Kentucky Butter Cake — Elder Corner

Serves: 12 to 16
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 55 to 65 minutes

Even though Grandmama never touched a drop, she knew what a spoonful of good rum could do for a cake. That's the little secret behind a proper Kentucky Butter Cake — a dense, buttery pound-style cake soaked while it's still warm with a sweet butter sauce spiked with spirits.

The sauce is what makes it. You poke holes all through the warm cake and pour it over slow, so every bite drinks it in. The alcohol cooks away gentle and leaves nothing but warmth behind — exactly the kind of cooking with spirits Grandmama approved of.

Ingredients

For the cake

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs

For the butter sauce (the spirits)

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter
3 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons rum (Grandmama's kitchen splash)

How She Makes It

1
Heat the oven to 325°F. Generously grease and flour a 10-inch bundt or tube pan.
2
Beat all the cake ingredients together on low until moistened, then on medium for about 3 minutes until smooth. Pour into the pan.
3
Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the top springs back.
4
While it bakes, make the sauce: warm the sugar, butter, and water over low heat, stirring, just until the butter melts — do not let it boil. Take it off the heat and stir in the vanilla and rum.
5
As soon as the cake comes out, poke holes all over it with a skewer. Slowly pour the warm sauce over so it soaks all the way through.
6
Let the cake cool completely in the pan before turning it out — that resting time lets the sauce set into every crumb.

“She didn't imbibe a day in her life — but that cake sure did.”
The Historian

Inspired by her Elder Corner clip; measurements follow the classic Kentucky Butter Cake.