Homemade Tastykakes

By Addie

If you’re from the Philadelphia area, I probably don’t have to tell you what Tastykakes are. For those of you who aren’t, Tastekakes are a regional brand of packaged snack cakes. Fans of these cakes will say that they’re better than those other brands (Hostess, etc), and I think they might be right. Tastykakes come in a wide variety of flavors, many of which are unique to the brand, and usually taste fresh and moist. I’ve made a homemade version of their Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes before, and this time around I decided to tackle Tastykake’s Butterscotch Krimpets, which are simple vanilla cakes that have a butterscotch icing.

Snack cakes, whether you’re taking Twinkies or Tastykakes, almost always have a sponge cake base. Sponge cake is more resilient (less crumbly) than butter cakes are and often stays moister, longer. I used a similar sponge cake base that I used to make my previous peanut butter Tastykakes, adding in some brown sugar to give the cakes themselves a little bit of a butterscotch flavor. The sponge cakes are made by beating lots of air into whole eggs, then folding in flour and finally mixing in hot milk and butter. The sponge turns out to be very light and moist. It’s nice on its own, with notes of butter, milk, brown sugar and vanilla, but a little on the plain side without the flavorful icing. It is very similar – although perhaps a bit better – to the taste and texture of a regular snack cake.

Most butterscotch icings rely on butterscotch chips to infuse them with flavor, and this is no exception. The frosting is very sweet, but since it is spread on in only a very thin layer on the cake, everything balances out by the time you go to eat it. I also tempered the frostings’ sweetness by mixing in a good-sized pinch of salt.

The cakes had a great butterscotch flavor and tasted fresh, moist and delicious. My tasters – a couple of Philly natives – said that they felt that this was what a butterscotch krimpet was supposed to taste like. I’m not sure about that myself, but they’re very good. The wavy shape I cut mine into was achieved by carving the sides with a knife to match the look of the packaged krimpets. You can come close by using Wilton’s ZigZag Cutter, but can also cut the bars into squares or rectangles for simplicity’s sake.

Ingredients

• CAKES:
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk
• 2 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 tseaspoon salt
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• BUTTERSCOTCH FROSTING:
• 1/3 cup butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Step 1

MAKE THE CAKE:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 17x11x1-in. jelly-roll pan (15×10 is fine) and line the bottom with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together eggs and sugars until thick and pale, 3-5 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
While that is beating (or before, if you’re not using a stand mixer), heat milk and butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave until the butter has just melted and the milk is steaming, but not boiling. Remove from heat and set aside.
Gradually sift flour and baking powder into the beaten egg mixture and mix at low speed until just combined. With the mixer running, still at a low speed, slowly stream in the milk/butter mixture until batter is uniform.

3. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading it out evenly, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350F. Cake is done when a tester comes out clean and the top is golden and springs back when touched lightly.

4. Let cake cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely. When cake is cooled, spread the butterscotch frosting onto it in a thin, even layer. Store leftovers in an airtight container.
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Make the frosting:

1. Melt butterscotch chips and butter together in a medium sized, microwave safe bowl. Whisk to combine, and set aside for a few minutes to cool to room temperature.

2. Beat butterscotch mixture with confectioners sugar, 2 tbsp milk and 1/4 tsp salt. If frosting is too thin, add additional confectioners’ sugar to make it spreadable.

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REVIEWS:

THANKS for the Tasty cake recipes, I grew up in the Philly area and love these little cakes. Just looking at the photo makes me want a Butterscotch Krimpet! I will definitely try them!

They look just like them! Yum!

I just finished making these. They are good, but really nothing like a Krimpet. The frosting was way more orange than what shows in the pic above – not sure why… Very yummy, but not really Krimpets.

Oh WoW! I ate Tastycake Butterscotch Krimpets every day when I was in school. Your krimpet is really more dead on than Megan realizes. Since your cake was cut into the ‘signature’ wavy shape, the signature golden color is lost, but the icing seems right on. At least it tasted right on…

You know, I tried the KA recipe. My husband, Philly native, said that the cake was off–it wasn’t butter cake, but a sponge cake. The frosting was close he said, but too stiff. I have been meaning to make these again, you may just have given me the kick in the pants I need! Yours look beautiful. I didn’t cut mine as pretty as you did!

I would love to make these (I looooove Tasty Kakes!) but you can’t get butterscotch chips here… any ideas for a substitute?

I am from Philly and have been eating Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets for years. I made this recipe and I dare say that this recipe is BETTER than eating the Tastycake Krimpets!! I couldn’t stop eating them!!

OMG - these are so good!!!

I am from a little south of Philly. I too miss Krimpets…I mostly followed this recipe with a little more butter,cream,and a little almond flavor…Anyway, really good maybe even better than a krimpet. In any case, it’s good!

Thank you so much for the recipe! I am an education major in South Dakota doing a lit unit with a group of 5th graders. We are reading Maniac Magee which, for those of you who haven’t read it, is set in Pennsylvania. The main characters favorite snack is Tasty Kakes Butterscotch Krimpets…they were too expensive to buy online so I used your recipe to make them myself…They were a huge success! Although I have never had the real Tasty Kake version, I can’t wait to make them again!

I’m totally obsessed with TastyKakes even though I have never had one since I am not from Philadelphia nor have I ever been there. I am so excited to make these. They look great!