Toffee Crunch Cake, Charcuterie Style

Luckily, my business mentor assigned me one hour a day of “staring out the window” time, and on that day, the vision for “Toffee Crunch Cake” came screaming into my psyche. (It also came to me to do it charcuterie-style, but feel free to ignore this part of my vision. 😝)

this recipe

For those of you who love warm, rich, balanced flavors, and easy desserts with a beautiful depth of flavor and contrasting textures, this one is perfect for you. It’s different. It’s gorgeous. And now it’s yours. ❤️

(And, for those of us who are allergic to nuts, you can find nut-free toffee at ToffeeCreationsCA! It’s the very toffee featured in the photography here!)

In This Post:

About this Toffee Crunch Cake

Toffee comes in many, many different flavors. One thing that is consistent among all of the toffee that I’ve consumed in my life (and that amount has been…substantial) is that there’s a warmth in the flavor profile that is unique to toffee.

It’s the brown sugar, Y’all. Brown sugar has a ratio of delicious molasses in it, and that molasses permeates everything that that brown sugar touches. It gives everything made with brown sugar a beautifully rich taste that is almost untraceable in origin.

Unless you know a lil’ something about toffee, that is. 😉

That je ne sais quois – that intangible – is what I had to emulate in this Toffee Crunch Cake. This cake had to enhance that intangible quality, not hide it.

And I’m proud to say that this cake nails it. 😊

Toffee Crunch Cake Ingredients:

Cake Flour: Cake flour enthusiasts, unite! It’s cake flour’s time to shine on the Begin with Butter site. The lower protein content of cake flour results in a divinely moist, tender crumb that cake flour is known to give. My favorite cake flour? White Lily All-Purpose Flour. And no, that’s not a typo; White Lily is my current fave to use for cake flour! (You can read more about White Lily’s use as cake flour in this article)

Baking Soda: This Toffee Crunch Cake contains sour cream, which is naturally acidic, so baking soda is the proper leavening here.

Kosher Salt: Salt is very important in any dessert; it balances the sugar and keeps the dessert from becoming overly sweet. Salt is crucially important in this particular cake recipe, as there is sugar at every step that must be carefully balanced. Without the salt, that sugar becomes overpowering, so make sure to use the correct amount of salt in this particular recipe! That being said, if you’re using table salt or fine sea salt for this recipe, make sure to cut the amount in half.

Unsalted Butter: As usual, butter has a starring role in this cake! It gives wonderful special flavor, and also the creaming process creates the absolutely necessary air pockets that help this cake to rise. Additionally, the fats in the butter are needed to tenderize the powerhouse protein molecules in your cake flour and egg whites, giving it that marvelously moist, sweet crumb. This ingredient does a lot of work! Make sure that your butter is room temperature before you begin. I set my butter out for at least 1.5-two hours before baking time. If you don’t have two hours, 10-20 minutes in your waistband or pocket (or, as my mother would say, in your bra over your heart) will do just fine.

Neutral Vegetable Oil: Vegetable oil adds additional moisture to this cake, and it also helps the cake stay moist longer. One tablespoon is more than enough to make sure that this beautifully moist cake stays that way. I love avocado oil for baking, but any vegetable oil will do.

Granulated Sugar: The sugar in this recipe adds a nice sweetness to this cake, and it also helps with caramelization! We’re not looking so much for deeply caramelized edges to our cake (quite the opposite, in fact), but there will be some. The granulated sugar is largely responsible for this result!

Eggs: The protein in the eggs adds structure to the cake, while the fatty yolk adds delicious flavor, and also tenderizes the proteins in the egg whites and the cake flour. It’s a true multi-tasker and I couldn’t love it more.

Whole Vanilla Bean: This cake uses the seeds from an entire vanilla bean pod. The amped-up vanilla flavor is necessary to help balance the sweetness from all of the sugar, so I strongly recommend using this ingredient for this cake. If you don’t have access to a whole vanilla bean, you can sub a tablespoon of pure vanilla extract.

Sour Cream: I loved the final texture that sour cream lent to this cake. In a pinch, you can also use 250 g (1 c) of buttermilk. Subbing buttermilk will give you all of the tang that sour cream will; however, you’ll be sacrificing on the tendering properties of the sour cream, as buttermilk contains substantially less fat.

Beginners Start Here

If you’re new to baking, or if you want to learn how to do some of the more tricky baking techniques, here are a couple of super helpful articles from the BwB site that will help you get set up for success with this Toffee Crunch Cake.

• Meet Your Kitchen BFF–Your Digital Kitchen Scale!
• How to Cream Butter and Sugar (With New Video!)
• Baking 101: How to Measure Ingredients
• How to Grease a Bundt Pan
• Knowing When to Stop a Technique
• Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy | Toffee Crunch Cake Charcuterie (replay – this class was live on July 13, 2024)

These resources are super helpful to help you build consistency and confidence on your baking journey, and specifically with this special cake!. Happy Reading!

Important Tools Used in this Toffee Crunch Cake

I am so happy to announce that Begin with Butter has its own Amazon Storefront, where you can find all of the amazing equipment that I used in this special cake! Want even more specific links? Check out the recommendations, below.

I do get paid a commission when you purchase, but these are the tools that I use all the time in my own kitchen.

If you have these tools already, great! Think of this as a checklist to help you build the confidence that you’ll need to execute this recipe!

