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With a moist, tender butterscotch cake and a creamy, silky smooth icing studded with zillions of vanilla beans, this Butterscotch Sheet Cake is the stuff sweet lovers' dreams are made from!
If you love a moist cake with a super tender crumb and a blanket of sweet creamy icing, raise your hand. And if you also enjoy a cake recipe that comes together quickly with just one bowl and no mixer, raise the other hand. I feel a little silly with both hands raised high, but this delicious Ridiculously Easy Butterscotch Sheet Cake with Vanilla Bean Icing has my name written all over it. I think you're going to love it too!
If you've been following The Café for a while, you've probably realized that we love sheet pan cakes. We've probably got enough in our archives to fill a small bakery and they're all super delicious cakes that come together in minutes. And although they're all based on the same simple recipe, each one is distinctly different. Check out some of the variations below and you'll see just what I mean:
This super delicious, Ridiculously Easy Applesauce Cake comes together in minutes. Make the vanilla bean icing while the cake bakes (and creates amazing aromas) and wait for everyone to come running!
With just one bowl and a whisk, you can put together this FABULOUS Caramel Buttermilk Sheet Cake. The melt-in-your-mouth caramel icing is as easy as the cake!
This delicious, one-bowl, no-mixer Peanut Butter Texas Sheet Cake is one of our favorite desserts EVER! It's also one of the quickest and easiest cakes you'll ever make!
Besides being ridiculously easy (one bowl, no mixer), this Funfetti Sheet Cake is also moist, tender, ridiculously delicious and so FUN with a magical kaleidoscope of multi-hued polka dots!
Are you getting the picture? Do you think that I could win a Miss Sheet Cake title? There actually are lots more you can check out here. In fact we probably have a sheet pan cake for just about any occasion you want to celebrate. Or any ordinary day that you'd like to turn into a celebration!
Okay, back to the Butterscotch Sheet Cake!
What makes this cake butterscotch?
That's a great question. What makes this cake butterscotch? Is butterscotch the same as caramel? Nope, although they have similar flavors there is a big difference:
- Caramel is made from white sugar that is cooked until it melts and... well, caramelizes! For a caramel sauce, heavy cream or half and half is added at this point.
- Butterscotch, on the other hand, is a combination of brown sugar, butter and cream.
To create a delicious butterscotch flavor, this recipe starts with browning butter in a pot on the stovetop. Brown sugar is added to the brown butter followed by the classic sheet cake ingredients, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda and salt. The entire recipe is mixed up in the original pot, so I guess that makes it a one-pot recipe rather than one-bowl.
Vanilla Bean Icing
The creamy vanilla bean icing is the perfect pairing and truly the crowning glory. The icing is easily stirred up with just one bowl and a whisk. The tiny seeds from one large (or two small) vanilla beans are added for lots of fabulous vanilla flavor.
You can also use vanilla bean paste which is a wonderful convenience product consisting of zillions of little vanilla bean seeds suspended in vanilla extract. The little flecks of vanilla give the cake a subtle but pretty presentation!
If you've got a party, potluck, picnic, work get-together coming up, this Butterscotch Sheet cake is perfect as it feeds a crowd. Because it comes together so quickly it's also a wodnerful way to make an ordinary day quite special. And it freezes well so leftovers (if there are any!) can be enjoyed on those days when someone needs a sweet treat!
Café Tips for making this Butterscotch Sheet Cake
- Be sure to grease the pan well. I like to use baking spray which is a combination of oil and flour when baking a cake. You could also grease the pan with shortening and then coat the shortening with a layer of flour.
- I like to use dark brown sugar for this recipe as it gives a nice depth of butterscotch flavor but light brown will also work.
- This cake recipe calls for buttermilk. If you don't want to purchase buttermilk, just for this recipe, you could substitute an equal amount of yogurt or sour cream.
