The Overlooked Candy Bar You Should Be Adding To Your Cake

Cake — who doesn't love it? From ice cream cakes to wedding cakes to cupcakes you can eat in just a few bites, cakes are a dessert delicacy for celebrations and mundane moments alike. Of the many varieties to enjoy, one of our favorite types is laced and topped with candy bars. There are some usual suspects, like Snickers and KitKat bars, but try looking farther afield to one of the most underrated candy bars: a Heath bar.

While they might not be as popular as some mainstream candies, Heath bars are a sweet treat made with crunchy English toffee dipped in creamy milk chocolate. Adding these to your favorite cake recipe imbues it with a deep, caramel-kissed, buttery, and slightly nutty taste that would impress Willy Wonka himself. Thanks to its crunchy consistency, a Heath bar added to a moist cake provides each bite with an exciting interplay of textures. If you can't find Heath bars near you, Skor bars are another chocolate-dipped toffee bar that will provide your cake with the same boost as a Heath bar.

You can crush up Heath bars and add them to your cake batter or use them as a crumble topping that livens up the appearance and tastes great too. You could also add the chopped-up chocolate bars between layers of your cake, for a crunchy surprise. You could substitute Heath bar pieces for chocolate chips in anything that calls for them — from cookies to brownies to banana bread.

Although baking cakes can be quite a chemistry experiment, and you should try to be as precise as possible when measuring out your dry and wet ingredients, you can take more liberties when adding candy bars to the batter or as toppings. If you want smaller bites, break up a few Heath bars and throw them into a plastic bag before crushing them with a rolling pin. Smaller pieces will give the cake a more nuanced toffee-chocolate flair, while larger pieces will give you richer pieces with a more pronounced toffee crunch. 

Although it boasts a deceptively dynamic flavor profile, toffee is a simple confection made with only two ingredients – caramelized sugar and butter. Thanks to this simplicity, Heath Bars are complementary to a wide range of flavors. Chocolate cake is an obvious option, but add a twist of flavor with mocha icing topped with crumbled Heath bars. Try making a vanilla toffee crunch cake with buttercream frosting. A strawberry cake could bring out the flavor of milk chocolate while adding a brittle crunch to the softness of fresh, juicy strawberries. Of course, nothing beats a classic ice cream cake, and the cold, creamy texture will contrast perfectly with the grainy consistency of crushed Heath bars. Whichever way you choose to make your Toffee shaded cake, have fun with it!