My cornbread cake has all of the rich, buttery flavor of freshly baked cornbread, but with the moist, fluffy texture of a deliciously sweet cake. Prepared with a hint of cornmeal in the batter, along with a generous pour of buttermilk and drizzle of sweet honey, this delectable cornbread cake is topped with a thick layer of salted honey butter frosting!
When Fresh Cornbread Meets Sweet, Fluffy Cake
There's just something so utterly inviting about freshly baked cornbread, with its warm, slightly nutty aroma and bright yellow crumb, isn't there?
As the cornbread bakes in the oven, the fragrance fills the kitchen...
In our home, we become so very eager to slice off that first little square to bite into while it's still fresh-out-of-the-oven hot. We love to slather it with softened butter, a drizzle of honey, plus a pinch of salt. Sheer bliss!
Because I really enjoy experimenting with desserts and cakes, creating fun twists, I decided to turn classic cornbread into a cornbread cake.
I wanted to give it a light, extra fluffy, and wonderfully moist texture kissed with a touch more sweetness, absolutely brimming with that warm, buttery corn flavor.
And because a moist and gloriously decadent cake absolutely needs a rich and creamy frosting to tie everything together, I decided to use our favorite cornbread topping combo of salted butter and honey as my guide, and whipped up a deliciously decadent salted honey butter frosting to slather over top!
This cornbread cake recipe is one of our favorite cakes and is a terrific pick during the bright and sunny season when we crave cornbread, but with a moist, fluffy, and slightly sweeter twist!
My Cornbread Cake with Salted Honey Butter Frosting
Preparing this yummy cornbread cake is very similar to preparing classic cornbread, but with a few extra ingredients that give this baked treat more of a moist, fluffy texture of a cake.
I like to bake this cake as two, single layer 8” cakes which I only frost the tops of, instead of building it as a layer cake.
This happens to be my personal preference, as I find it easier to frost, often just frosting one cake round at a time if there's only a couple of us at home enjoying it, saving the other for later.
But both cakes can certainly be frosted (especially if you plan on serving more people), or you can even make this as a layer cake, if that's what you prefer.
As for my ingredients, I use softened butter for flavor, lots of fresh buttermilk for richness and a tender “crumb”, plus a generous drizzle of honey for sweetness, along with some sugar, plus a hefty pour of vanilla.
I also like to add some medium grind cornmeal into my dry ingredients, which I lightly toast in a small pan for 1-2 minutes just until it releases its slightly warm and nutty aroma. This offers a bit of texture, and reinforces that delicious corn flavor.
The frosting is very simple to prepare, made with butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, honey, and a good pinch of salt—the perfect balance of sweet with a hint of savory!
Here's sneak peek at my cornbread cake recipe: (or just jump to the full recipe...)
- To get started, I toast my cornmeal for a moment or two in a dry pan, and allow it to cool. Then, I add it to a bowl, and whisk in the remainder of my dry ingredients.
- Next, using my stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, I cream my room temp, softened butter for a moment or two until fluffy, then add in my sugar, followed by my eggs, vanilla, and honey.
- I then alternate adding in my dry ingredients with my buttermilk, until the batter comes together, taking care not to over mix the batter.
- Next, the batter is evenly distributed between two, 8” cake pans, and baked for roughly 32-34 minutes, or until a tester skewer comes out clean and the cake layers are baked.
- While the cakes bake, I prepare my salted honey butter frosting.
- To finish the cornbread cake, I allow both cake rounds to completely cool before frosting one or both of them (depending on how many people I'm serving), and then slice and enjoy.
Recipe
Cornbread Cake
by Ingrid Beer
Deliciously moist, this cornbread cake has the aroma of fresh cornbread, slathered generously with a rich, salted honey butter frosting!
Category: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Yield: Serves 16
Nutrition Info: 373 calories per slice
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 32 minutes
Total time: 47 minutes
Cornbread Cake Ingredients:
- ½ cup yellow cornmeal
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, room temp
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk, room temp
Salted Honey Butter Frosting Ingredients:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temp
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
- Begin by gathering and prepping all of your cornbread cake ingredients according to the ingredient list above to have ready and organized for use.
- Preheat the oven to 350°, and line two 8” cake pans with parchment, and spray with cooking spray.
- Add the cornmeal to a small saute pan, and place over medium heat. Toast the cornmeal, stirring it constantly, for about 1 – 2 minutes, or just until it begins to become warmed with a nutty, corn aroma. Remove from pan, and pour into a medium-large bowl to cool for about 5 minutes.
- After the cornmeal has cooled slightly, add to it the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt, and whisk to blend everything well. Set these dry ingredients aside for a moment.
