This delicious Butterscotch Pound Cake is moist, rich, and buttery.

The butterscotch flavor comes from the addition of melted butterscotch in the pound cake batter, along with butterscotch chips and a simple butterscotch glaze.

Butterscotch Pound Cake, sliced, on a cake plate.

Table of Contents

Ingredients

Here's a quick look at the ingredients for today's recipe. You can find the full recipe at the bottom of this post!

unsalted butter-if using salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe
light brown sugar- adds moisture and complements the butterscotch flavor
white sugar (we used a bit less than our usual amount of sugar because of the sweetness of the butterscotch in the recipe)
eggs add richness and structure
all purpose flour
baking powder & salt
sour cream- adds richness and moisture without thinning the cake batter. We recommend "full fat". The acidity also helps soften the strands of gluten in the batter for a more tender crumb.
milk (we like to use whole milk or 2 percent)
butterscotch chips/morsels- We used Nestle Toll House
vanilla extract

How to Make Butterscotch Pound Cake

You can find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube or bundt pan.
In a medium bowl whisk the flour, baking powder and salt to combine, set aside for later
Combine ¾ cup of butterscotch chips with ½ cup of milk in a small microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds and then stir until well combined and chips are melted. Set aside.
Add the butter to the bowl of your mixer and mix until smooth. Gradually add the white and brown sugar and mix on medium speed 3 to 5 minutes or until the mixture has lightened in color and is fluffy.

Mixing the butter and sugar for butterscotch pound cake.

Add the eggs one at a time mixing, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk is blended.
In a medium bowl, combine the wet ingredients: sour cream, melted butterscotch mixture, and vanilla extract.
With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the sour cream mixture to the mixture of butter, sugar and eggs. Begin and end with the dry ingredients. That will be three additions of dry and two additions of wet. Mix just until combined.
Fold in ½-3/4 cup butterscotch chips. (We used ¾ cup)

Folding butterscotch chips into Butterscotch Pound Cake batter.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Peek in as the time approaches 1 hour and adjust as needed. Baking times may vary.
Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning out.

Butterscotch Pound Cake in pan, cooling on a wire rack.

Butterscotch Glaze

The cake is delicious just as it is, but we wanted to add another boost of butterscotch flavor with a butterscotch glaze! This simple glaze combines butterscotch chips and a bit of milk.

Heat in the microwave, stir until smooth, drizzle or spoon over the cake. We used a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away for a bit more control. Note that the glaze will thicken fairly quickly as it cools.

More Pound Cakes

We've made so many pound cake recipes over the years! Some of our most popular are our Five Flavor Pound Cake, Lemon Pound Cake, Marble Pound Cake, and Vanilla Buttermilk Pound Cake.