Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake

Friday 30 September 2022

Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake 


I have a beautiful Butterscotch Cake recipe to share with you today.  This is one of my favorite cakes to make and bake.  

Not only does it turn out perfect every time I make it, with a beautiful butterscotch flavor, but it is also incredibly moist and delicious. 

It smells amazing when it is baking.  My mouth waters in anticipation each and every time! 


 

Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake 





One thing you can count on when making a cake with buttermilk is that it is going to be super moist. Add brown sugar into the mix and you have a recipe for a really delicious and moist cake.


There is nothing artificial in this cake or its lush frosting. Only natural ingredients.  Soft light brown sugar, real butter, buttermilk, eggs, and the usual suspects, flour, baking powder, soda,  and real vanilla extract.







Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake 




The frosting is also natural.  Just butter, cream and brown sugar.  Put together in such a way as to create a lush penuche frosting.  Fudgy and buttery.


When we were children, my mother would sometimes make us brown sugar fudge as a treat. It was so sweet, but so good.  Other times she would make peanut butter fudge.  It was my favorite.



Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake 





I used to do the same thing for my own children when they were growing up. When I was beating the frosting for this cake with my wooden spoon it reminded me of those times and how much they enjoyed being able to scrape out the fudge pot when I was done.


Children love simple things like that. I wonder if they remember those times with as much fondness as I do!  I sure hope so! 



Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake 






    WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE BUTTERSCOTCH BUTTERMILK CAKE

Simple ordinary everyday ingredients. Nothing artificial here.


For the cake:
  • 1/2 cup (120g) butter
  • 1 1/3 cups (280g) soft light brown sugar
  • 2 large free-range eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (280g) plain all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk




Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake 





For the icing:
  • 1/2 cup (120g) butter
  • 1 cup (200g) firmly packed soft light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) cream

Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake 




HINTS AND TIPS FOR A GOOD CAKE 


Follow the recipe as written.  Most times when people fail at making cakes, it's because they didn't follow the recipe as written.


Always use the correct sized pan as directed in the recipe.


Get all of your ingredients ready before you begin and make sure they are all at room temperature. If you have everything out, you are less likely to forget to add any vital ingredients.


Sift together the dry ingredients so that you can aerate the flour and evenly distribute any leavening needed.

Don't be slack or lackadaisical in measuring your ingredients. Baking is an exact science.  Actually, baking by weight is the most reliable way to bake. 100g will always be 100g but a measuring cup can often vary a bit in size.

 
Push your brown sugar through a sieve to get out all of the lumps.  I find the brown sugar here in Canada to be a lot lumpier than the brown sugar I was used to in the UK. Pushing it through a sieve takes care of that problem.


Don't over beat the batter. Over-beating toughens cake batters.  Likewise, don't under beat. 

Don't open your oven door when baking a cake. Opening the door can cause a cake to fall or sink in the middle. If you need to look, turn on the oven light and look through the window.



Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake 





HOW TO MAKE BUTTERSCOTCH BUTTERMILK CAKE



Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch round cake tin and line the bottom with some baking paper. Set onto a baking sheet and set aside.


Put the brown sugar for the cake through a sieve and then beat together in a medium sized bowl with the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and salt, blending well.


Sift the flour, baking powder, and soda together. Fold into the creamed mixture alternating with the buttermilk, blending until you have a smooth batter. Pour into the prepared baking tin.


Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 325*F/165*C/ gas mark 3 and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes. The cake will spring back when lightly touched in the center and a toothpick inserted will come out clean.





Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake





Leave to cool in the tin completely. Tip out and remove the paper and place right side up on a serving plate.


To make the frosting combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Cook stirring over medium heat until the butter melts and everything is well blended.


Bring to a simmer and then simmer over medium low heat until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage (see note). This will take from 7 to 12 minutes.


Remove from the heat and beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to thicken and loses its gloss. Spread the frosting over the cake decoratively while the frosting is still warm. It will set like fudge.



Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake






This is quite simply one of my all-time favorite cakes.  Its moist and delicious. You might think that the frosting would make it too sweet, but it really doesn't


Sometimes I find that store iced cakes can be overly sweet or almost cloying. This one isn't that way in the least. In fact, I would go so far as to declare it the perfect Butterscotch cake!  



Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake 



The simple flavors of this cake tick all my boxes. If you are looking for something equally delicious but perhaps in a different flavor, you might enjoy these!


QUEEN ELIZABETH CAKE - We are especially fond of this old, old recipe for Queen Elizabeth Cake.  I don't expect there is a Canadian community cookbook without a version of this in it.  It goes way back. It is a simple and delicious cake!  The dates make it incredibly moist. It is also studded with plenty of toasted walnuts. Topped with a sweet caramel icing and sprinkle of coconut, this is a real treat! 