- To the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the butter and cream that by itself until it becomes fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes; next, add in the sugar, and continue creaming until the mixture becomes fluffy, about 3 more minutes.
- Add in the eggs one at a time, allowing each to fully incorporate before adding in the next.
- Then, add in the vanilla and the honey, and continue mixing until incorporated.
- Next, alternate the dry ingredients with the buttermilk, beginning with about ⅓ of the dry ingredients (allow those to completely incorporate), then half of the buttermilk (allow that to completely incorporate), then another ⅓ of the dry, then the rest of the buttermilk, finishing finally with the remainder of the dry ingredients. Mix just until combined, taking care not to over-mix.
- Pour the batter as evenly as possible between the two prepared cake pans, and bake for about 32 to 34 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean; then, allow the cakes to rest in their pans for 10 minutes before turning out to completely cool.
- While the cake rounds bakes, gather and prep your ingredients for your salted honey butter frosting according to the list above to have ready and organized for use.
- To prepare the frosting, add all of the ingredients into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whip attachment, and whip on medium-high or high speed until they come together and become very fluffy and light, about 2-3 minutes (at first the mixture may seem a bit crumbly, but it will become fluffy as you whip).
- Use immediately, or keep covered in the fridge until ready to use, at which point you can re-whip the frosting until light and fluffy again.
- Once the cake rounds have cooled, frost the tops generously with the salted honey butter frosting, and serve as single layer cakes. Or, frost the tops and stack onto each other to create a layer cake. (You can also freeze one of layers, if desired, by wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap and freezing it. Then simply thaw at room temp and frost.)
Tips & Tidbits for my Cornbread Cake recipe:
- Medium grind cornmeal, for texture: If you can, opt for medium grind cornmeal as part of the dry ingredients in this tasty cake. It offers a bit of added texture, and is easier to toast and make aromatic. If you happen to already have cornmeal on hand and it is a finer grind, then no worries—feel free to substitute that.
- Buttermilk for richness and tender crumb: Seeing as buttermilk is an ingredient often incorporated into a traditional cornbread recipe, I'm using that in this cornbread cake in place of milk. Buttermilk offers more flavor and nice richness, plus it helps to create a nice, moist, tender crumb for the this cake.
- Room temperature ingredients: Make sure that you are allowing any refrigerated items such as butter, eggs, and buttermilk to come to room temperature for about 30 minutes to 1 hour (depending on how warm your kitchen is) before you begin preparing your cake. This is a rule of thumb for pretty much all baking, as it helps all of the ingredients more easily incorporate into the batter.
- Prepare both layers of the cake, or freeze one for later: I really appreciate serving this cake as individual 8” layers, each frosted separately, then sliced and served. I typically will only frost one layer if I'm serving only 2-4 of us, and freeze the other layer for later. But if you're planning on serving more than 4 people, you can absolutely frost both layers and serve separately, or even make a single layer cake out them.
Craving more mouthwatering desserts? Check out this Strawberry Cake, this Lemon Bundt Cake, these Banana Nut Muffins, or this Carrot Cake Loaf!
Cook's Note: This recipe was originally published in 2015, and has been updated with even more love!
Heather
I love honey corn bread and I LOVE cake! I cannot wait to make this 🙂
todd
this was one great cake. even though it has a ton of calories with all the butter 🙂 it tastes very light.
i ended up using hawaiian black sea salt in the frosting because of the interesting undernotes it has. oh and used my rose infused honey
Yvonne Rich
I'm in the process of making the sweet cornbread cake. In the directions, it calls for CREAM. I don't see cream listed in the ingredients. Can you tell me how much cream I should use?
Thank you.
The Cozy Apron
Hi Yvonne, I'm hoping that you were able to make the cake and enjoy the recipe! So to clarify, the word "cream", doesn't refer to an ingredient, but rather a method or technique. In the instructions it says, "add the butter and cream that by itself until it becomes fluffy, about 1-2 minutes"—creaming is a method of making the butter fluffy and airy in the mixer. It's not that you are adding cream, such as half and half or heavy whipping cream, but rather you are "creaming" the room temperature butter with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Hope that helps!
DaveH
Can the frosting be left at room temperature after the cake has been iced?
The Cozy Apron
Hi Dave, this shouldn't be a problem if the kitchen is cool enough. The frosting does tend to get a little soft (especially in the warmer summer months), but if it's fairly cool/moderate in your kitchen, the frosted cake should do fine at room temp.
Julissa
I added cream cheese to the frosting to tone down the sweetness, but other than that the recipe was delicious! Definitely adding this to my list of go-to recipes!
The Cozy Apron
Hi Julissa, so glad you enjoyed the recipe, and made the frosting your own! Thanks so much for commenting.
