Butterkuchen

German Butterkuchen is a cake made by spreading yeast dough thinly on a baking sheet, baking it, and cutting it into squares. Melted butter fills the hollows on the surface, and soft dough lies beneath a thin sugar crust. The butter is not only kneaded into the dough but also placed in the hollows on top. Because it is baked thin and large and is easy to portion, it has been served both at celebrations and at coffee gatherings after funerals.

The roles of butter in the dough and in the hollows

Flour, milk, yeast, sugar, and eggs are combined with butter and kneaded until smooth. The butter mixed into the dough gives the risen yeast dough a pleasant texture. Once the dough has risen well, it is rolled out thinly on a baking sheet. Compared with a tall cake, more of the surface browns, and a single piece offers both the soft dough and the topping.

Shallow hollows are made in the surface with something such as the handle of a wooden spoon, and small pieces of cold butter are placed evenly over it. Sugar, vanilla sugar, and sliced almonds are scattered over the top, and the dough is left to rise once more before baking.

As the butter melts in the oven, it spreads from the hollows into the surrounding dough. The sugar on top forms a thin crust, creating a contrast between the moist hollows and the toasty edges. Some modern home recipes (ingredient proportions and method) use 50 grams of butter for the dough and 100 grams for the topping for 375 grams of flour. In this example, the butter for the topping exceeds the amount kneaded into the dough, and butter goes into both the moist parts of the surface and the soft interior.

A slice of Butterkuchen. Sliced almonds and the cross-section of the yeast dough are visible. Photo: SKopp, 2014-05-01, location unknown. Original image / CC BY-SA 3.0. Reduced-size version from the hosting source; no further edits.

Guidelines on butter content and the range of formulas

The German Food Code guidelines (2025 edition) describe Butterkuchen as a baked good that uses butter as the fat in both the yeast dough and the topping. For the dough and topping combined, they specify at least 30 parts butter, or an equivalent amount of milk fat, per 100 parts of cereal ingredients or starch. This does not mean that 30 percent of the whole cake is butter.

Almonds are the typical topping, but some versions use walnuts or hazelnuts. Recipes that pour cream over the dough before baking, or brush it on the cake fresh from the oven, add a milky flavor and moisture. In some regions, cinnamon is mixed into the sugar, giving this simple sheet cake a different aroma.

An old cake name and a formula recorded in a cookbook

A usage of the name Butterkuchen taken from a text of 1693 has been handed down. However, this example of the word alone does not establish whether that cake had the same formula or baking method as today’s sheet cake.

In the recipe for “a good butter cake” in the 1812 “Braunschweig Cookbook,” eggs, cream, lemon zest, cinnamon, and mace are added to the yeast dough, and the top is covered with butter, almonds, and a thick layer of sugar. The recipe is more heavily spiced than today’s, but it shares the practice of mixing butter into the dough and also placing it on top.

How it differs from Dutch boterkoek, made without yeast

The Dutch boterkoek also means “butter cake,” but Rudolph van Veen’s recipe uses no yeast. Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour are mixed briefly, pressed into a pan, and marked with a crosshatch using a fork. There are none of the steps found in German Butterkuchen, such as rising twice or placing butter in hollows. Unlike the airy yeast dough, boterkoek bakes into a dense cake.

For family joys and for times of mourning

In northern Germany, especially in regions such as Lower Saxony, Butterkuchen, which can be cut for many people, is associated with family gatherings. It is served not only at celebrations but also at coffee gatherings after funerals, and is sometimes called “cake of joy and sorrow” or “funeral cake.” In Bremen as well, this simple cake is chosen for the meal at which relatives gather after a funeral to talk about the deceased.

A cake baked thin and large is easy to portion for the number of people present, and it can be eaten with a drink without a rich layer of cream sandwiched inside. The same sheet cake is served on ordinary afternoons and at gatherings that mark life’s milestones.

Local Butterkuchen is also served at the New Year gathering of Loccum Abbey. After a nearby baker retired, the cake was taken over by the Wulf bakery in Rehburg. The bakery’s cake, with a little cream added to the dough and butter packed into the hollows, connects a local event with the work of bakers.

Glossary