One-Bowl Buttermilk Cake with Raspberry Buttercream

This easy, One-Bowl Buttermilk Cake is always a huge hit with it's moist, tender crumb and incredibly delicious fresh raspberry buttercream!

Raise your hand if you love a moist tender yellow cake! Yep, we do too. And if it doesn't mess up many dishes, can be ready for the oven in minutes and is pretty as a picture when it's done, like this One-Bowl Buttermilk Cake, I'm going to run to the kitchen and start baking! How about you?

Those of you who are regular Café followers might be thinking that I'm getting to be an old stick-in-the-mud, as I've used this same one-bowl buttermilk cake recipe several times over the past year. It started out with the Easy Farmhouse Buttermilk Cake last fall which, almost immediately, went crazy over on Pinterest. The next rendition was this Buttermilk Butter Crunch Cake which has also become a favorite with many Café readers.

And now I'm at it again. Yes, an old stick-in-the-mud indeed! But I can't help myself, this cake is so delicious and yet, so easy to put together. The recipe is beginning to feel like a tried and true friend. I do give the cake brand new clothes each time I use it though, so don't be too hard on me.

This time "the brand new clothes" is a delicious fresh raspberry buttercream, also requiring just one bowl and no mixer. A handful of fresh raspberries gives the icing wonderful flavor and a pretty pink hue.

You've probably guessed that I'm not a fancy cake decorator. Every now and then I get out the piping tips and decorating bag and try my hand at making a fancy cake. But it's a lot of work, and because I usually don't have the time, I'm just not very adept at it.

So I've discovered another way to make cakes beautiful, but this little trick only takes minutes - edible flowers! There are tons of flowers that are edible and just a few of them on a cake can transform it from plain-Jane to fancy-Nancy! For a list of the most common edible flowers, check out this post.

For this cake, I chose dianthus flowers, also known as "pinks". Both perennial and annual dianthus plants can be purchased and they can also be sown from seed. They have a fairly long blooming season, often from May through October. Scott just planted several varieties for me, so I can have these pretty flowers for decorating all summer long!

I think when you take the first bite of this moist, delicious cake, you won't even care that I'm a stick-in-the-mud. In fact, you may just start dreaming of your own ways to dress up this one-bowl buttermilk cake! Happy baking from our house to yours!

Café Tips for making this cake:

• Because this is a one-bowl, no-mixer recipe, the butter should be VERY soft. Leave it sit out at room temperature for several hours or use a microwave at 10% power (for 1 to 4 minutes, depending on the power of your microwave) to soften your butter. This very soft butter is also important for the icing.
• This One-Bowl Buttermilk Cake can be made up to 8 hours in advance and stored at room temperature (covered).
• If you’re feeding a crowd, double the recipe and bake the cake in a 9×13-inch pan.
• Have extra buttermilk after making this cake? Try out our Ridiculously Easy Buttermilk Biscuits or these Easy Buttermilk Brioche Buns. You’ll find yourself buying buttermilk on a regular basis!
• You could also use an 8-inch cake pan for this recipe which will result in a little higher cake. I used a 9-inch because I wanted to serve it on my cake stand which is a bit larger.
• Don’t skip lining the pan with parchment if you want to be able to easily remove the cake from the pan. If you want to serve the cake right from the pan, you can just grease the pan and skip the parchment paper. I love these pre-cut parchment paper circles. They’re really nice because they have little tabs you use to pull the cake out of the pan. You can also cut your own.
• A nice sturdy whisk is a great tool to have when making cakes. A good whisk is not expensive and will last a long time. I really like the feeling of this whisk and use it all the time.
• No buttermilk? No problem! Just add one tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup. Fill with milk to measure one cup. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes, then proceed with recipe.
• When you make the icing, the first step is to prepare the raspberries. The instructions are to mash 12 raspberries, add a bit of sugar and let this mixture sit for 10 minutes. This step is important as the sugar will draw the liquid out of the raspberries. You want that in the beginning so the frosting doesn't thin out after you ice the cake.
• If you don't have fresh raspberries and don't want to run out and buy them, you can substitute 2 tablespoons of raspberry jam for the raspberry/sugar mixture.
• I like to add 1 drop of red food color to the icing for a slightly brighter pink color. This is totally optional. It will be pretty with or without.
• Oh, and by the way, I know some of you may find it easier to pull out the mixer to make this cake. That is not a problem. Just don't over mix it.

If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review! It’s so helpful to other readers to hear other’s results and ideas for variations.

5 from 10 votes

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One-Bowl Buttermilk Cake with Raspberry Buttercream

This easy, One-Bowl Buttermilk Cake is always a huge hit with it's moist, tender crumb and incredibly delicious fresh raspberry buttercream!

Author: Chris Scheuer

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: One-Bowl Buttermilk Cake

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 1 hr

Servings: 10

Calories: 326 kcal

Ingredients

For the cake:

• ¼ cup butter very soft
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

For the raspberry buttercream:

• 12 fresh raspberries
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 6 tablespoons butter very soft
• 3-4 tablespoons half & half or milk
• 3 cups powdered sugar maybe a bit more
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 drops red food coloring optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray a 9" round cake pan with baking spray and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Combine the soft butter and sugar and stir until all sugar is combined. The mixture will not be smooth and fluffy at this point.
3. Add the egg and whisk until smooth and fluffy. Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla extract and whisk until well combined. Sprinkle the flour, baking soda and salt evenly over the top and whisk until mixture is smooth.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes until light golden brown (a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean and/or the cake will spring back when lightly touched in the center).
5. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

For the raspberry buttercream:

1. Place raspberries on a small plate and mash well with a fork. Add the 1 teaspoon sugar and stir with the fork to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes.

2. Combine the soft butter, half and half (or milk), vanilla and 2 tablespoons of the raspberry mixture in a medium-size bowl. Stir together, with a sturdy spatula, until well combined. 

3. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time and stir until smooth and creamy after each addition. Add a bit more half and half to thin if needed or a bit more powdered sugar if too thin. Icing should be thick, but spreadable. 

4. Spread the buttercream over the top of the cake and down the sides of the cake. Decorate with edible flowers or fresh raspberries (or both!), if desired. Enjoy!!

5. Add 1-2 drops of red food coloring, if desired, for a brighter pink color.

Recipe Notes

See Café Tips above in post for further directions and detailed tips.

Calories 326kcal

Fat 10g

Saturated fat 6g

Cholesterol 41mg

Sodium 300mg

Potassium 56mg

Carbohydrates 60g

Sugar 47g

Protein 2g

Vitamin A 350%

Vitamin C 0.5%

Calcium 34%

Iron 0.8%

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