We fabricated the Au/Ni template for YBCO coated conductors and evaluated texture formation and the microstructural evolution. The cube textured Ni substrate was fabricated by rolling and recrystallization annealing, and subsequently Au layer formed on the substrate by electroless-plating method. The texture was evaluated by pole-figure with x-ray goniometer with orientation distribution function (ODF) analysis. The surface roughness and grain boundary morphology of template were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) We observed that Au layer deposited epitaxially on Ni substrate and formed a strong cube texture when plating time was optimized. The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) was $8.4^{circ}$ for out-of-plane and $9.98^{circ}$ for in-plane texture for plating time of 30 min. Microstructural observation showed that the Au layer was homogeneous and dense without formation of crack/microcrack. In addition, we observed that root-mean-square (RMS) and depth of grain boundary were 14.6 nm and 160 $AA$ for the Au layer, respectively, while those were 27.0 nm and 800 $AA$ for the Ni substrate, indicating that the electoless-plated Au layer had relatively smooth surface and effectively mollified grain groove.