Oof, yes. A Salted Caramel Kentucky Butter Cake is the next-level, ultra-decadent dessert you didn’t know you needed — until now. It’s rich, buttery, and dense like a pound cake, soaked in a sweet butter sauce while warm… but we’re going to elevate it even further with salted caramel both inside and drizzled on top. 😈
Let’s go full indulgence:
🧈 Salted Caramel Kentucky Butter Cake
🍰 What it is:
A classic moist, buttery bundt cake soaked in a vanilla-butter sauce right after baking — here, we twist it with homemade salted caramel infused into the sauce and as a final topping.
🛒 Ingredients
✅ For the Cake:
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340g (1 ½ cups) unsalted butter, room temp
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450g (2 ¼ cups) sugar
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4 large eggs, room temp
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1 tbsp vanilla extract
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360g (3 cups) all-purpose flour
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1 tsp baking powder
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½ tsp baking soda
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½ tsp salt
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240ml (1 cup) buttermilk
🍯 For the Butter-Caramel Soak:
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100g (½ cup) butter
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200g (1 cup) sugar
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2 tbsp water
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2 tbsp salted caramel sauce (see below)
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2 tsp vanilla extract
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Big pinch of flaky sea salt
🍮 For the Salted Caramel Sauce (homemade):
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200g (1 cup) sugar
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60ml (¼ cup) water
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120ml (½ cup) heavy cream, warm
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45g (3 tbsp) butter
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1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
Or use a high-quality store-bought salted caramel if you’re short on time.
🧑🍳 Instructions
🔸 1. Make the Salted Caramel (if homemade)
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In a saucepan, combine sugar and water over medium heat. Do not stir — swirl the pan.
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Cook until deep amber, then remove from heat.
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Carefully whisk in warm cream (it will bubble!), then stir in butter and salt.
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Cool and set aside.
🔸 2. Make the Cake
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Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Grease and flour a bundt pan very well.
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In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy (about 4 minutes).
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Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla.
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In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
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Add flour mixture to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk.
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Mix until smooth, but do not overmix.
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Pour into prepared bundt pan and smooth the top.
Bake: 60–70 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
🔸 3. Make the Butter-Caramel Soak
While cake is baking or just done:
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In a small saucepan, melt butter, sugar, and water.
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Stir in 2 tbsp of salted caramel and vanilla. Add flaky salt to taste.
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Let it simmer 2–3 minutes until sugar dissolves. Do not boil.
🔸 4. Soak the Cake
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When cake is fresh out of the oven, poke holes all over it with a skewer or long toothpick (still in the pan).
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Slowly pour the warm soak over the cake, allowing it to seep in.
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Let the cake cool completely in the pan (at least 1 hour).
🔸 5. Invert & Finish
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Once cooled, turn the cake out onto a plate.
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Drizzle with extra salted caramel sauce.
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Sprinkle with flaky sea salt (like Maldon) for the final salty-sweet punch.
🥄 Serving Suggestions
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Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla or butter pecan ice cream.
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Store at room temperature in an airtight container for 3–4 days (gets even better the next day).
🤤 TL;DR:
It’s like if pound cake, tres leches, and salted caramel sauce all had a beautiful Southern child.