February 21, 2011

The Cake Slice February 2011 - Coffee-Heath Bar Crunch Cake





I can't tell you how much I am enjoying being part of the Cake Slice Bakers' group.  Not only are we baking from a great book, Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman, but I love checking out everyone's posts each month to see how their cakes have turned out. I have learned a lot from this group's blogs and picked up some great recipes.  So far we have baked a Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Pound Cake, a Cinnamon Pudding Cake, a Cranberry Cake, and a Graham Cracker-Chocolate Chip Snacking Cake.







This month the group voted to make a Coffee-Heath Bar Crunch Cake. As far as I am concerned you can't go wrong with coffee and Heath bars in a cake.  For those unfamiliar with a Heath bar it is a candy bar made of English toffee and coated in milk chocolate.  Although it is not my favorite candy bar (sorry, but the Cherry Ripe will always have my heart), it is a great addition to baked goods.  You can also buy Heath Bits'o Brickle Toffee Bits and Heath English Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits, but I used the actual bars and just chopped them in my mini food processor.

I guess I misread the directions because I did not use a springform pan. My cake was baked in a 9-inch round cake tin and it worked out just fine.  I did spray the tin with PAM® Baking, and lined just the bottom with parchment.  The only other addition I made was an extra 1/4 cup of flour because after mixing it together it still seemed a little separated. 



This cake is super easy to make, and packs a lot of taste for little effort.  I loved the coffee taste of the cake with the buttery crunch of the topping.  My only complaint would be that it is a little dry.  An easy fix to this would be a little ice cream or toffee-flavored whipped cream on the side.  Although I am a big coffee fan, I think that you could leave the coffee out of this and still have a great cake, especially with the crunchy topping. This is definitely a cake I would make again.  Visit the Cake Slice Blogroll for clickable links to everyone's blogs and see what they thought about the Coffee-Heath Bar Crunch Cake.





Coffee-Heath Bar Crunch Cake
(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients - Cake
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour (I added an extra ¼ cup of flour)
  • 1 tbsp instant espresso powder
  • 1½ tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk

Ingredients - Streusel
  • 4 Heath bars (1.4ounces each), chopped or 1 cup of pre-chopped Heath Bits
  • 2 tbsp light brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp butter, softened

Preparation – Streusel
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 
  2. Grease a 9inch round springform pan.
  3. Combine the Heath bars, brown sugar, flour and butter in a medium mixing bowl. 
  4. Work the mixture with your fingers until it resembles large crumbs. 
  5. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preparation – Cake
  1. Combine the flour, espresso powder, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
  2. Combine the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla.
  3. With the mixer on low speed, add a third of the flour mixture and then half the milk, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Repeat, alternating the flour and milk, ending with the flour.
  4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer with a spatula. 
  5. Scatter the streusel onto the batter, distributing it evenly over the cake.
  6. Bake the cake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 50 to 60 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. 
  7. Release the sides of the pan and use a large spatula to slide the cake from the pan bottom to onto a wire rack. 
  8. Cool completely, cut into wedges and serve.
  9. Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days. 
  10. Makes one 9 inch round cake.
*Ingredient note for those outside the United States:  Heath bars are American candy bars consisting of a thin slab of brittle hard toffee, covered in a layer of chocolate. If you don’t have access to these then you can use half the weight of chocolate chips and half with crunched up brittle toffee.

(Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman)



37 comments:

  1. Yummy! Looks like a perfect piece of cake..would love one with my morning coffee!

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  2. Oh, Felice... this looks sooo incredibly tasty. Hey, there are crumbs here! How'd you get the cake out if you used a regular round pan? I'm in awe of that, lol ;-) And your pictures are absolutely magnificent! I love the stark contrasts.

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  3. Your cake looks delicious! So tall and a beautiful texture. You've got more struesel than I managed. Yum!

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  4. It looks so nice.. to have big piece with tea would be really lovely

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  5. Oh my GOSH, I've never thought to use Heath in a cake but I LOVE the way you think!!! I bet it's fabulous mixed with the coffee flavor. Looks like it turned out beautifully, too- I always need to fix my cakes with frosting :)

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  6. Well, that looks pretty delicious! I'm with yah -- a cake laden with bits of Heath bar is bound to be good! I used some for my panettone bread pudding a few months ago and I loved the crunch factor it gave it. :-) I could seriously go for a slice of your cake this morning!!

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  7. Truly great! And beautiful pictures! Great post! - Katrina

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  8. Oooooh, honey. You had me at espresso and Health. I'll *definitely* have to try these. Yum!

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  9. Well, I love Heath bars. Maybe if I used buttermilk instead of regular milk, it might help with the moistness? I just love the sound of this and your picture is gorgeous!

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  10. Fantastic pictures, Felice!! I'm going to have to start taking lessons from you, and I'm envious of that plate you have, great shape.
    When I was little my dad had a restaurant in Tiburon and the waiters would make me a Heath Bar Sundae only if I would clean my plate. I got pretty good at cleaning my plate.
    Love the cake! Just about anything with Streussel has my heart!!

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  11. Wow - looks perfect. I failed miserably this month. But can't wait to do better next month!

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  12. Wow what a great cake. I love the fact there is heath bars in the topping. So tasty!

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  13. Wow, this one sounds so good! Looks so yummy with all the crunch on the top, thank you for sharing :)

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  14. Yum! I haven't had a Heath Bar in forever. This cake looks amazing!

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  15. I love this recipe, you know what I love even more, I have EVERYTHING needed to make it right now!! Yipee!!

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  16. ooh can i have a big slice with just the crunchy topping?? ;) yum!

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  17. It looks fantastic and the Heath streusel opens up a ton of ideas.

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  18. This looks soooooo yummy! I'm going to make this soon to enjoy with my coffee for breakfast. : )

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  19. Yours looks fantastic! I love how uniform your streusel looks!

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  20. Heath and coffee sound like a fantastic combination to me! This cake looks delicious :)

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  21. Beautiful cake and photos Felice! I would make this again. The dryness was probably baking it the full amount in the recipe. It is a fun group isn't it?

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  22. Felice, I just love Heath bars and this cake got me all excited! What a wonderful combination of flavours and textures you have here! :)

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  23. healthy looks wonderful and delicious

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  24. I love Heath Bars..I used to get crushed heath bar on my ice cream as a child. But a heath bar cake, now you're really talking!!! I can't wait to try this!

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  25. Oh yummy! I love love love heath bars, this has to be great!

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  26. Very delicious looking cake, especially when it include heath bar! YUM!

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  27. Phew, now that is a cake. It looks delicious!

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  28. Thanks for the picture of the Heath bars!

    and your cake looks absolutely stunning, even without the ice cream!

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  29. mmmm... this looks delicious! Your pictures look good too!

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  30. I love Heath Bars so this coffee cake is right up my alley! I love the look of your topping!

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  31. Your cake has a most wonderful texture - it looks fantastic.

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  32. Looks absolutely delicious! Beautiful pictures =) Thanks for commenting on mine.

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  33. This cake looks amazing!! :) What a great idea to use heath bars for the streusel.

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  34. It looks fantastic. I think my favorite part of the whole explanation is your solution to the dryness of the cake. I agree that ice cream or whipped cream can fix just about anything. :)

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