Ridiculously Easy Butterscotch Sheet Cake
With a moist, tender butterscotch cake and a delicious, creamy icing studded with vanilla beans, this Butterscotch Sheet Cake is the stuff dreams are made from!
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 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup half & half
- 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:
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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.
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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.)
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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.
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Sprinkle the baking powder, baking soda and salt over the batter. Whisk until well combined and no lumps remain.
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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.
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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:
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While the cake is cooling, make the icing by combining the powdered sugar, half and half and vanilla seeds or vanilla bean paste in a medium-large bowl.
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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.
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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
Recipe Notes
See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips to ensure success.
If you prefer to use Metric measurements there is a button in each of our recipes, right above the word “Instructions”. Just click that button to toggle to grams, milliliters, etc. If you ever come across one of our recipes that doesn’t have the Metric conversion (some of the older recipes may not), feel free to leave a comment and I will add it.