Butterscotch Cake

Butterscotch Cake is a fluffy and tender layered cake complete with butterscotch buttercream and a homemade butterscotch sauce drizzle. This 3-layer cake is a decadent sweet treat and perfect for a crowd!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Cool and Chill Time 50

Total Time 1 40

Servings servings

Calories 1268kcal

Author John Kanell

Ingredients

For the Cake:

3¼ cups all-purpose flour (390g)
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup unsalted butter softened (170g)
1½ cups packed light brown sugar (330g)
4 large eggs room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
⅓ cup sour cream room temperature (80g)
¼ cup vegetable oil (60ml)
½ cup milk room temperature (120ml)

For the Butterscotch Sauce:

¼ cup unsalted butter cubed (56g)
½ cup packed light brown sugar (110g)
½ cup heavy cream (120ml)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt

For the Frosting:

2 cups unsalted butter softened (454g)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
12 cups powdered sugar (1,440g)
2 tablespoons heavy cream
3 tablespoon Butterscotch Sauce

Instructions

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease three (8-inch) round cake pans with baking spray with flour.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until combined.
In a medium mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, stopping and scraping down the bowl between additions. Beat each until well combined. Beat in the vanilla.
With the mixer on low speed, add the sour cream and oil and beat until just combined. Add a third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the milk. Repeat, alternating between the flour and milk until both are fully incorporated. Stop and scrape down the bowl occasionally. Divide the batter among the prepared pans.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs. Let the cakes cool for 20 minutes in the pans, then invert them onto a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

For the Butterscotch Sauce:

In a medium saucepan, combine all of the sauce ingredients, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, cook until the sauce is light amber in color, then remove from the heat and cool completely before using. (I like to make the sauce while the cake bakes so they can cool at the same time.)

For the Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, vanilla, and salt together on medium-high speed until the butter is light and easily spreadable, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed gradually add the sugar, until fully combined. Add a drizzle of cream occasionally, and stop to scrape down the bowl a few times during mixing. Add the butterscotch sauce and beat at medium-high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.

For the Assembly:

Place 1 cup of frosting in a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Set aside.
Place one cooled cake layer on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread ¾ cup of frosting over the top all the way to the edge. Place another cake layer on top and spread another ¾ cup of frosting over the top of the cake layer. Top with the remaining cake layer and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake.
Spread the remaining butterscotch over the top of the cake, letting the sauce drip off the sides slightly. Pipe decorations on the top edge of the cake with the reserved frosting. Chill for 30 minutes to set the frosting before slicing. Store the cake covered and at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Notes

Use room temperature dairy and eggs in the cake batter. Room temperature dairy and eggs emulsify and blend better, resulting in a tender and light crumb. For the best results, bring the ingredients to room temperature 1-2 hours before starting on the recipe.
Prepare the pan. Spray the pans with nonstick cooking spray and sprinkle with flour or line them with parchment circles. You can also spray the pans with baker’s spray.
Alternate flour and wet ingredient additions. Adding it all in at once can overdevelop the gluten and result in a tough and heavy cake. Instead, alternate adding the flour and milk to the cake batter for the lightest sponge.
Make the butterscotch sauce while the cake bakes. This way, the sauce and the cake can cool at the same time, saving you time.
Cool the cakes completely before frosting. Keep the frosting from melting by waiting to frost until the layers of cake are completely cooled. To speed up the chilling process, move the warm cake layers to the refrigerator or freezer until they are cool to the touch, but not frozen. This will be for about 30 minutes to 1 hour in the refrigerator or 15-30 minutes in the freezer.
Only stir part of the butterscotch sauce into the frosting. Whip just 3 tablespoons of the cooled butterscotch sauce into the frosting. The remaining sauce will get drizzled over the top of the cake.
Optional: wrap the cake pans in fabric cake strips. For flat and tender cake layers that you don’t have to trim, wrap the cake pans with water-soaked fabric cake strips before baking.
Optional: do a crumb coating. To prevent cake crumbs in the frosting, apply a crumb coat. After you have stacked the cake layers, spread just enough frosting over the cake to cover it (don’t worry if the cake or crumbles are still peaking through!). Refrigerate the crumb-coated cake for 30 minutes to let the crumb coat set before applying the rest of the frosting.

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