Dutch Butter Cake Recipe – Boterkoek

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This Boterkoek (or butter cake) is a delicious and hearty Dutch recipe. Full of delicious butter and topped with crunchy almond slivers, this unique and tasty dessert is perfect for any time you need a sweet pick-me-up!

 

Why You’ll Love This Dutch Butter Cake

Here’s a smashingly simple treat – my Boterkoek Recipe, or almond butter cake. It’s a Dutch tradition in my family, made by almost every Oma (grandma).

My sons have been enjoying this cake for as long as they can remember. We make this every Christmas and any other time of the year we have a hankering for the taste of almonds.

At holiday time, we actually make about 8 or 10 of these cakes. Friends love receiving a Boterkoek at Christmas time and they make a great hostess gift too!

If you like the flavor of almonds, you will love this Boterkoek recipe. 

Ingredients Needed for This Boterkoek Recipe

• butter – the star of this cake!
• sugar – makes your almond butter cake nice and sweet.
• white flour – another kind of flour can be substituted, but white flour works best here.
• egg – you’ll need 1 for the cake itself and another to beat and eggwash the top of your cake.
• baking powder – helps give your cake some volume.
• almond extract – melds perfectly with the butter and gives your cake a subtly sweet, nutty flavor.
• slivered almonds – for extra decoration, flavor, and texture.

 

How to Make Boterkoek Dough

You can either use your cake mixer or just mix together by hand. I just stir in my ingredients by hand and don’t bother pulling out my stand mixer.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

1. In a large bowl, whisk butter and sugar together well. Add one egg and mix again. Adding one of our hen’s eggs makes this batter so yellow and pretty! Love those dark yolks from our chickens.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.
3. Add the flour and baking powder to the wet ingredients.
4. Start mixing it together – you will find you have quite a thick dough (for a cake), but that’s perfect. Just keep mixing the flour in.
5. Then add the almond extract – I like adding it when I find the dough getting hard to mix together. Even just a teaspoon worth makes it easier to blend.

 

6. When your dough is well mixed, split it between two 9-inch prepared pans. I like using tin foil pie plates, as we like to give so many of these away to friends.

 

Spreading the Dough and Baking

Here’s where you need to take some extra time with this recipe! Use a butter knife and begin pressing that dough down.

Spread the dough out to the edges and take your time. Not too much pressure, just slide the knife across the top of the dough, pressing slightly.

Once you have the dough out to the edges and quite even, use the back of a spoon to smooth the top of the cake. Use a light touch! 

Got it all smooth? Take a beaten egg and a pastry brush and very lightly brush the tops of the cakes with just a bit of the egg wash.

You will not use all of the egg! Then sprinkle slivered almonds on top.

Bake at 350 for 25 – 30 minutes. The total time will depend on your oven.

NOTE: Keep an eye on these while baking. You want to remove them from the oven when the edges start turning golden brown.

The ideal is when the center of the Dutch Butter Cake is still soft to the touch.

Let the cakes cool completely, then cut into wedges like a pie. Serve at room temperature with a cup of coffee!

I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t like this Dutch treat! Try this Boterkoek recipe and maybe you’ll make it a tradition yourself. Enjoy!

Baking Pans for Dutch Butter Cake

A bit of information about the baking pans for this recipe, because it does make a difference!

You can use almost any baking tin for this cake but I like to use a 8 or 9 inch glass cake pan. You can use a pie pan or a springform pan.

You could instead use a square baking tin and cut the finished cake into small pieces, essentially making squares or a cookie.

The baking time will very likely differ depending on the pan used. It’s really important to keep an eye on the Boterkoek in its last minutes baking.

Remove it from the oven when the edges are completely golden brown, even if it looks like the center is not done. 

Remove from the oven and set on top of the oven and then leave it be until it is cooled.

 

Variations:

Add a little lemon zest to the batter for a delicious zing! 

You can use vanilla extract instead of the almond extract, if you prefer.

Add a little sifted powdered sugar as a cake topping, once it has cooled down after baking.

If you do a crosshatch pattern on the top, it looks quite pretty!

Just use the tines of a fork, after smoothening the batter out in the cake pans.

More Sweet Recipes

Our entire Country Living in a Cariboo Valley Recipe Collection can be found here, and here are some more recipes hand-picked for you!

• If you love Gingerbread, come over and grab my Gingerbread Boy recipe – a real treat at Christmas time!
• Fireball Pumpkin Pie is a fantastic dessert to enjoy during the fall months.
• And for something more summery, this Lemon Loaf Cake with Rosemary is a light and tangy option.

 

 

Boterkoek Recipe

If you enjoy this recipe for almond butter cake, please be sure to rate it 5 stars below! And print this recipe card off or save it to your recipes folder!

Boeterkoek (Butter Cake)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

A traditional Dutch dessert sure to please. If you like Almonds and butter, you will love this rich treat.

Print

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, NOT Margarine
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups white flour
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp almond extract

Instructions

1. Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the egg. Mix well and then add the rest of the ingredients.
2. Grease your pie pans (I use the foil disposable ones) and divide the mixture into the 2 pans.
3. Using a clean butterknife, or the back of a spoon, start patting down the mixture.
4. The next step takes some time - don't rush it.
5. Use the back of the spoon to "smoothen" out the mixture. Make it look nice!
6. Take a bit (and I mean Just a Bit) of a beaten egg and brush that (ever so lightly) on the tops of the cakes.
7. Then take a few slivered almonds or almond slices and drop them on the top. Push them in slightly with your finger.
8. Pop them into a 350 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes, till they are nice and golden brown on top.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 Servings
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 437Total Fat: 25gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 84mgSodium: 253mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 1gSugar: 25gProtein: 4g

First Published December 2017; Updated January, 2022

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