- You can also make your own buttermilk. Just add 2 teaspoons of white vinegar to a measuring cup and fill the cup to the one-half mark with milk. Stir well, then wait 5 minutes and stir again. Use this in place of the buttermilk.
- The frosting recipe for this Butterscotch Sheet Cake calls for half and half. If you don't live in the United States, you might not be familiar with half and half. It's an American convenience product that's half milk and half cream. You can also use milk for the frosting.
- I use salted butter to make this cake. If you only have unsalted butter, add an extra ¼ teaspoon of salt.
- Although you can use any type of stirring implement for this recipe, a whisk works really well. If you don't have a whisk in your cooking collection, it's a really handy kitchen tool to add. A good whisk is not expensive and can be used for quickly stirring lots of things and getting lumps out with minimal effort. It would make a great gift for someone who's just starting to cook.
- What size pan should you use to make this Butterscotch Sheet Cake? There are actually two answers to this question.
- You can use a regular half sheet pan which is 18x13 inches and will yield a thinner cake and icing.
- You can also use a jelly roll pan which is a little smaller, measuring 15x10 inches, yields a thicker cake with a thicker icing. My preference? I really like making sheet cakes like this in the smaller, jelly roll pan for a thicker cake, but either will work.
- Don't need such a large cake? No problem, as this cake freezes beautifully; so when you need a dessert in a hurry, it will be just a thaw away!
- If you like a less sweet cake, you can halve the icing recipe and use a little extra half and half to make a thin glaze rather than a thick icing.
Thought for the day:
There is none like You, O Lord;
You are great, and great is Your name in might.
Jeremiah 10:6
What we're listening to for inspiration:
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Ridiculously Easy Butterscotch Sheet Cake
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 cup butter, (I use salted butter)
- 2 cups brown sugar, I like to use dark brown sugar but light brown sugar will also work.
- ½ cup buttermillk, (or sour cream or yogurt)
- 1 cup water
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanila extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
For the icing:
- 4 ounces butter, I use salted butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar, maybe a bit more
- ¼ cup half & half, maybe a bit more
- 1 large, or 2 small vanilla beans, seeds scraped out (or two teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract, optional but delicious!
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Spray a 10x15 jelly roll pan or an 18x13 sheet pan generously with baking spray and rub with a paper towel to coat all surfaces. Set aside.
- In a medium-large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once the butter is melted reduce the heat a bit and continue to cook and stir for about 5 minutes until the butter changes color and gets golden brown. The butter will sizzle a bit at first then it will subside. Remove from the heat to a heat-safe work surface (I just use a hot pan on my kitchen counter.)
- Allow the butter to cool for 5 minutes, then add the brown sugar, buttermilk water and vanilla. Whisk until well combined then add the eggs and whisk again.
- Sprinkle the baking powder, baking soda and salt over the batter. Whisk until well combined and no lumps remain.
- Lastly, add the flour and whisk until smooth. It will seem lumpy at first but keep stirring. It will get nice and smooth. A whisk works great for this.
- Transfer to the prepared pan. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 18-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes while you make the icing.
For the icing:
- While the cake is cooling, make the icing.
- Place the butter in a medium-large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high power for 1 minute or until melted.
- Add the powdered sugar, half and half and vanilla seeds or vanilla bean paste.
- Whisk until smooth and fluffy. The icing should be a nice spreadable consistency. If it seems too thin, add a little more powdered sugar. If it’s too thick, add some half and half or milk, 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Spread icing on the slightly warm or room temperature cake. The icing will swirl nicer if you allow the cake to come to room temperature. I use the back of a soup spoon to swirl the icing
Notes
Nutrition
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Long-time fan....your cakes are such a hit. This particular sheet cake recipe seems to lack butter in the frosting, unlike your other sheet cakes. Is that intentional?
Thank you, Michelle! I'm not sure how that happened. You are correct - I have amended the recipe to reflect the butter.
After years of searching this has got to be the BEST butterscotch cake EVER! Absolutely delicious and so easy to make. The cake is very moist (used sour cream rather than buttermilk and added 1/4 tsp salt since only had unsalted butter).
Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Wonderful! Thank you for the review, Sandy!
I'm wondering if your metric conversions may need a small tweak for this recipe. Your brown sugar measurement is listed as "2 cups" in both the customary and metric tabs. Based on what you've listed in other recipes, I'm guessing that would be 440 grams? And in the metric tab, the powdered sugar sugar is listed as "946 ml powdered sugar". Since elsewhere your conversion seems to be 1 cup powdered sugar equals 120 grams, I'm guessing this might be 480 grams?
I think I might need to hire you as my editor, John! You are correct. I ran it through the conversion app again and it comes out to 480g. Not sure what happened the first time. Feel free to check on things anytime if they don't seem quite right! Thanks 🥰
Hi. Could you make this in a bundt pan? Thanks
Hi Dlevy, I haven't tested this recipe in a Bundt pan so I can say how it will work.
Hi there, I just wanted to let you know, the recipe for this cake seems to be missing now. I have clicked on it several times, but the recipe is not coming up for this cake. Is there something wrong on my end?
Hi Kari, so sorry you've had trouble with this. On my computer the recipe is right above the comment section (and a few ads) and the "Printable Recipe" comes up when I click on that button. Not sure what is going on here.
It's missing on mine also. The last thing before the comments is a picture of a different slice of cake with a fork in the forefront.
Thanks, Lynn! It should be there now.
Excellent cake, except mine didn't look like yours did in the picture. The cake portion turned out so tender and flavourful but the icing I made was way too thin, my fault, obviously. The only negative comment by me (not my husband who thought it was great), was I found the icing overly sweet. I think I'll just cut back on the amount of icing sugar I use next time. Is that what you would suggest?
Hi Judy, you might want to bake it just a bit longer which would make it a little sturdier. Regarding the icing, if yours was too thin, you actually need to add more powdered sugar. That being said, you could just make half of the amount which would yield a thinner (in height, not consistency) icing and make it not so sweet.
I made this cake today and boy, is it delicious!! I shared some with my neighbor and they loved it too. I was bummed that I didn't have any almond extract (didn't know I was out) as I use half vanilla and half almond extract in my sugar cookies and love the taste. I'll be making this cake again! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Yay! Thanks for letting us know, Lani!
Hi! I really want to try the Butterscotch Sheet Cake with the Vanilla Bean Icing but still can't find the amount of brown sugar in the cake recipe - the print version of the recipe is still lacking that ingredient. Would you please just tell me the amount in this Q&A format? Thanks!
Dawn
Hi Dawn, thanks for letting us know, we will work on figuring it out. It's 2 cups of brown sugar in the cake.
Thank you! My husband loves Butterscotch anything. Dawn
Hi Dawn, if you refresh your page the brown sugar is there now. Enjoy!
H Chris,
Irene again. I just noticed that all comments about the Butterscotch Sheet Cake were on the 27 Aug. I printed mine this morning August 28th. Hope this helps.
Irene
Thank you, Irene. I appreciate you keeping me up to date on this. I've found that sometimes, for reasons I'm not sure about, it takes a bit of time for the printed recipe to show any corrections. I was hoping that clearing the catch would help - I just checked on my computer and the printed page now appears to include the brown sugar. Hopefully, it show up soon on everyone's sites!
Hi Chris,
I just printed your recipe for your Butterscotch sheet cake (10:27am Idaho time) and it did not include the brown sugar ( I just wrote it on the paper) but thought you might like to know.
I just love all of your recipes. Thanks for all your hard work!!
Irene
Hi Chris! Bless your heart...I hate when that happens. The brown sugar is in the in-article recipe now, but doesn't show in the "print" version.
Thank you for another mouth watering recipe description and recipe 😋. Giving this a try today for Sunday dinner dessert.
Hope you enjoy it, Peacetou! I think the printed page should be correct now. I have cleared my cache and then should reset it to include the brown sugar.