Vicki Watson
I made this cake tonight. I didn't have cornmeal so I substituted ground polenta and it was delicious. The roasting process smelled heavenly! My son said it was the best cake he's ever had and he is a die-hard chocoholic!
The Cozy Apron
Hi Vicki, the polenta is a wonderful substitution for this cake. I'm so happy to read how much you and your son enjoyed it, and to have him say it was the best cake he's ever had makes me so happy! Thanks so much for sharing that with me.
VALERIE
THAT MAKES ME SMILE. I WANT TO MAKE FOR MY BIRTHDAY AT 70 BECAUSE IT REMINDS ME OF A MEMORY LONG AGO. THANK YOU
The Cozy Apron
Please enjoy, Valerie! It's a favorite of mine as well. 😉
And happy 70th birthday to you—may you make some fantastic NEW memories, Valerie!
Claire
This cake was pure heaven!! I made for Easter desert for a party of 9 people (with no taste testing trial run) and both cakes were polished off because everyone wanted seconds! Followed the recipe to a tee and it was perfection - not too sweet, and surprisingly fluffy given the cornmeal addition, with the cornmeal and the honey adding a wonderfully subtle complexity. My father-in-law even told me it’s his new favorite. This is the first recipe I have tried from your site but now I can’t wait to try more! Saving this one as a keeper for sure.
The Cozy Apron
Claire, I can totally appreciate the "risk" you took by not doing a taste test trial run first, lol...so I'm so very happy (and relieved!) that it turned out so well for you, and that everyone enjoyed this cake so much! I truly appreciate your comments, as little makes me happier than to know that there was genuine pleasure and enjoyment from one of my recipes...so thank you for that. I'm so happy to read you'll be trying more of my recipes, and that you scored some big food points with your father-in-law with this one! Job well done.
Kameshia
I'm going to make this.
The Cozy Apron
Hi Kameshia, hope you enjoy it!
Jasmine
Hi! I am interested in making this cake to be shared at work, but am looking for something a little more on-the-go friendly (we are busy hospital workers) that won't require plates etc. Can this recipe be modified to make cupcakes? It sounds so delicious!
Thanks,
Jasmine
The Cozy Apron
Hi Jasmine, I'm so excited you're planning on preparing these! You could totally make this recipe into a cupcake recipe. I would suggest baking at the same temp, but reducing the time to 18-20 minutes. Please know this is an estimate, so use your own discretion by checking them around that 18 minutes by inserting a toothpick to check for doneness. Hope all of you enjoy these!
Nichol Webb
Hi ...I'm about to make this wonderful recipe and was wondering if I can substitute almond milk mixed with a little lemon juice instead ofthe buttermilk ? I do not have any milk or buttermilk only almond milk because I only can only have almond milk
The Cozy Apron
Hi Nicole!
I would not add any lemon juice to the almond milk (unless, of course, you have experience with this in other baking recipes where buttermilk is needed, and it works); I would just add the almond milk as is.
I have not tried the recipe with non-dairy options, so I cannot really advise on this; just know that the results will most likely be at least a little bit different from the original.
Happy baking to you!
Jasmyn
I'd love to make this cake, but several people in my family are allergic to honey. What would be a suitable alternative?
The Cozy Apron
Hi Jasmyn, I'm so very excited you're planning on trying out this tasty cake!
I'd recommend using either maple syrup or agave. Both are liquid, have a slightly warm, "caramel-y" note, and I think they'd be the next best thing. 😉
Hope you and your loved ones enjoy!
Jessica
Hi!
I'm interested in making this cake for a friend who LOVES the flavor of corn. Would you say the flavor is subtle or strong?
The Cozy Apron
Hi Jessica! I'm excited you're thinking about preparing this delicious cake for your friend!
You ask is the flavor is subtle or strong, and the best way for me to describe it is that you can definitely taste the corn flavor. It's slightly "nutty" and "warm", kind of buttery. Super yummy and very moist!
I think this would be the perfect unique dessert to prepare for your friend who loves corn.
Hope you both enjoy!
Jessica
Hello, for this cake should I use fine or coarse ground cornmeal? Thank you
The Cozy Apron
Hi Jessica, so excited you're planning on preparing this recipe! I'd say that more of a fine cornmeal would be best. If all you happen to have it coarse, that's fine, but opt for fine if you're purchasing.
Hope you enjoy!
Shannon
Should this cake be stored in the fridge or can it be left out in a container?
The Cozy Apron
Hi Shannon, it's really up to your personal preference!
Since it's a cold season at the moment, the cake should be just fine if kept in the kitchen (would be tougher if it was summer, as the frosting would get really soft). But, again, either way is fine—if it's in the fridge, the fat in it will become just a little firmer/colder, obviously. It depends on if you prefer soft/room temp cake, or colder, slightly firmer.
