Butterscotch Icing - For When You Can't Find Krimpets

Philly has a very well deserved reputation for liking their junk food. 

Cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, and of course Tastykakes.

Tastykake had more varieties up there than I get when I moved down here, although I'm seeing more of them show up here in South Florida. 

There was this flat raisin bar that I really liked but could not find even when I lived there going back a few years.  They were dense things that you could chew and it would even chew back that tasted richly of raisins and cinnamon.

Childhood memories, right?  Keep your Twinkies, they're crap compared to something made with real eggs and milk like a proper Tastykake!

The other day I had a box of Butterscotch Krimpets sitting on the table and I thought that such a beloved snack would be fairly easy to try to come close to.  It is a simple yellow cake that is topped with a thick butterscotch fondant icing. 

I am sure that my love for these things are why I am 6'4" and 225 pounds today.   More the weight than the height, but I'm not going to quibble.

I went hunting for a recipe and found an interesting one for Butterscotch icing.   Mind you, this is close but not perfect.  That's fine, I wanted mine a bit richer butterscotch flavoring, so I went for the Dark Brown Sugar.  If you want a lighter taste, use a mix of Dark and Light brown sugars.

For the actual cake, I cheated - I made up a box yellow cake mix and the result was rather authentic for a quick first try.

It is done in two distinct steps.

Process:

• First you make the icing base by cooking the ingredients except the confectioner's sugar in a saucepan.  Bring it to a light slow boil and stir with a whisk for three minutes.  I timed mine, and it came out perfect.
• Then you cool the icing base in the refrigerator until cold.
• Finally you use the stand mixer to mix in the confectioner's sugar until it is smooth.
• That's really it.  It was quite simple, even though you have to restrain yourself from making it until it is cold.  You will end up with enough icing for a cake, or like here in the picture, cupcakes. 

Ingredients:

Icing Base:

• 2 Cups Dark Brown Sugar
• 6 Tablespoons (or 3 ounces) shortening
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk

For the final step

• 3 cups confectioner's sugar - Reserve this for the final mixing.