Old-fashioned butterscotch cake is moist, tender and bursting with warm brown sugar sweetness. This butterscotch sheet cake is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Easy butterscotch cake is baked from scratch and topped with homemade butterscotch frosting for layers of sweet, buttery goodness.

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When it comes to classic, old-fashioned desserts a few flavors stand out.

Chocolate never goes out of style. Peach and strawberry are ideal in the spring and summer.

Butterscotch is warm, sugary and indulgent any time of the year.

Growing up, a few of the older folks in church would stock their pockets and purses with Butter Rum Lifesavers.

They were a fan favorite amongst the kids in the congregations and would generally keep our mouths occupied during the sermon.

Thanks to those little hard candies, butterscotch became a flavor I associate with good times and good people.

I don’t carry hard candy, but I do bake and I regularly make this easy butterscotch cake for potlucks and entertaining. It’s my little nod to a pleasant childhood memory.

This old-fashioned butterscotch cake recipe is made with simple ingredients and has a rich, warm flavor.

Like my buttermilk sheet cake, it’s a crowd-pleasing favorite that yields many servings.

The butterscotch cake recipe is simple to follow, comes together quickly and will leave everyone with a smile on their face.

More Old-Fashioned Desserts You’ll Love:

• Old-Fashioned Tomato Soup Cake
• Homemade Granny Cake
• Preacher Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Peanut Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting
• Old-Fashioned Banana Sheet Cake
• Biscoff Sheet Cake

Butterscotch Cake Baking Tips

Making butterscotch sheet cake is pretty straightforward, but it never hurts to have a few tips to help everything go smoothly.

• Use room temperature ingredients. Butter, eggs, milk and buttermilk should all be brought to room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour before baking unless otherwise noted. Everything will mix together beautifully.
• Measure correctly. Especially when measuring dry ingredients use a spoon to fill the measuring cup then level with a knife.
• Use cake flour. Cake flour has less protein than all-purpose flour. As you mix the batter, less gluten forms which means your cake is softer and fluffier.
• Don’t overmix. Overmixing the batter also cases gluten to form and the key to that soft and fluffy texture is less gluten. Mix until the ingredients are just incorporated.
• Cool the cake completely. Warm cake is delicious, but you will have a better final product if you let the cake cool completely before frosting.

How to Make Easy Butterscotch Cake

It’s really easy to make butterscotch sheet cake.

Ingredients You’ll Need:

For the Cake:

• Cake Flour
• Dark Brown Sugar
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Butter
• Vanilla Extract
• Eggs
• Buttermilk

For the Frosting:

• Butterscotch Baking Chips
• Butter
• Powdered Sugar
• Milk or heavy cream

How to Make It:

(Full printable recipe card is available below)

Prepare the equipment. First, you’ll preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray or butter and set aside.

Mix the dry ingredients. Next, you’ll whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.

Mix the wet ingredients. Next, you’ll mix together butter, vanilla, eggs, and buttermilk until combined in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer.

Mix the batter. Then, with the mixer on low speed (or by hand with a spatula), gradually add the flour mixture into the large bowl of wet ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

Bake. Pour batter into the prepared baking dish.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven and and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Prepare the frosting. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add butterscotch chips and stir until completely melted and smooth.

In a medium mixing bowl (or in the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), beat the remaining butter until smooth.

Add in 3 cups of powdered sugar and the milk (or heavy cream), mixing until crumbly.

Add melted butterscotch chips and beat on high speed until smooth and creamy.

If needed, gradually add up to 1 more cup of powdered sugar, mixing until your desired consistency is achieved.

Frost the cake. Last, you’ll spread the frosting over the top of the cake (I like to use an offset spatula), slice, and serve.

Notes and Adaptations:

• Leftover cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
• If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can make your own. Add 1.5 Tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup, then add enough milk to measure 1.5 cups. Allow to sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes, then use in place of buttermilk. You can also mix a bit of sour cream with milk to make buttermilk.
• You can use vegetable oil instead of melted butter in the cake, if preferred.
• If you don’t want to make a single layer cake, you can use two round cake pans to make additional cake layers. You’ll likely need to decrease the baking time–I’d start checking them around 22-25 minutes. I’d recommend doubling the frosting in that case.

Be sure to save this recipe to your desserts board on Pinterest!