Like Kentucky Butter Cake? Try This Coffee Butter Cake
This tender butter cake is infused with home-brewed coffee and then soaked in a coffee butter sauce to take it over the top. The result is a homegrown spin on a Kentucky butter cake recipe.
Today I’m sharing with you one of my favorite , which was inspired by Kentucky butter cake. Kentucky butter cake is essentially an old-fashioned pound cake recipe soaked in a scrumptious butter sauce. Sometimes the Kentucky butter cake’s batter and butter glaze are infused with rum or . But either way, every slice is tender, moist, sweet, and absolutely scrumptious.
But today, we’re taking this Kentucky butter cake recipe and transforming it into a coffee butter cake recipe. Our butter cake is infused with coffee, cocoa powder, and the liquid coffee creamer of your choice. Then we pour our coffee butter glaze on top, which is a simple sweet combination of sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and coffee. Every slice is SO flavorful, dense, and rich and is best served with a hot cup of coffee.
Recipe Ingredients
Butter Cake
- Butter golden cake mix
- Eggs
- Instant vanilla pudding
- The coffee flavor of your choice
- Cocoa powder
- Melted butter
- One of the following: half and half, liquid coffee creamer, or heavy cream.
Note: You can customize this a bit by using a flavored creamer of your choice in place of the regular creamer if you like. Pumpkin spice would be a great flavor for the fall.
Coffee Butter Sauce
- Red Diamond coffee
How to Make Coffee Butter Cake
Place all cake ingredients into a bowl.
Beat with an electric mixer until smooth and fully combined, about two minutes.
Generously spray a good quality bundt cake pan with cooking spray and add the cake batter. Use a spatula to spread so it evenly distributes around the .
Bake this at 350 for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes while you mix up the coffee butter sauce.
Yes indeed, – I just said coffee butter sauce! YUM.
How to Make the Coffee Butter Sauce
While the cake is cooling, place all of the coffee butter sauce ingredients into a medium bowl or saucepot.
If using a mixing bowl: microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring after each, until butter is melted and sugar is completely dissolved.
If using a saucepot: cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until butter is melted and sugar is completely dissolved.
Poke holes in the top of the warm cake with the tines of a fork or a wooden skewer.
I use a fork because it keeps it looking pretty.
Pour the coffee butter glaze over the cake and let the cake sit in the bundt cake pan until it is absorbed and the cake has completely cooled. Your cake will happily drink that up!
Once it is completely cool, turn the cake out onto a cake plate or platter.
Garnish each slice of cake with whipped cream and a sprinkling of cocoa powder or chocolate shavings if you like. Delicious with a cup of coffee!
Oh my! Move over Kentucky butter cake, this coffee butter cake is just waiting to be served!
Storage
- Store cake leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The cake even tastes better after a couple of days as the sauce soaks into every layer.
- You can also store leftovers in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before serving.
Recipe Notes
- Another serving suggestion is fresh berries and homemade whipped cream, a scoop of , or a simple dusting of powdered sugar.
- For something different, make your coffee-infused and then substitute the for a .
- If you’d prefer to make your from scratch, check out this . You’ll need eggs, , , all-purpose (can substitute for ), whipping cream, and .
Recipe FAQs
What kind of coffee do you use?
Coffee truly is a perfect complement to baking and that is true for this spin on Kentucky butter cake. Red Diamond coffee blend is what I used in this recipe. The flavor is rich and smooth, not acidic as some coffee can be.
I was really excited when they contacted Southern Plate and asked if they could sponsor a few posts. It’s always fun to get to work with brands you already know great cooks love and use in their daily life. This is the perfect addition to a butter cake recipe.
To see the complete selection of coffee that Red Diamond offers, click here.
More coffee-related recipes here:
Ingredients
- 1 box Duncan Hines butter cake mix
- 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup coffee I use Red Diamond
- 1/2 cup liquid coffee creamer, half and half, or heavy cream
- 4 eggs
- 1 box instant vanilla pudding mix 3.4 ounces
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder heaping
Coffee Butter Sauce
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1/4 cup Red Diamond coffee
- 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place all of the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until fully incorporated and no lumps remain, scraping down sides if needed. This will take about two minutes.1 box Duncan Hines butter cake mix, 1/2 cup salted butter, melted, 1/2 cup coffee, 1/2 cup liquid coffee creamer, half and half, or heavy cream, 4 eggs, 1 box instant vanilla pudding mix, 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- Liberally spray a good quality bundt cake pan with cooking spray. Pour the cake batter into the bundt pan and spread to evenly disperse. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes.
How to Make the Coffee Butter Sauce
- While the cake is cooling, place all of the coffee butter sauce ingredients into a medium bowl or saucepot.3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup salted butter, 1/4 cup Red Diamond coffee, 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
- If using a mixing bowl, microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring after each, until butter is melted and sugar is completely dissolved.
- If using a saucepot, cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the butter is melted and the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Use a wooden skewer or fork to poke holes all in the top of the cake while it is still in the bundt cake pan. Pour the hot sauce all over the cake and allow it to cool completely before turning the cake out onto a serving platter.
- Garnish each piece of cake with whipped cream and a sprinkling of cocoa powder or chocolate shavings if you like. Delicious with a cup of coffee!
Nutrition
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.
~T. S. Elliot
My second time to make this yummy cake! I wasn’t sure about all of the sauce, thought it might be soggy but nope…soaked it all up and was super moist. Everyone loved it. This time I’ll make whipped cream to top it off!!
🙂 I am so happy to hear the cake was a hit!!!
hey Christy, I might be wrong but if you wait to remove cake from bunt pan until sauce is put on top of cake still in bunt pan . when you turn cake out of pan wont the sauce be on bottom of cake . ?
The sauce soaks up into the cake. If you put it on the cake once it was out of the pan it would just kinda go everywhere so we want to put it on the cake in the pan while it is still hot so that it will soak it up 🙂
The recipe calls for 3.5 oz pudding. I was only able to find 1 oz and 1.5 oz.
Is the coffee used instant powder or brewed coffee?
I use brewed if I have it but instant mixed up makes its way into my baking often!Either is fine.
Oh my yumminess , I want to make this right now! I think this would be awesome for Holiday breakfast cake. Thanks for sharing
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Hi Christy! I can’t wait to try your recipe! However, I don’t like coffee (I know hard to believe!) so what can I use in the frosting instead of coffee? Thank you so much!
Hey Laurie! I had to think a minute because this recipe doesn’t have any icing and then I realized you meant the soaking sauce, right? There is a little bit of coffee also in the cake. Both instances it can be replaced with milk. However, if you like the smell of coffee but find yourself disappointed that the taste doesn’t live up to the smell, you may be pleasantly surprised with this cake. 🙂