12 of Our Best Bakes with Buttermilk

Buttermilk is an important ingredient in many recipes because it can improve the taste, texture, and look of baked goods. It’s a useful leavening agent when combined with other leavening ingredients, such as baking soda. Its thick consistency and tangy flavor also transform ordinary baked goods into delicious masterpieces.

It can be challenging when you want to make a recipe but don’t have an ingredient on hand. Don’t let that put a stop to your baking adventures. While buttermilk is favored for the tang and texture it lends to baked goods, these foolproof Buttermilk Replacements are incredibly useful for when you find yourself in a bind.

1. Brian Hart Hoffman’s Buttermilk Biscuits – Rich, buttery, and flaky, Brian’s go-to Buttermilk Biscuits are an ode to the perfect Southern biscuit.

2. Buttermilk Bar Doughnuts – These doughnuts are crisp and golden on the outside and fluffy on the inside, similar in taste to a classic old-fashioned doughnut but shaped into a slightly more substantial bar and enriched with tangy buttermilk. 

3. Parmesan-Herb Buttermilk Bread – The classic flavors of ranch dressing— buttermilk, herbs, onion, and garlic—come together in this delicious Parmesan-Herb Buttermilk quick bread.

4. Buttermilk Sheet Pan Pie – For our tangy update on chess pie, we cut the custardy sweetness with a burst of lemon flavor and a dash of nutmeg in our Buttermilk Sheet Pan Pie.

5. Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate-Buttermilk Frosting – We infused our classic birthday cake with buttermilk to add a little tang and a lot of moisture. 

6. Blueberry Biscuits – Flaky buttermilk biscuits get a bright blueberry update.

7. Brooklyn Blackout Cake – Our Brooklyn Blackout Cake is a pudding-filled take that gets an aromatic boost from freshly brewed coffee in the batter and espresso in the fudgy Whipped Chocolate Frosting.

8. Gruyère, Onion & Pepper Biscuits – The secret to the flakiest, fluffiest buttermilk Gruyère, Onion & Pepper Biscuits is cold ingredients and a quick layering process.

9. Peanut Butter-Chocolate Marble Cake – This peanut butter layer cake looks worthy of the bakery case, and it comes together so easily.

10. German Chocolate Bundt Cake – The indulgent cake comes together with bold, unsweetened cocoa powder and decadently sweet baking chocolate. Whole buttermilk adds a touch of tang and helps create the airy crumb.

11. Orange Cream Cake – Inspired by the orange-flavored Creamsicles of our childhood, our Orange Cream Cake has luscious orange-vanilla pudding is slathered between orange-scented cake layers before the stack gets enrobed by Creamy Buttermilk Frosting.

12. Strawberry Loaf with Buttermilk Glaze – Packed with fresh strawberries and drizzled with a tangy buttermilk glaze, this loaf cake is the delicious shortcut to satisfying your strawberry cake cravings.