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slice of honey cornbread cake with whipped buttercream frosting on a plate.
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4 from 4 votes

Cornbread Cake with Whipped Honey Buttercream Frosting

I am absolutely OBSESSED with this Cornbread Cake recipe! It's like my Cornbread Recipe and my favorite White Cake got together and had a baby. A luscious, decadent, three-layer baby, stacked together with the most butter-forward of honey buttercream frostings. I may never go back to regular ol cornbread now that I've tasted this 🤣 I mean why are we limiting ourselves here.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 24 Servings
Calories: 574kcal
Author: The Food Charlatan

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 3/4 cup salted butter* 1 and 1/2 sticks, softened (use regular American butter)
  • 2 and 1/3 cups granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup pure raw honey make sure it's not crystalized
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil I like to use light olive oil
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk**
  • 1/2 cup full fat sour cream
  • 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
  • 3/4 cup masa harina corn flour spooned and leveled; I use Maseca brand
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 and 1/2 cups cornmeal

For the frosting

  • 2 cups Kerry Gold Irish butter (16 oz) softened (any European butter will do, it has a higher fat content)
  • 3/4 cup pure raw honey make sure it's not crystalized
  • 4 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt

To serve

  • polenta to sprinkle on the cake, totally optional
  • extra honey to drizzle on the frosted cake
  • vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Trace the outline of three 9-inch cake pans on parchment paper.*** Cut out the circles and place in the bottom of each cake pan. With the paper in the bottom of the pan, use nonstick spray to grease each cake pan very well, all the way up the sides.***
  • Beat the butter. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat 3/4 cup softened butter until is is smooth.
  • Add 2 and 1/3 cups granulated sugar. Beat the butter and sugar for 2 minutes, stopping once to scrape sides and bottom.
  • Add 2/3 cup raw honey, or regular honey if that's what you have. I like to use an adjustable measuring cup for this! So easy. Beat well.
  • Add 3/4 cup light olive oil (“light” refers to the taste, not the calorie level. Sad, right? ;) Beat in the oil and set aside for now.
  • Eggs and buttermilk. In a medium bowl (or in one of those giant 8-cup measuring cups), add 5 large eggs. Beat with a whisk for at least a minute, until smooth and bubbly. Add 1 cup buttermilk** and 1/2 cup full fat sour cream. Whisk it all together til smooth. Set aside.
  • Place a fine mesh strainer over another medium bowl. Using the spoon and level method, add 1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour to the strainer. Spoon and level 3/4 cup Maseca corn flour into the strainer. Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1 tablespoon baking powder. Stir until it has all gone through the strainer and is sifted well.
  • Remove the strainer, and add 1 and 1/2 cups cornmeal to the bowl with the flour. Mix well.
  • Combine the 3 parts: Alternate adding the buttermilk liquid and the flour-mixture to the butter mixture, beating every time. I added half the liquid, stirred, half the flour, stirred, then repeated.
  • Mix ONLY until it is well combined. Scrape the bottom and sides to make sure it's all incorporated.
  • Divide the batter between the 3 prepared pans. I like to use a kitchen scale for this, to make sure they are even.
  • Bake the cakes at 325 for about 28-33 minutes, rotating pans at least once.**** You will know they are done when the edges are set and golden brown. The center should not jiggle, and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out with no wet batter on it. The center of the cake may be much lighter in color than the edge.
  • Remove the cake/s from the oven. Let cool on a cooling rack for about 10-15 minutes. Use a knife to loosen the edge of the cake from the pan. Use your hand to invert the cake onto the cooling rack and continue cooling. At this point I often put them in the freezer for 20 minutes or so to speed up the cool time.
  • Make the frosting: Beat 2 cups of softened Kerry Gold butter* until it is completely smooth. Add 3/4 cup pure raw honey and beat well, until fluffy.
  • Add 1 cup powdered sugar, but don't mix it yet. Add 2 teaspoons cornstarch***** on top of the powdered sugar. Add 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Use a small spoon to stir it into the powdered sugar a bit. Beat until incorporated. Add the remaining 3 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar, beating with each addition. Beat until very fluffy, at least 2-3 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom at least once or twice. 
  • Taste the frosting, and assess the consistency. Not all honeys are the same, so if you had a very thin honey, your frosting might need additional powdered sugar (or you could try one more teaspoon of cornstarch) to make it a more frosting-like consistency.
  • Assemble the cake. Once all the cakes are completely cool, smear a bit of frosting on your cake stand so the cake doesn't go sliding off. Place your first cake on the stand.
  • Add about 1 and 1/2 cups frosting (just eyeball it) to the top of the cake and spread evenly using an offset spatula. You can spread the frosting right over the edges so that it's even easier later to cover the edges later.
  • Add the next cake. Repeat.
  • Add the final cake. Add all the remaining frosting to the top of the cake. Spread it over the top of the cake, and then use the spatula to drag some of the frosting from the top over the edge of the cake. Keep moving the frosting all the way down. Continue this method until all sides and top are frosting.
  • Garnish: I sprinkled the very edges of my cake with polenta, just for fun. I liked the color and the little crunch. Drizzle the edges of the cake with honey and serve! This cake is excellent with vanilla ice cream or not-too-sweet whipped cream, to cut the richness. Small slices are a good choice for this very butter-forward cake!

Notes

*Butter: Use regular American butter in the cake, and Kerry Gold butter for the frosting, if possible. Kerry Gold has a higher fat content. Any type of European butter will do. (If you don't have any, just use normal butter, it will be fine.) 
**Buttermilk: Cheater buttermilk will do just fine! I tried it. Add 1 tablespoon vinegar (or lemon juice is even better) to a 1 cup measuring cup, then fill it to the 1 cup mark with milk. Use the highest fat content milk you have, whole milk is best. Stir it together and let sit a couple minutes to thicken up.
***Parchment paper: I ALWAYS take the time to do this annoying step of lining my pans with parchment paper. I've destroyed too many cakes trying to release them from the pan! I don't trust the grease-and-then-dust-with-flour method. It's failed me too many times. 
****Baking details: Do NOT open the oven door at all, except for when you need to rotate the pans. Rotate the pans at about the 18 minute mark. If the whole top looks completely liquidy, do not rotate yet, or be VERY careful. You don't want to deflate your cake. 
I like to bake my cakes one at a time because my oven is kind of terrible. Even if you take the time to do this, make sure you rotate them 2/3 of the way through the bake time. This means turn the pan 180 degrees if there is one cake, or if there are two cakes, switch their places. The cake pans should NOT touch the edge of the oven.
(It's not ideal, but in a rush, I have baked all 3 cakes at once; I rotated the placement of the pans 2 times during the 30 minute bake, once after 15 minutes (being verrry careful) and again 10 minutes after that.) 
*****Cornstarch: Cornstarch is a flavorless addition that does a phenomenal job of helping to thicken our frosting (which would otherwise be quite thin, because of the honey addition) without adding more powdered sugar. (more powdered sugar would make it sweeter, and as I emphasized, I wanted this frosting to taste like BUTTER 🤣) 
CUPCAKES: I haven't made these as cupcakes, but if you want to try it, make sure you only fill the liners 2/3 of the way full and bake at 350 instead of 325! Start checking for doneness at 18-20 minutes. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 574kcal | Carbohydrates: 74g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Potassium: 98mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 59g | Vitamin A: 753IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 1mg