Hope you enjoy!
Lisa
I'm looking to make a crumbly fluffy cake like this for a birthday Would it be possible to substitute the cornmeal with something that has a less corn flavor? Or if I just used cake flour instead for all of it? Or would it ruin the texture if I substitute it for something else?. Thanks in advance ☺️ -Lisa
The Cozy Apron
Hi Lisa, how fun!
You can substitute flour for the cornmeal, if you prefer. Then, proceed with the rest of the ingredients, steps...
Hope you enjoy!
Logan Thompson
Hi there! Love the idea of this recipe. I happen to have a box of Jiffy corn meal mix...can I use this and if so what ingredients do you suggest I leave out from the original recipe?
The Cozy Apron
Hey Logan, thanks for your question!
I'm assuming that you're wanting to prepare this recipe as a "creative use" of that box of Jiffy. And I totally get it! But I'm not gonna lie to you here, I struggle to suggest it as a substitution for the "from scratch" recipe. I know I'm partial, but... 😉
Unfortunately, I can't really make any suggestions/swaps when it comes to the box mix, because it has so many ingredients already in it. You'd simply have to follow the instructions on the box, and the only thing I could suggest you make is my frosting.
If you do choose to use you box of pre-mix, you certainly have my blessing 😉 , but please promise me that at some point, you will come back and make this recipe according to my instructions, from scratch. You deserve to taste it as it meant to be prepared and enjoyed.
Either route you choose this time around, hope you enjoy!
Jennifer
Hi! I was wondering can you make this in a 9x13 pan? Can’t wait to try! Just looking for something that travels easier!
The Cozy Apron
Hi Jennifer, absolutely! I think the 9x13 will work just fine. Hope you enjoy this sweet treat of a cake! 😉
Gayle
Hello from Texas! I loved reading your bio, especially as my father's family immigrated to the US in the late 19th century from what was then Bohemia. My childhood is filled with memories of my grandmother making REAL kolaches filled with fruit, poppy seed or sweet creamy cheese.
A question about the Salted Honey Butter Frosting: How long will the frosting hold up on the cake if leftovers are refrigerated, please?
The Cozy Apron
Hi Gayle, thanks so much for sharing a bit about yourself with me! I enjoyed reading about your memories...
As far as the frosting, as long as you're keeping the cake in the fridge, it'll keep as long as you have leftovers (which in our house, isn't all that long, haha!).
The only time I found the frosting to be a bit challenging is when I prepared it in the warm summer time in my warm kitchen, and then it tended to get soft; but as long as you place your cake leftovers into the fridge, all should keep well for quite a while (especially if you lightly wrap the cake in plastic wrap, or cover with a glass bell-shaped cover for cake).
Hope you enjoy!
RACHEL
I just made this and it was insanely good! Thank you
The Cozy Apron
Hi Rachel, thanks so much! 🙂
I'm thrilled you enjoyed this tasty cake, as it's actually one of my personal favorites. Happy baking to you, and thanks for taking the time to share your experience with me!
Erica Forrest
I'm so super excited to make this for grandma for Thanksgiving. I do have question,Can you substitute the the all purpose flour for a cake mix?
The Cozy Apron
Hi Erica, I definitely would not swap the cake mix for the flour. You must keep in mind that the cake mix already has additional leavening agents, etc., and the recipe would end up completely different.
If you want an amazing cornbread cake for grandma, stick to my recipe and you won't be disappointed. 😉 Happy baking!
jennie
Hi,
I am making this cake at this moment. I used Brazilian honey and am planning on using black sea salt in the frosting. I also made my own butter as I didn't have enough for the cake and the frosting. Will let you know how it turns out,
DeignerTom
I've been craving a simple cake that has the slight crunch of cornmeal, and this one hit the spot! The ratio of cornmeal to flour was just right—many recipes are 1-to-1, and that's too much like cornbread (not bad, just not what I was after). This came out moist and flavorful, I made it in a 9x13 pan and without the frosting—perfect substitute for a morning muffin or as an afternoon snack!
The Cozy Apron
So thrilled to read that this cake hit the spot for you! This is a favorite of mine, and I'm so glad that you enjoyed it as part of your morning meal or as an afternoon snack. 😉
Happy baking to you!
Marissa
I made this cake as a dairy free and egg free version due to allergies and WOW. It still came out so, so good!! I was nervous about the texture being thrown off without actual egg/ dairy, but no. It was still very moist and fluffy. 10/10 for this recipe!
The Cozy Apron
Hi Marissa, I am so excited this recipe turned out so well for you, even without the eggs and dairy! Thank you so much for taking some time to share your experience making this cake in this way, as I'm sure it may benefit others. 😉
So happy it was a 10/10 for you!