We study the Boolean functions f λ : F 2 n → F 2 , n = 6r, of the form f (x) = Tr(λx d ) with d = 2 2r + 2 r + 1 and λ ∈ F 2 n . Our main result is the characterization of those λ for which f λ are bent. We show also that the set of these cubic bent functions contains a subset, which with the constantly zero function forms a vector space of dimension 2r over F 2 . Further we determine the Walsh spectra of some related quadratic functions, the derivatives of the functions f λ .