Butterscotch Sponge Cake
A light sponge-style snack cake with a delicious butterscotch frosting
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets, but my youngest brother really loves them. They’re basically individual yellow sponge cakes with butterscotch frosting. And he has tasked me with a challenge: to recreate these.
Well, I’ve never made a sponge cake before. so that’s already the first challenge. Although, in my limited knowledge, sponge cakes only require a few pantry staples to come together: flour, sugar, eggs. They are not supposed to contain fat (butter or oil)… I think..? But even with the short list of ingredients, that doesn’t mean there is a LOT of room for error. Oh well, I am going to give it a shot anyway, and we will see what happens. Also, I do not have a pan that would mimic the ‘krimpet’ shape. BUT, he did say he would like to see my “interpretation” of it, so that gives me a lot of leeway in regards to my finished product.
I am into making things easier, not harder. So, I am going to turn this into a cake, not individual cakes. That’s already given my mind some relief. And I think that a true sponge cake usually involves separating the eggs, and beating the yolks and whites separately. I believe folding in the egg whites creates a lighter, more airy sponge cake. BUT, since I do not recall the Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets being overly delicate, I thought I would take liberties and cut corners by whole eggs instead. Also, maybe the frosting will hold up better with a slightly sturdier texture…? Maybe this will work out or maybe I will have to start all over again and try the more traditional method. But I don’t mind experimenting; we’ll see.
Well…. I need to start over. The first try was okay, but I found I needed to sift the flour first because there were clumps of flour present when I cut into the cake. It’s very important to sift this! Also, I think this needed additional fat (besides the fat from the egg yolk). Perhaps this wasn’t meant to be a traditional sponge cake. Maybe I will now try a sponge cake with added butter and/or oil in it. This is called a “genoise” cake… at least according to a quick “sponge cake” google search that brought me to Wikipedia. Whether that’s reliable information or not, I don’t know. But I am going to try this again with added fat. And some additional egg yolks. Oh… and a different frosting, because the one I first made turned as hard as a rock after it had set.
So back to the beginning, I suppose….
The second attempt was a success! The cake came out tender with a slightly better texture than the first try. And the frosting was delicious! I made it in the microwave, which was fast and easy. I didn’t know if it would work out or not, but it did!! The cake was light and soft and perfectly complemented by the sweet butterscotch frosting. But I don’t exactly remember the Tastykake Krimpets, so even though these are delicious, I am not sure how much they mimic that product. My brother will have to try this out to let me know how I did…
Well, he said that this did not taste like the Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets, BUT the good news is that they are “really, really good”. Even though I didn’t recreate the Tastykake Krimpets, this was successful in being a delicious butterscotch snack cake!
Recipe:
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INGREDIENTS:
CAKE:
- 3/4 cup cake flour
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 3 whole eggs, room temperature
- 2 egg yolks, room temperature
- 2 TBS butter, melted and cooled
- 1 TBS oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
FROSTING:
- 6 TBS butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 TBS half & half
- 1 cup powdered sugar
CAKE:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Coat a 9 inch square pan with nonstick spray.
- Whisk together cake flour and salt; set aside.
- Beat sugar, eggs and egg yolks together at high speed until light and creamy (about 5 minutes).
- Add cooled melted butter, oil and vanilla; beat on low until evenly combined.
- Sift the flour mixture over the batter.
- Gently fold the flour mixture to thoroughly incorporate and no streaks or lumps are present.
- Pour into the pan.
- Bake for about 18 minutes
- Start preparing the butterscotch frosting.
FROSTING:
- In a microwave-safe bowl, melt butter.
- Add brown sugar and stir until combined.
- Microwave for 1 minute, stirring halfway through.
- Stir again and transfer to another bowl to allow it to cool slightly.
- Stir in vanilla and half & half.
- Add powdered sugar and whisk thoroughly for a couple minutes, until mixture is smooth and there is no powdered sugar present.
- Spread warm frosting over the warm cake.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting
NOTES:
- You definitely need a sifter for this recipe. And I might even recommend whisking the cake flour and salt together, sift it once before adding it to the batter, and sift it a second time directly into the batter. This will help from having to “squish” the lumps of flour in the batter so you are able to fold the flour more gently, otherwise, you could lose some of the air bubbles!
- Don’t be alarmed if this ends up smelling kind of “eggy” when it is in the oven, as it makes sense because of the high proportion of eggs.I think it smells like when french toast is being made!
