Buttermilk Sheet Cake – Czech Kefírová buchta

Let me introduce here a famous Czech sheet cake, baked with buttermilk. The surface is covered with chocolate glaze and decorated with shredded coconut. Czechs call the buttermilk cake "kefírová buchta". It is one of the first cakes Czech girls learn to bake.

About the Recipe

This buttermilk sheet cake is moist, fluffy, absolutely quick, and easy to prepare. It's baked in no time, then all you have to do is wait for it to cool and spread the surface with chocolate glaze. The final touch is the coconut; sprinkle the choco glaze with shredded coconut, and delicious goodness is born!

The recipe comes from the Czech Republic, called "kefírová buchta" or, more familiarly, "kefírka".

Kefír in Czech means a kind of sour milk/buttermilk. 

MY TIP: Try out bublanina, an iconic Czech fruit cake!

Ingredients

For cake batter:

• All-purpose flour
• Coarse sugar
• Buttermilk
• Eggs
• Dutch cocoa powder
• Baking soda; not baking powder
• Oil; sunflower or canola oil

For chocolate glaze:

• Chocolate chips; dark or semi-sweet
• Heavy cream
• Shredded coconut; unsweetened, for sprinkling

Next, you'll need about a tablespoon of oil and breadcrumbs to grease and line the baking sheet.

✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

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Quick Instructions:

1. Grease a baking sheet with oil and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
2. Preheat the oven to 340 °F (170 °C).
3. Put buttermilk and oil in a bowl, add eggs, sugar, cocoa and flour mixed with soda.
4. Mix until a smooth cake batter is formed.
5. Pour onto a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.
6. Top with chocolate over the cooled cake and sprinkle with shredded coconut.

Detailed Instructions with Photos

Make ahead: First, prepare a baking sheet. Grease it with a tablespoon of oil and dust it with some breadcrumbs or flour—Preheat the oven to 340 °F (170 °C).

STEP 1: Put the buttermilk and oil in a bowl. Add an egg, sugar, dutch cocoa, and the flour that you previously mixed with baking soda.

STEP 2: Using a hand mixer, mix everything until you have a smooth, semi-liquid batter.

STEP 3: Pour the batter onto the prepared baking sheet, smoothing the surface with a spatula.

STEP 4: The exact baking time depends on the baking sheet you use; if it is smaller and the batter layer is higher, it may need to bake a little longer. 4: Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. At the end of the baking time, poke a wooden skewer into the dough. If it comes out dry, the buttermilk cake is finished. Otherwise, bake for another 3-5 minutes and repeat the skewer test.

STEP 5: Let the buttermilk cake cool completely.

STEP 6: Prepare chocolate glaze: In a water bath, melt the chocolate chips (suspend a smaller pot over a larger one with hot water – put the chocolate chips into the smaller one). Add the heavy cream and stir until everything is combined into a smooth chocolate glaze.

STEP 7: Pour the chocolate icing over the cooled buttermilk cake and spread evenly over the entire surface.

STEP 8: Let sit for a while, and then sprinkle the top with shredded coconut.

Serving

Cut the buttermilk cake into slices about 3x3 inches (in Czech "řezy") and serve on a dessert plate.

Useful Tips

• I baked this cake on a 16x12 inches (40x30 cm) baking sheet.
• Use baking soda in the batter, not baking powder. Baking soda is without the aftertaste that baking powder sometimes leaves. However, you need to put the cake in the oven right away to make it nice and fluffy.
• If you want this cake to be juicier, brush the top with jam before topping with the chocolate glaze.

More Czech sweet pastry:

• Kolache – an authentic recipe
• Easy kolacky cookies – fruit filled
• Poppyseed roll – Czech makový závin