Cake Slice Bakers - February 2011: Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Cake

This month the Cake Slice members voted for the Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Cake. However, the title of this post is a lie. I didn’t make the Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Cake per say. You see, I hate coffee, so I automatically omitted that ingredients from this recipe. Now I was totally fine making a regular Heath Bar Crunch Cake, but when I went to the grocery store, I couldn’t find the stupid heath bars; in mini or in regular size. So instead of looking at all of the candy bars available, I picked the pack of fun sized Twix bars, and I’m not complaining because Twix is amazing! Well, while I was at check out, guess what; I found the Heath bars, but I didn’t switch it out because I was now in the mood for a Twix cake :D

So I made the cake into cupcake because I haven’t made cupcakes in a while. Well, I made these in the early afternoon and I told myself throughout the day that I would save a cupcake for myself for dessert. Well I was stupid for waiting that long. These cupcakes were freakin’ GREAT! As I type this up right now I can still taste that luscious, light, brown sugary cake in the my mouth and I ate it 30 minutes ago! I have to keep telling myself not to eat more. My sister ate four of them today! Make these, I tell you. Make these NOW!
 

The inside of this magnificent piece of food. I found myself

licking the wrapper to get every crumb.

 

And the strusel was mmmmm DE-LICIOUS!

Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Cake

adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman

makes 15 cupcakes

Ingredients
Strusel
4 Heath bars (1.4ounces each), chopped (5 fun sized Twix bars)
2 tbsp light brown sugar
2 tbsp unbleached all purpose flour
1 tbsp butter, softened

Cake
1½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tbsp instant espresso powder (omited)
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 (2% milk)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9inch round springform pan. (Line cupcake tin with liners)
2. Combine the Heath bars (Twix bars), brown sugar, flour and butter in a medium mixing bowl. Work the mixture with your fingers until it resembles large crumbs.(I used the food processor here, just to make it easier, and I got smaller crumbs) Refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Combine the flour, espresso powder, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer with a spatula.
7. Scatter the streusel onto the batter, distributing it evenly over the cake.
8. Bake the cake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes (21 minutes for cupcakes with a convection bake). Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Release the sides of the pan and use a large spatula to slide the cake from the pan bottom to onto a wire rack.
9. Cool completely, cut into wedges and serve. Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Nutrition Facts
serving size: 1 cupcake
Calories 202.1 Total Fat 8.9 g Saturated Fat 1.4 g Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1 g Monounsaturated Fat 0.4 g Cholesterol 47.5 mg Sodium 153.2 mg Potassium 23.3 mg Total Carbohydrate 28.3 g Dietary Fiber 0.2 g Sugars 18.1 g Protein 3.4 g