Name: Boterkoek or Dutch Butter Cake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 125 gram granulated sugar; 125 gram butter (softened); 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 eggs; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 155 gram all-purpose flour

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_{Updated 06.07.26}

The ingredient list is short: sugar, butter, vanilla extract, egg, and all-purpose flour and no leavening agent. None is needed, and none would help. The dough is pressed into the baking dish rather than poured, and the egg wash on top produces the characteristic golden shiny surface. The texture inside is unlike anything a standard cake recipe produces: firm at the edge, yielding at the center, and so buttery it almost melts.

Traditionally baked in a round baking tin, but you can bake it in a square form as well, which gives you clean-cut squares or strips and those coveted crunchy corner pieces. For two people, a small batch of boterkoek is exactly the right amount to have on hand through the week; a slice with coffee in the morning, another after dinner, gone before it has a chance to go stale.

I love its creamy dense interior, but my favorite part is the crust, as that become really hard and crunchy. That’s also the part that can burn if you bake it too long or too high, but if done right, it is the part you may savor the most.

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Key Ingredients in This Recipe

Key ingredients to make Boterkoek or Dutch Butter Cake

You’ll find the complete list of ingredients and exact quantities in the recipe below.

Granulated sugar
Butter
Vanilla extract
Egg
All-purpose flour

How to make a Boterkoek or Dutch Butter Cake

Step 1 – Mix butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.

Step 2 – Add 1/2 egg (beaten) and a pinch of salt and mix again. Reserve a little bit of the egg to brush the top of the boterkoek in step 5.

Step 3 – Finally add the flour and mix until you have a thick smooth dough.

Step 4 – Transfer dough into a buttered 8′ round baking dish and press it down. Level it and smooth out the top, with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula.

Step 5 – Brush the top of the cake with the beaten egg you kept behind.

Step 6 – Use a fork to carve or score the top of the cake. This pattern is the ‘traditional’ way, but you can create something special or not score at all.

Step 7 – Bake the boterkoek in the oven (350°F) for approx. 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

This boterkoek will be about 1 inch thick, but you can make them thicker by using a smaller baking dish or make more dough. You may need to adjust the baking time to still have a cooked center and brown edges instead of black and burnt or a soggy inside.

How to Cut a Boterkoek

How you cut a boterkoek depends on the form you baked it in, the number of people you serve, and how much you want to serve per person, so it’s a math decision.

When you bake the boterkoek in a round form, like I did and like my mother always did, the easiest way is to cut it in triangles:

If you baked a square you have various options: squares )big and small), rectangles, triangles, or even match sticks:

Various cutting options when you bake a square boterkoeke

Variation on the Traditional Boterkoek

Add lemon zest, about 1.5 teaspoon.
Add almond extract to the batter and/or sprinkle top with almond slivers.
Press nuts into top of the boterkoek, like almonds, pecans or walnuts.
Use Dutch speculaas spice mix in the dough.

How to Store Boterkoek

Store the boterkoek in an airtight container. Under normal circumstances you can store a boterkoek for a week at room temperature. Freezing a boterkoek is also very simple and will last a couple of months in the freezer.

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