Toffee Coffee Cake

This Toffee Coffee Cake recipe came home from a girls’ lake trip, and it is one of those recipes that earns its place the moment you take the first bite. The group devoured it, and when the story behind the recipe was told, it became even more worth sharing.

I got the recipe from the lake trip host, Suzie, which she got from her mother, Lillian. Lillian was a baker and sold cakes out of her home when Suzie was growing up. She believes her mom wrote this recipe sometime in the 1950s – and she still has the original recipe card, which her mom typed out on a typewriter. A vintage handwritten (or typewritten) recipe card that’s still being made today is a treasure for sure!

This cake is wonderful as a snack, dessert, or alongside a morning cup of coffee. Heat a slice for a few seconds in the microwave and add a scoop of ice cream – I’m really not sure I can think of a better way to end an evening. However and wherever you serve it, it will not last long – trust me!

Why You’ll Love This Toffee Coffee Cake

It has a story worth telling. A typewritten recipe card from the 1950s, passed from a home baker to her daughter to the rest of us. Recipes with history taste better in my opinion!

The topping is full of crunchy toffee goodness. Crushed Heath bars folded into a reserved portion of the brown sugar dry mixture makes a chunky, buttery toffee that caramelizes on top of the cake in the oven. Just YUM.

It works at any hour. Coffee cake for breakfast, snack cake in the afternoon, dessert after dinner – add a scoop of ice cream if you like. This cake belongs at every occasion and no particular one at the same time.

Moist, crumbly, and rich. Buttermilk keeps the crumb tender. Brown sugar deepens the flavor. It has a slightly crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth quality that a good coffee cake should have.

One bowl, simple method. Dry ingredients first, wet ingredients after, topping on top, into the oven. About 15 minutes of hands-on time.

The Heath Bar Rule

This is important enough to call out before anything else: use actual Heath candy bars that you crush yourself. I’ve made this twice since I first had it at the lake, and the first time I thought I’d be clever and take a shortcut by using a bag of crushed Heath toffee bits. Boy was I wrong! The pre-crushed bits are so fine and small that they essentially disappear into the cake. You end up with a hint of toffee flavor rather than those satisfying chunky bites of candy that make this cake what it is.

The good news is that crushing them yourself could not be easier. Crush the bars right in their wrappers with your fingers or a kitchen mallet. You don’t need to go too crazy, just a rough break into chunky, uneven pieces. Cut one end of each wrapper open to pour right into the bowl. Done.

Ingredients

Butter: One stick, fully at room temperature before mixing. Room-temperature butter blends properly into the flour and sugars to create the right crumbly dry mixture. Cold butter won’t incorporate; melted butter changes the texture entirely.

Brown sugar and granulated white sugar: Both go in with the butter and flour to form the dry base. The brown sugar gives this cake a molasses note that runs through every bite.

Flour: Two cups, stirred into the sugars and butter to form the crumbly base.

Buttermilk: The key to a moist, tender crumb. Buttermilk’s acidity reacts with the baking soda to give the cake lift, and its fat content keeps the texture from drying out.

Egg, baking soda, and vanilla: Standard cake building blocks.

Heath bars: Six bars (1.4 oz each), crushed chunky. See the Heath Bar Rule section above!

Chopped nuts: Optional. They add a little extra crunch.

How to Make Toffee Coffee Cake

Start with the dry mixture. Mix the softened butter, both sugars, and flour with a hand or standing mixer until the butter is fully incorporated and the mixture is nearly smooth. A few tiny clumps are fine, but no large chunks of butter. Reserve half a cup of this mixture and set it aside. This is the base of the topping.

Add the wet ingredients and don’t overmix. Add the egg, baking soda, vanilla, and buttermilk and mix until the batter is smooth. Scrape the sides down to make sure the dry mixture from the bottom of the bowl is fully incorporated – then stop. Overmixing develops gluten, which makes the cake dense and chewy rather than moist and airy.

Build the topping. Crush the Heath bars in their wrappers, pour into a small bowl, and combine with the reserved half cup of dry mixture and the nuts if using. The dry mixture binds the topping together so it crisps rather than just melting.

Spread and top. Pour the batter into a greased 9×13 pan, spread evenly, then scatter the toffee topping over the entire surface.

Bake and rest. Thirty minutes at 350°F, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting. The topping needs a moment to set so the pieces hold together when you slice.

How to Serve

At the breakfast or brunch table with coffee. A big slice alongside a good cup o’ Joe is the perfect combination.

As an afternoon snack. It’s just as good at 3pm as it was at 9am.

As a dessert warmed for a few seconds in the microwave with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The toffee topping gets slightly gooey and the whole thing is extraordinary.

For a pitch-in or party, bring the whole 9×13 pan. It slices cleanly, travels well, and disappears fast.

As a gift, sliced into pieces and wrapped.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did You Make This Recipe?

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