Butter Cake with Almonds

A butter cake is a traditional German sheet cake made from yeast dough with a butter & sugar topping, which is why it is also known as sugar cake.

In today’s post, I’ll show you a recipe for a simple butter cake or sugar cake with an additional almond topping. Have fun baking!




Cooked/Baked today: Baking German Butter Cake with Almonds
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation Time: 1 hour & 45 minutes (incl. resting time)
Category: Baking Recipes, Cake Recipes, Sweets & More, German Recipes
Our Recipe rating:

Baking German Butter Cake with Almonds

Ingredients for a sheet butter cake:

…for yeast dough:

• 550 grams flour
• 250 milliliters lukewarm milk
• 75 grams sugar
• 75 grams soft butter
• 1 egg
• ½ cube fresh yeast
• 1 sachet vanilla sugar
• A pinch of salt

…for topping:

• 150 grams butter
• 150 milliliters cream
• 100 grams sliced almonds
• 100 grams sugar

Required kitchen gadgets, helper & preparations:

• Tall container for yeast milk mixture
• Whisk
• Mixing bowl
• Mixer
• Baking sheet + baking paper
• Baking frame
• Kitchen towel

Instructions:




…preparations for yeast dough:

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Crumble ½ cubes of yeast into a tall container, add 75 grams of sugar and 250 milliliters of lukewarm milk and mix together with a whisk or a fork until yeast and sugar have completely dissolved.

Preparations for Yeast Dough

Next, put yeast-milk mixture along with 550 grams flour, 75 grams soft butter, 1 egg, 1 sachet vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt to a mixing bowl and knead together with a food processor or blender with dough hook for about 4 – 5 minutes until a smooth (but still slightly sticky) dough.




Then place the dough on the prepared baking sheet and flatten it with your hands to a rectangle of approx. 40cm x 30cm (alternatively roll out with a rolling pin). Place a baking frame around the dough and allow to rest covered with a kitchen towel for about 60 minutes in a warm place.

…for butter cake:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (top/bottom heat) in good time. Cut 150 grams butter into about 20 equal sized cubes. Use your fingers to randomly press small wells into the risen yeast dough & put the butter cubes into the wells.

Baking Butter Cake

Finally, sprinkle 100 grams of sugar as well as 100 grams of sliced almonds on the yeast dough and then bake the butter cake in the preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes until the almond crust has a golden brown color.




After the baking time, remove the cake from the oven and douse the whole cake evenly with 150 milliliters of cream. Then allow the butter cake to cool completely on the sheet, remove the baking frame and serve. Have fun baking!

Video Tutorial:

Watch the video tutorial to see the recipe and the preparation method precisely (German Audio only, English Subtitles available):