Toffee Bar Dessert Cake

A brown sugar buttermilk cake with a built-in streusel topping and chopped Heath bars baked right in. The batter starts as a simple brown sugar and flour mixture with butter cut in like a crumble. Part of that crumble gets reserved for the topping, and the rest becomes the cake base when egg, buttermilk, baking soda, salt, and vanilla get mixed in.

That reserved crumb mixture scattered over the batter with chopped nuts and crushed Heath bars creates a crunchy, toffee-studded topping that bakes into the surface of the cake. The Heath bars melt slightly in the oven, leaving pockets of buttery, caramelized toffee throughout.

Buttermilk and baking soda give the cake a tender crumb with a slight tang that balances all that brown sugar sweetness. It’s a dessert that comes together fast and feeds a crowd straight out of the pan.

Kitchen Tips

• Cut the butter into the flour and sugar with a pastry cutter or two forks. You want a coarse, crumbly texture, not a paste.
• Reserve the crumb topping before adding the wet ingredients. Once the buttermilk goes in, there’s no separating it back out.
• Chop the Heath bars into small, roughly uniform pieces. Large chunks sink and tiny crumbs melt away.
• Check at 25 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean and the topping is golden.

Variations

• Use Skor bars or Butterfinger bars instead of Heath for a different toffee-candy crunch.
• Fold chocolate chips into the batter for a chocolate-toffee version.
• Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a drizzle of caramel sauce.