Butterscotch Krimpets - a blast from the past

When I saw this recipe on Bunny's Warm Oven I was immediately transported back to my Nana and Papa’s kitchen. Nana and Papa were my great-grandparents. Yes I was lucky enough not only to grow up with my grandparents, but my great-grandparents as well. They were English, both born in England immigrating to the United States back in the early 1900’s. Papa was a mechanic and Nana worked in the hospital. By the time I starting hanging around with them they were both retired and had lots of time for me. They only lived around the corner from us so I visited just about every day, making a point to visit during teatime.

They were very serious about teatime. 4:00pm every afternoon. They drank out of proper teacups with saucers. They were also very serious about their snacking too. They had a snack drawer, which was opened as soon as the kettle went off. Nestled among the Lorna Doones and biscuits was my favorite snack…Tastykake’s Butterscotch Krimpets. Oh how I loved the spongy goodness and that delicious wavy butterscotch frosting.

When I saw a recipe for these on Bunny’s site it was a no brainer for me, I had to make them. It has been at least 25 years since I’ve had one. That’s a long time to go without a krimpet. This recipe is from King Arthur Flour. They call them Butterscotch Finger Cakes. I will always call them Krimpets.

Butterscotch Krimpets
Printable recipes
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
5 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Frosting
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon milk (if necessary)

Preheat the oven to 350°F, grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch pan.For the cake: Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl at least once. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between additions. Add the extracts and mix to combine.

Whisk the cake flour, baking powder and salt together, and add to the butter mixture alternating with the milk.Pour the batter into the pan, spread it out, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is springy to the touch and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, loosen the sides of the cake from the pan. Place a piece of parchment ant a cooling rack on top of the pan, and turn everything upside to finish cooling completely.

For the frosting:

Put the butterscotch chips and half of the butter in a heatproof bowl, and melt together over low heat or at low power in the microwave. Stir until smooth; if it looks a little broken, that's ok.

Put the other half of the butter in a mixing bowl with half of the confectioner's sugar. Mix until smooth, then add the melted chip mixture. Add the rest of the sugar and beat again until you have a smooth frosting. Add the milk if necessary to make the frosting a spreadable consistency. Spread the frosting evenly over the inverted cake. To invoke the traditional Krimpet waviness, use a cake comb (cake comb, not the one ya dragged through your head sillies) to put waves in the frosting. Cut the cake in thirds lengthwise, then in nine rows of one and half-inch strips to make 27 pieces.