SPANISH CAKE - I have really saved the best for the last.  This is my all time, absolute favorite cake. So much so that I also recreated it in a small batch version.  This cake is so good that I once baked it about three times in one week! It has a lovely moist crumb, flavored with cinnamon and that brown sugar penuche frosting is to die for.   It is the absolute best! 

Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake

Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake

Yield: 8 - 10
Author: Marie Rayner
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 1 H & 5 MTotal time: 1 H & 15 M
A moist and delicious brown sugar buttermilk cake with a lush penuche frosting.

Ingredients

For the cake:
  • 1/2 cup (120g) butter
  • 1 1/3 cups (280g) soft light brown sugar
  • 2 large free-range eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (280g) plain all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
For the icing:
  • 1/2 cup (120g) butter
  • 1 cup (200g) firmly packed soft light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) cream

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9-inch round cake tin and line the bottom with some baking paper. Set onto a baking sheet and set aside.
  2. Put the brown sugar for the cake through a sieve and then beat together in a medium sized bowl with the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and salt, blending well.
  3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and soda together. Fold into the creamed mixture alternating with the buttermilk, blending until you have a smooth batter. Pour into the prepared baking tin.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 325*F/165*C/ gas mark 3 and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes. The cake will spring back when lightly touched in the center and a toothpick inserted will come out clean.
  5. Leave to cool in the tin completely. Tip out and remove the paper and place right side up on a serving plate.
  6. To make the frosting combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan. Cook stirring over medium heat until the butter melts and everything is well blended.
  7. Bring to a simmer and then simmer over medium low heat until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage (see note). This will take from 7 to 12 minutes.
  8. Remove from the heat and beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to thicken and loses its gloss. Spread the frosting over the cake decoratively while the frosting is still warm. It will set like fudge.

Notes

You can test for the soft ball stage by dropping a bit of the mixture into a glass of cold water. You should be able to pull the drop together into a soft ball.

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Butterscotch Buttermilk Cake 

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10 comments

  1. A piece of this cake left me wanting another! This is not a "fluffy" cake, but more coffee cake texture which makes it great for packing in lunches or eating out of hand. Loved it!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much! It is indeed a very good cake! And yes, dense!

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  2. I've just put the cake in the oven to cook. When clearing away the counter I realized that the vanilla had not been used. It appears no where in the recipe. I assume it went in at some point into the batter. I will add some to the frosting and see if that works. Also, 1 1/3 cups of brown sugar isn't nearly 280 grams - It's under 200 grams unless my brown sugar is really heavy! I started measuring in metric with the sugar and when i saw how much there was, I started again in cups because I realized that no recipe has that much sugar in it. I'm not really sure what the cake is going to be like though the batter was fluffy and it smells good in the oven.

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    Replies
    1. I am sorry about the vanilla, it should have gone in with the eggs. I have adjusted the recipe to say so. Thank you so much for noticing. When I am talking about cups of the brown sugar, I always mean packed, and packed cups of brown sugar each weigh 200g. So a third of a cup is 80g. Most recipes which ask for brown sugar assume you will pack it into the cup. That is the way I was taught to bake, and this cake did indeed have that much sugar. It is a lovely dense and moist cake with a rich flavor. I hope that you enjoy it and thank you so much for taking the time to comment and your input!! xo

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    2. Thanks for the update. I both weighed and measured the sugar so I can only assume that the sugar I used (a combination of French and Italian brown sugars) weighs differently than what you are using. I was quite excited about this recipe but it just didn't work for me, particularly without vanilla in the cake. I ended up eating one piece and putting the rest in the freezer because I didn't want to waste all those ingredients. I will find some way of recycling it into something else one day.

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    3. I am really sorry that it didn't work for you. I can only assume that your sugars are vastly different than the ones I used in baking this cake. I wouldn't think that leaving out the vanilla would make that much of a difference, but then I love cake, especially the Victoria Sponge which has no flavoring at all but the butter and sugar. xo

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  3. Greetings from Denmark 🇩🇰 this cake is delicious 🥰 I’ve tried to add a little bit of orange peel 🍊that too was very tasty 🥰

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there Dorthe! Denmark was always on my bucket list when I lived in the UK. Sadly I never got there. I am so pleased that you have baked and enjoyed the cake! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave your feedback! It is very much appreciated! I love your idea of adding some orange peel! That sounds very delicious! xo

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  4. Hi, is the oven temperature for fan assisted oven? Or should I reduce it?
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is for a regular oven. For a fan assisted oven reduce the temperature.

      Delete

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