk
Icing
- Caramel
- Heavy whipping cream
- Powdered sugar
🔪 How to Make Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cake
This is a completely from-scratch recipe, but it’s so much easier to make than you might think. Both the cake and the frosting recipes are incredibly simple, and you’ll be in and out of the kitchen in no time.
Step 1: Prep
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 10-inch bundt pan. Set aside.
Step 2: Combine the Butter, Sugar, and Eggs
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Then, beat in the vanilla. Beat in 1 egg at a time until all eggs are incorporated.
Step 3: Combine the Dry Cake Ingredients
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and baking soda together in another bowl.
Step 4: Finish the Batter
Alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk to the creamed butter mixture until the batter is fully mixed. The batter will be thick.
Step 5: Make Caramel Batter
Combine 1 cup of batter with 2 tablespoons of caramel sauce and stir until mixed.
Step 6: Add Batter to the Pan
Fill the bottom of the bundt pan with batter. Then, add the caramel batter and top with the remaining regular batter.
Step 7: Bake
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Step 8: Cool
Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 9: Make the Icing
Beat 1 cup of caramel sauce and 1 cup of powdered sugar together until combined. Then, add heavy whipping cream to thin it out to an icing consistency.
Step 10: Ice
when the cake is fully cooled, spoon or pour the frosting over the top of the cake, letting is drip down the sides. Slice and serve.
📝Variations
Do you want to change up this recipe and make it your own? Here are some ways that you can do that!
- Chocolate – Use chocolate sauce to make a chocolate version of this cake.
- Plain – Omit the caramel and make a plain vanilla cake and icing.
- Butterscotch – Use butterscotch sauce in place of caramel.
If you think this caramel bundt cake looks good, then check out this caramel bread with cream cheese filling.
🥄 Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk
- Spoon
- Bundt pan
- Wire cooling rack
🥫 Storage
Store this cake in a covered container for up to 3 days at room temperature. You can also refrigerate it for up to a week in an air-tight container. For longer storage, freeze this cake for up to 3 months in an air-tight, freezer-safe container.
💭 Tips
- If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own using 1 cup of regular milk and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar. Let it sit for 5 minutes, and you’re good to go.
- Be sure to grease and flour every part of the bundt pan’s interior surface to ensure the cake doesn’t stick.
- If your cake won’t release, tap it firmly all around the surface of the pan to help loosen it.
⁉️ FAQ
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
A bundt cake is simply a cake that’s been baked in a bundt pan.
A bundt pan is a pan shaped like a ring with an open center. It can be only slightly decorative or extremely ornate.
Aside from making fancy-looking cakes, bundt pans make it possible to cook the cake more evenly due to the pan’s shape.
🍽 More Recipes
Do you enjoy bundt cake? Then try these delicious recipes:
📌 PIN IT!!
🧾Recipe Card
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe, so you can find it later.
Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cake
Equipment
- Measuring Cups and Spoons
- mixing bowls
- Whisk
- Spoon
- Bundt pan
- Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 2 ⅓ cups sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 3 cups all-purpose flour scooped and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup buttermilk
Icing
- Homemade or store bought caramel
- ⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 10-in. Bundt tube pan and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla or cookie nip and 1 egg at a time, Beating well after each addition.
- In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk (batter will be thick).
- Scoop out 1 cup of batter and mix in a 2 tbsp caramel sauce. (1 tbsp if it’s a loose sauce). Stir until mixed.
- Fill the bottom of the Bundt pan with regular batter, top with the caramel batter, then cover with the remaining regular batter.
- Transfer to prepared pan.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 45-50 minutes.
- Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Icing
- For icing, beat 1 cup caramel sauce and 1 cup confectioners' sugar thinned out with heavy whipping cream spoon over cake.