• My Favorite 8″ Layer Cake Pans
• My Favorite 5″ Layer Cake Pans (Perfect for dessert charcuterie with this recipe!)
• My Favorite Muffin Pans (Again…because charcuterie)
• Oven Thermometer
• Digital Food Scale
• KitchenAid Hand Mixer
• KitchenAid Stand Mixer
• Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl Set
• OXO Spatula Set
• Sifter
• Fine Mesh Strainer

This Toffee Crunch Cake is ready for every single event this summer, fall, and beyond! It’s so easy to make, and whether it’s for a special occasion or a Tuesday (which is also a special occasion), you won’t regret taking the time to make this amazing cake

Enjoy! And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @beginwithbutter so that I can shout out your success!

Toffee Crunch Cake

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This Toffee Crunch Cake defies logic.  Beautiful vanilla cake, topped with a caramel cream cheese frosting and bits of delicious toffee throughout?  Yes PLEASE!

• Total Time: ~3-4 hours with cooling time
• Yield: 28 servings 1x

Ingredients

Units MUS Scale 1x2x3x

For the Cake/Cupcakes:

• 320 g (2.5 c) cake flour (White Lily all-purpose is my favorite for this cake, as it is scientifically closer to cake flour than traditional all-purpose flour)
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 227 g (1 c) butter, room temperature
• 1 tbsp neutral oil (I like avocado oil, but vegetable oil, canola oil, or even grapeseed oil work well too)
• 300 g (1.5 c) granulated sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 vanilla bean pod or 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 227 g (1 c) sour cream, room temperature
• Toffee, for garnish (I used nut-free toffee, but you can use toffee with nuts if you’d like)

For the Salted Caramel Sauce:

• 200 g granulated sugar
• 85 g butter
• 125 g heavy cream
• 1/2 tbsp good, flaky salt (I use Maldon Sea Salt)

For the Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2 vanilla bean pod or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 227 g (1 c) cream cheese, room temperature
• 114 g (1/2 c) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 114 g (1/2 c) salted caramel sauce (see recipe below), room temperature
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 600 g (5 c) confectioner’s sugar

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Instructions

To Make the Salted Caramel:

1. Start with caution.  Caramel is hot sugar and the steam it produces can cause burns, so please do this step when you’re fully engaged.  I don’t want you to get burned!
2. Place granulated sugar in the bottom of a large (at least 2.5-qt), heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Turn heat to high medium and watch sugar carefully as it begins to melt. This will take about 5-7 minutes.
3. Once the sugar begins to melt, stir with a balloon whisk like this one.  It’s important that the whisk not have a metal handle, since a metal handle will conduct heat from the pan.
4. Keep stirring constantly until all of the lumps of sugar melt, the sugar is a deep brown color, and the sugar has a slightly nutty smell.
5. Add all of the butter and continue carefully whisking.  The mixture will bubble A LOT when you add the butter and there will be a lot of steam, so be careful with this step.
6. Stir butter into the mixture gently until it’s nearly incorporated, for about 1-2 minutes.
7. Remove the mixture from the heat. Add all of the heavy cream at one time while the mixture is off the heat.  Again, the mixture will bubble so be careful!  Stir the mixture until everything is fully combined. (1-2 minutes)
8. Add the salt and stir to combine.  Caramel will be very loose at this point and that is normal!
9. Pour caramel into a heat-safe container and allow to cool completely at room temperature.

To Make the Cake/Cupcakes:

1. Set your oven to a true 325°F.  An oven thermometer is very useful to help you determine whether your oven is at the correct temperature.
2. Prepare a standard cupcake pan with 12 muffin cups.
3. Combine the granulated sugar and vanilla beans (if using) in a medium bowl and stir with a whisk to combine and slightly break up the beans.
4. Sift cake flour, baking soda, and kosher salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
5. Add room-temperature butter and oil to a large mixing bowl, or to the bowl of a stand mixer.  Mix until combined.  Add the vanilla sugar and cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl regularly to ensure even mixing.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the next egg only once the previous egg has been fully incorporated.
7. Add the pure vanilla extract (if using) and mix thoroughly to combine.  Scrape the bowl regularly to ensure even mixing. If using vanilla bean, you can skip this step.
8. Add half of the cake flour mixture and mix until nearly combined.
9. Add all of the sour cream and mix until nearly combined.
10. Add the other half of the flour mixture and mix until nearly combined.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then gently fold the mixture together until it is fully combined.
11. Prep two 5” cake pans and twelve muffin cups (I actually like to double the muffin cups – so, two muffin cups per cupcake).  Fill each cake pan no more than 1/3 full, and then use a standard ice cream scoop to fill the twelve muffin cups.
12. Bake for 18-24 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer reads 205°F in the center of the cakes.  The cupcakes should spring back under your finger.
13. Allow the cake and cupcakes to cool on cooling racks for 5-7 minutes, then turn place the cake and cupcakes onto cooling racks to finish cooling.

To Make the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Add the room-temperature butter to the bowl of your stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl.  Mix with the flat beater attachment until smooth.
2. Add the cream cheese and vanilla bean and blend together until smooth.
3. Add fine sea salt and 1.5 cups of the confectioner’s sugar.  Blend on low speed until there is no evidence of the confectioner’s sugar.  Add the confectioner’s sugar, 1.5 cups at a time, and repeat the process of blending until the confectioner’s sugar is invisible.
4. Once the confectioner’s sugar is completely incorporated, blend on medium speed until the frosting has increased in volume, about 2-4 minutes.
5. You can use immediately, or you can refrigerate and re-whip when ready to use.  This frosting should be slightly softer than American Buttercream, but it should still pipe-able with the Wilton 12 piping tip!  You can also smooth the Cream Cheese Frosting onto the cake and create a beautiful cake/cupcake display!

Notes

• This cake can be stored in the refrigerator for up to seven days.

• Author: Shani
• Prep Time: 1 hour (active)
• Cook Time: 18-24 minutes
• Category: dessert
• Cuisine: American

I hope you love this preview! And I hope you love this cake!