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)