After taking pictures of the red velvet cake and forgetting to pose the blue ribbon I won for it in any of the photos before it was devoured, I smacked myself on the forehead and vowed I’d use the ribbons in future photos with award-winning recipes. Well, oops, I did it again. (I played with your heart, got lost in the game. Oh baby, baby…) Not a big deal, but annoying that I have these ribbons and have never shown them off! And this was my last blue-ribbon recipe I needed to share. Oh well.
So as you may have guessed after my little rant, I won first place for this cake in the “bundt cakes” class this year, and Marina, my foodie Mama who gave me the recipe, has won multiple blue ribbons for it before me. It is visually impressive with pretty swirls running through the cake, and the cake itself is very moist with a great butterscotch flavor.
A tip on making the swirls is to fold your knife or spatula across from the short ends of the pan and not in a line down the middle. This is hard to explain. Let me see if I can do better. Make a folding motion from one side of the pan across to the other side and keep doing it that way all the way around.  If you start at the front with it facing you, you will plunk your knife down one one side, pull it under and toward you, then back up right before it hits the other side, in a circular motion, then turn your pan and repeat the folding motion all the way around. Is that clear as mud? Good, let’s do this.
BUTTERSCOTCH SWIRL CAKE
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
6 eggs, divided use
1 tablespoon rum extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
1 (3.5 oz) package instant butterscotch pudding mix
¾ cup butterscotch ice cream topping*
Butterscotch Glaze
¼ cup (½ stick) butter, cubed
¼ cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350° F and grease and flour a 10″ bundt pan (I used Miracle Pan Release). Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add 5 of the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, beating well after each addition.
Transfer 2 cups of batter to another large bowl; beat in the pudding mix, butterscotch topping and remaining egg until well blended. Pour half of the plain batter into prepared pan. Top with half of the butterscotch batter; cut through with a knife or spatula to swirl. Repeat layers and swirl.
Bake for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.
For glaze, in a small saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar and milk. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat; add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy. Drizzle over cake; sprinkle with pecans.
*I made my own butterscotch topping by bringing ½ cup packed brown sugar, ½ cup heavy cream, ¼ cup unsalted butter, and ½ teaspoon kosher salt (use only ¼ teaspoon if you only have table salt) to a gentle boil and cooking 5 minutes before adding 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla and cooling completely.
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Reminder: Tonight I will be doing the drawing for both the Eggland’s Best prize pack (enter here) and the chocolate chip cookies for The Postcard Project. If you signed up for the Postcard Project and have sent at least one piece of mail, be sure to return to the spreadsheet to indicate how many pieces of mail you sent, as I will be drawing from those that have put a number in that column only. If you have sent mail this week and haven’t added your name, be sure to do so for a chance to win. Thanks to everyone who participated this week!
Veronica's Cornucopia 
This looks sooooooooooo good. I wonder would it work with caramel in the place of butterscotch.
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Of course, but I’m not sure if there is an instant caramel pudding available.
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This cake looks sooooo incredible, It makes me want a piece straight away :) I know what I will be trying in my kitchen this weekend – thank you for sharing!
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You lost me at the swirly part…lol! But, as you know I’m not the baker that you are ;) The cake is very pretty V!
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I looooooove butterscotch. I totally want a piece right now!
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Beautiful Cake…..
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This was wonderful! Tasted great and looked beautiful. Mine was a little dry. I’m going to bake it again for 55-60 min. (my oven could be a little off) Love the icing! Delish!
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Thanks for the feedback! Ovens can vary pretty wildly, I should probably calibrate mine to make sure I’m giving the right instructions! But those were the original instructions, so hopefully no one else will end up with a dry cake. I’m sorry yours did!
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I made this cake today and it is absolutely delicious. I didn’t pay attention to the 10″ bundt pan and just used my regular size one and it starting cooking over the top. I grabbed a rectangular cake pan and quickly sprayed it and poured it in it. It finished cooking fine and is so good. I got the swirling directions correct too. Thanks for the recipe, I will try it again when I get a bigger bundt pan.
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Good job saving it! And I’m so glad you love it! Yay!
The happiest people don’t have the best of everything…they just make the best of everything.
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trying to figure out the swirling part!!!!!!!!!!. any help?
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I’m so sorry, I really need to do a video on it! You want to do a folding motion, sort of circular, and the direction matters. Go front to back, not sideways. Does that help at all?
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I’m amazed that no one caught on that this recipe is word for word, ingredient for ingredient, right out of Nordic Ware Bundt Pans recipe book copyright 2001. It’s right there on page 15; glaze on page 97. Shame on you for entering and accepting a prize in a contest with a copyrighted recipe!
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I’ll have to take your word for that – I got it from a friend who’s been entering it in her own state fair for many years. And I believe you can enter any recipe in a state fair – the contest is for the baking, not the recipe.
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I’m confused. you have glaze AND butterscotch topping. It looks like the picture just shows glaze. What does one do with the topping?
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the topping is an ingredient in the cake and the glaze is a recipe that you make and put on top.
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OHHH! Thanks for clarifying
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Made this last night , very good but a tad dry got the swirl right YAY!!!!!!
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Good job on the swirl!! Sorry it turned out dry for you though. :(
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