Do you have any idea how many cupcakes this would make
Hi Rick, I haven't tested this recipe with cupcake pans but I would guess that you would get 18-24 cupcakes.
For those who cannot see the recipe, you can pull up the "Print" version.
Thanks, Barbara 🙂
Hi Chris - I am sorry, but I think the link to the "ridiulously easy butterscotch sheet cake" is broken 🙁
Love your recipes! Thanks so much for sharing them 🙂
Hi Julie, I’m sorry for this problem. I’m not what is going on. I’m out right now now but will correct this when I get home to my computer.
Hi Chris. I too, love your ridiculously easy recipes. I want to try this one but the recipe is not there. When I click on the print option it is there, but no amount is listed for the brown sugar. Help! 🙂
Chris, I hate to join the others above - tried everything, including going back in with the link you provided - still no recipe!! Have never encountered this before and hate to be another one who had the same problem ... just love all your recipes so much that I hate to miss any!!
I have cut and pasted the link in the comments into a new tab and still cannot see the recipe for the butterscotch cake. Where is it??? Thanks. et
I have just checked it and it's all there for me. I hope this problem has corrected itself now.
Will try this, in the UĶ we can use single cream in place of half and half. Love your easy recipes, thank you.
I hope you enjoy it, Jayne!
Where’s the brown sugar? I don’t see it listed under ingredients.
It's fixed now!
Hi - Looks like an ingredient is missing in the cake recipe- like maybe some delicious brown sugar to give that sweet and delicious depth of butterscotch flavor you were talking about?
Always Best Regards,
Candace
Yes, it's there now! Sorry for the confusion.
Hi Chris! I am always impressed whenever making your ridiculously easy recipes because each recipe has always been a hit and definitely lived up to this description. However for whatever reason, I've not been able to actually find this actual ridiculously easy butterscotch cake with vanilla bean frosting on your site. On the both the email I received this morning, as well as on your site itself, there is no recipe for this actual cake that I see - only one for the applesauce variation. Please advise - thanks,
Hi Cat, I show a few other sheet cakes, including the applesauce but this recipe is right above. Here is a link: https://thecafesucrefarine.com/ridiculously-easy-butterscotch-sheet-cake-with-vanilla-bean-icing/#wprm-recipe-container-64905
I tried clicking on the link you provided, but it doesn't go anywhere, and the recipe is not with the picture at all. I'll check out the applesauce cake and hope that later on the butterscotch cake will show up. Thanks for all your delicious and "ridiculously easy" recipes--right now, that's all I can handle!
Chris,
Thanks for your prompt response. I opened the link you sent but the page displayed was still the same - without the Butterscotch Cake recipe and only a link to your Applesauce Cake. Previously with all of your emails, your recipes are listed at the end of the added notes/tips you always include with your recipes.
Regardless instead I clicked on the option of "jump to recipe" at the top of the page but nada - no recipe to follow. I next clicked on the print recipe option and finally had specific instructions to follow. However, that recipe DID NOT include any sugar(s)? In reading the other comments, you responded to one with the same question about including brown sugar to create the butterscotch flavor. Your response to that comment was that this info line had been inadvertently left off but that you had now corrected this. Please be advised that no sugar(s) are listed on your printed recipe 🙁 I appreciate your help...
Hello. This sounds delicious and I want to try it; however, I don't have sheet pans with edges (I only have flat cookie sheets). Have you ever tried this with a 9 x 13 cake pan? Thanks.
Hi Terri, this would work in a 9x13 pan. The baking time will be longer though. I haven't made it so I can't give you the exact time but I would check it with an instant thermometer for doneness. The temp should be 200-205˚F (94-96˚C) when tested in the center of the cake.
I notice your recipe instructions called for brown sugar but, I did not notice that ingredient in the list of ingredient. Am I missing something?
Ah, thank you, Lora!! It's there now. I need extra editors!!