The Broken Scale · Good food. Plenty of personality.
Chocolate Chip Cake with Butterscotch Filling
A brown-sugar chocolate-chip layer cake with butterscotch filling, chocolate glaze and chopped walnuts.
- Prep
- 20 minutes
- Cook
- 45 minutes
- Cooling (estimated)
- 1 hour 30 minutes
- Total
- 2 hours 35 minutes
- Serves
- 8 slices
Keep the components separate
Measure the cake, filling and glaze separately. Cool the layers and butterscotch before assembly, then finish with the chocolate glaze and walnuts.
Adapted from the vintage Betty Crocker chocolate-chip cake, as transcribed from the 1969 cookbook at RecipeLink. Heather Janak’s modern adaptation also documents the original cake’s lineage.
The full recipe
Chocolate Chip Cake with Butterscotch Filling
A brown-sugar chocolate-chip layer cake with butterscotch filling, chocolate glaze and chopped walnuts.
Ingredients
2 cups All-Purpose Flour- 1 cup Dark brown sugar packed
- ½ cup Granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp Baking powder
- ½ cup Shortening
- 1 ¼ cups Milk
- 3 Egg Large
- ½ cup Chocolate chips, semisweet Finely Chopped
- 1 ½ tsp Vanilla
- ¼ cup Walnuts Chopped Fine
- 1 tsp salt for the cake
- ½ tsp baking soda for the cake
Butterscotch Filling
- ½ cup Light brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup Cornstarch
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ cup Water
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter for the butterscotch filling
Chocolate Chip Glaze
- ½ cup Chocolate chips, semisweet
- 2 tbsp Unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp Light corn syrup
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.
- In a large mixing bowl combine only the cake ingredients: flour, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, baking soda, shortening, milk, eggs, finely chopped chocolate chips and vanilla. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the bowl. Beat on high for 3 minutes, stopping the mixer as needed to scrape the bowl. Keep the filling, glaze and walnuts separate.
- Divide the batter evenly between the pans. Bake 40–45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool briefly in the pans, then turn onto racks and cool completely.
- While the cakes cool, make the filling. In a saucepan, combine the light brown sugar, cornstarch and ¼ teaspoon salt. Whisk in the water until smooth. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and boiling. Boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat, blend in the 1 tablespoon butter and let cool before filling the cake.
- For the glaze, combine its ½ cup chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon corn syrup in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly, keeping it spreadable.
- Place one completely cooled cake layer on a serving plate. Spread with the cooled butterscotch filling and sprinkle with half the walnuts. Add the second layer, spread the glaze over the top and sprinkle with the remaining walnuts.
Notes
Based on the vintage Betty Crocker chocolate-chip cake. The filling retains the historical recipe’s thick cornstarch-and-water formula. Keep the three components separate when measuring. Cooling time is an estimate; both the layers and filling must be cool before assembly. Makes one two-layer 9-inch cake, cut into eight generous slices.
