What to Make with Buttermilk: 24 recipes for baking

Buttermilk adds flavor to baked goods but its inclusion in recipes is often more about texture than flavor. Because buttermilk is so acidic it has a tenderizing effect. In addition, when buttermilk is used with baking soda, the two interact in a way that creates an extra fluffy texture.

If you bake somewhat frequently, I'd suggest keeping your refrigerator stocked with buttermilk. Refrigerated, you can store unopened buttermilk for about 3 months. Once opened, buttermilk kept in the refrigerator will stay fresh for about 14 days.

13 Cake recipes that use buttermilk

Buttermilk Coffee Cake

This incredibly soft, tender, and fluffy buttermilk coffee cake is baked up with a swirl of cinnamon and sugar and a chewy, nutty streusel crust. The cake is an irresistible combination of textures - soft cake, chewy streusel, crispy almonds - and perfect for breakfast, brunch, or an afternoon snack.

Butterscotch Bundt Cake

This is an all-butter cake drenched in butterscotch sauce that's super easy to make. The cake will be out of the oven, dripping in butterscotch sauce, and ready to eat in under 90 minutes.

Champagne Cake

This is the perfect celebration cake and this recipe uses buttermilk to create a cake that's tender and fluffy. The cake is filled with strawberries and iced with Champagne Italian Meringue Buttercream, and will easily become the star of any party.

Glorified Gingerbread

This is a recipe that's been passed down in my family for several generations. It's one of those simple instant gratification recipes that requires a mere handful of pantry ingredients but delivers big on sweet, nostalgic, slices of pure comfort.  

Orange Olive Oil Cake

This light, tender, impossibly moist orange olive oil cake has a gorgeous, subtle natural orange flavor thanks to orange-infused olive oil. When layered with orange marmalade and creamy mascarpone frosting it's a light and creamy cake that's bursting with bright citrus flavor.

Chocolate Chip Cake with Peanut Butter Fudge Icing

This easy Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake is extra soft and fluffy, with the most delicious balance of chocolate chips and buttery cake. Topped with Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Icing, it's the kind of crowd-pleasing cake recipe that's perfect for nearly any occasion. 

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Buttercream

There's something about yellow cake with chocolate buttercream that makes it the perfect kind of cake for any occasion. And this recipe has that buttery moist texture that every classic yellow cake should have.

Red Velvet Cake

This recipe creates a super fluffy and tender layer cake or cupcakes, thanks to buttermilk, with just the right amount of chocolate flavor and red color. It's the perfect match for cream cheese buttercream!

Funfetti Cake

Don't let the sprinkles fool you. This moist and tender all-butter Funfetti Cake is more than just a pretty face with a party attitude. For all its lighthearted whimsy, this is one of the most seriously delicious cakes I've ever eaten. 

Caramel Cake with Salted Caramel Italian Meringue Buttercream and Gluten Free Caramel Cake

This deliciously rich caramel cake is covered in a thick layer of silky smooth, not-too-sweet salted caramel Italian meringue buttercream and it is a caramel lover's dream come true.

Banana Cream Cake

This banana cream cake is ridiculously rich and decadent. Kind of like the very best banana cream pie you can imagine transformed into the very best banana cake you can imagine. Except, you don't actually have to imagine anything. You just have to bake a cake. 😊

The Best Vanilla Cake and Gluten-Free Vanilla Cake

If I had to use only one word to describe either version of this vanilla cake, the recipe with gluten and the one without, it would be flavorful. Both recipes produce a white cake that's moist and rich, with a tender, fluffy crumb that's somewhere between a chiffon and butter cake.

If you're looking for a go-to vanilla cake recipe for wedding cakes, birthday cakes, shower cakes, anniversary cakes, or just because cakes, that will have everyone who tastes it coming back for more, this is it.

4 Cupcake recipes that use buttermilk

1-Hour Buttermilk Caramel Cupcakes

These perfect little buttermilk caramel cupcakes are the kind of thing that you can have a hankering for at 3 pm and be eating by 4 pm. It's one of those quick, no-fail recipes that I find myself coming back to over and over again because the cupcakes are just so deliciously accessible.

Raspberry Cupcakes

These delicate little blushing pink raspberry cupcakes are light, fluffy, bursting with the flavors of raspberry and vanilla, and the perfect vehicle for a generous creamy swirl of raspberry cream cheese buttercream.

Mini Chai Cupcakes

These delicious little two-bite Mini Cupcakes are flavored with vanilla and chai, and frosted with White Chocolate & Chai Italian Meringue Buttercream. These two-bite treats are like Christmas in your mouth. The cupcakes themselves are extremely simple to make. You won't even need an electric mixer.

Chocolate Peppermint Mini Cupcakes

I am totally head-over-heels in love with these little two-bite chocolate peppermint cupcakes. Rich and fudgy chocolate cupcakes covered in peppermint spiked cream cheese buttercream with a fun candy cane swirl. They are, in my mind, exactly what Christmas should taste like.

4 Pancake recipes that use buttermilk

Everyday Buttermilk Pancakes

This has been our everyday buttermilk pancake recipe for decades! The recipe uses common pantry ingredients and rewards you with incredibly fluffy, buttery pancakes with minimal time and effort. It's not an exaggeration to say that we've been eating these about once a week for years and no one around here is mad about it.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

These vanilla, almond, and cardamom-spiked blueberry pancakes are thick and fluffy, melt-in-your mouth, and bursting with blueberries.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

These Lemon Ricotta Pancakes bake up into delightfully tall, fluffy pancakes that are absurdly moist and creamy, tangy and sweet, delicious all on their own, but positively decadent when smothered in homemade blueberry sauce.

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

These tender buttermilk pancakes include tons of apples cooked in cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and brown sugar until soft and sweet.

3 Biscuit and muffin recipes that use buttermilk

The Ultimate Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

If you're craving fluffy, tender buttermilk biscuits with hundreds of flaky, buttery layers, stop right here.

Here's how to make homemade buttermilk biscuits that are soft on the inside, slightly crispy on the outside, and rise to impressive heights with layer after delicious layer.

Cinnamon Streusel Mini Muffins

These cinnamon streusel mini-muffins, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and covered in buttery brown sugar streusel and vanilla glaze, are adorable and jam-packed with flavor, proving that the best things really do come in small packages.

Double Chocolate Muffins

These chocolate muffins are rich and chocolaty enough to satisfy even the most dedicated chocolate lover and guaranteed to start your day in the sweetest, most delicious way.