Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 F, position a rack in the middle of the oven. Grease a 7-inch  cake tin with little butter and dust with flour to coat the pan, or you may use parchment paper.

Step 2

In a medium mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder & baking soda. Add salt, whisk the dry ingredients until well combined. Set aside.

Step 3

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment,  beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and creamy, scraping down in between, should take about 2-3 minutes. Or you can use an electric hand mixer/beater.

Step 4

Add in the eggs next, one at a time, continue beating on medium-high speed.

Step 5

In goes the butterscotch essence, followed by butterscotch syrup. Continue mixing on medium speed.

Step 6

Now reduce to the lowest possible speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and milk, starting with flour and ending with flour. ( DO NOT OVER MIX ). Transfer the batter to the prepared baking tin.

Step 7

Bake in the middle rack, for about 35 - 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake on a rack in the tin for 15 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on the rack completely.

Step 8

Whilst the cake is baking, you can prepare the butterscotch. Take sugar and water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, switch on medium heat. Do not stir. Let the sugar start melting.

Step 9

Once the sugar starts bubbling, keep swirling the pan, until the sugar begins to caramelize and turn a nice amber color.

Step 10

Switch off the heat, add in butter and cashew nuts. Mix well until the butter has incorporated well in the caramel.

Step 11

Transfer to the preparing baking sheet, and spread it quickly and evenly. Let it cool ( be careful as it is very hot, do not touch iIt will take about 15-30 minutes to cool.

Step 12

Once it has cooled, break roughly into pieces.

Step 13

Transfer to a ziplock bag and crush roughly with a rolling pin, or put it in the mixer and pulse a few times to crumble it down. It's ready to use as toppings for cakes, ice creams or anything you wish. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Use as required.

Step 14

In a small saucepan, add gelatin and cold water; let it stand until it thickens. Place over low heat, stirring constantly, just until the gelatin dissolves.

Step 15

Remove from heat and let it cool, make sure it doesn't set.

Step 16

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the cream, icing sugar, butterscotch essence and yellow food color.

Step 17

Whip the cream with the sifted icing sugar, until slightly thick.

Step 18

While slowly beating, add the gelatin to whipping cream.

Step 19

Whip at high speed until it forms stiff peak. Do not overbeat or else it will turn into butter. Another method to check if your cream is ready is by inverting bowl if the cream stays intact without showing signs of slipping from the bowl, it's done. Transfer the cream to a zip log bag. Refrigerate the cream in the meanwhile. Snip off the edge when you are ready to use.

Step 20

Once the cake has completely cooled down, divide it into 3 layers with the help of a long serrated knife

Step 21

Brush each layer with sugar syrup.

Step 22

Pipe out the whipped cream in circular motions starting from the outer circumference towards the center. Flatten and smooth the cream with an offset spatula.

Step 23

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of butterscotch granules and 1 tablespoon butterscotch syrup on 2 layers.

Step 24

Finally assemble the layers on a platter that you can rotate, for easier frosting (Simply put a bowl and a flat plate over the bowl, place a parchment paper on the plate, and assemble the layers over it). Finally, place the last cake layer, and coat the cake with a rough crumb coating. Refrigerate it for 30 minutes.

Step 25

Finally frost the cake, smooth out edges. Sprinkle some more butterscotch on top of the cake and the sides. You will require approx 3/4 cup of butterscotch granules. You can add more or less as you desire. Refrigerate the cake for 2-3 hours before serving. You can drizzle some more butterscotch syrup before serving!