Mocha Toffee Crunch Cake Recipe
If you are a fan of the combination of chocolate and coffee, you are going to fall in love with this moist and flavorful Mocha Toffee Crunch Cake!
Table of Contents
Why we Love It
- Moist, decadent chocolate cake layers
- Chocolate and Toffee are a perfect combination (as with our Coffee Toffee Ice Cream Cake!)
- It has a delightful crunch from the toffee and pecans baked into each cake layer.
- Perfect for the chocolate or coffee lovers in your life! Keep this cake recipe in mind the next time you need a birthday cake recipe, holiday dessert, or other special occasion cake. It is sure to please a crowd!
How to Make a Mocha Toffee Crunch Cake
This Mocha Toffee Crunch Cake consists of rich chocolate cake layers sprinkled with pecans and toffee, and a Mocha Buttercream that has just the right balance of espresso and chocolate!
For today's cake, we used our Classic Chocolate Cake recipe, but it would work well for whatever your favorite chocolate cake may be. If you are a fan of doctored cake mixes, our Easy Chocolate Sour Cream Cakeis a great option!
What makes these chocolate cake layers even more fabulous is that we sprinkled the chocolate cake batter-filled pans with toffee and pecans just before baking. I love the flavor and crunch that this adds!
Here is a photo of the layers just before baking...
...and here they are fresh from the oven!
Assembly of the Mocha Toffee Crunch Layer Cake
When assembling the cake layers, we frosted mocha buttercream frosting onto each layer and followed with another sprinkling of toffee bits and and chopped pecans before adding the next layer.
SO good!
We hope that you enjoy the recipe! If you would like to make a cupcake version, I would recommend our Classic Chocolate Cupcakes, which use the traditional method of mixing, making a fluffier cupcake!
Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing
The chocolate cake recipe that we used for this recipe calls for the Reverse Creaming Method of mixing. Although the order of ingredients may seem a little strange at first, you are going to love the final results!
Cakes that are made with this popular method of mixing result in a slightly denser, velvety, melt-in-your-mouth texture.
If you are new to this method, you may be interested in watching our free video here: The Reverse Creaming Method of Mixing.
More Coffee Flavored Cakes
We have so many cake recipes that have a little boost of espresso flavor. It complements so many flavors perfectly. If you love coffee flavored cakes, make sure to check out a few favorites below.
We also have a great Mocha Cake from cake mix!
You can find our full collection of favorite coffee flavored cakes here: The BEST Coffee Flavored Cakes and Frostings.
Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!
Mocha Toffee Crunch Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 2 ¾ cup (322g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (82g) unsweetened cocoa (lightly spoon into cup then sift)
- 2 teaspoons (10g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (2g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2g) salt
- 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, softened It should be softened enough to dent when pressed, but still holds its shape and cool to the touch. (Do not microwave)
- ¼ cup (54g) vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs at room temperature (If in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for minutes.)
- 1 cup (220g) milk
- 1 teaspoon (4g) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (220g) hot coffee, it can be instant or brewed (we used instant espresso)
- 1 cup (93g) pecans, chopped
- 1 cup (145g) toffee bits — I used Heath English Toffee Bits
For the Mocha Buttercream Frosting
- 3 sticks (339g) unsalted butter, softened
- 9 cups (1035g) powdered sugar (icing sugar in UK)
- 1 Tablespoon (7g) unsweetened cocoa (sifted)
- 1 teaspoon (3g) salt
- ½ teaspoon (2g) vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon 5g instant espresso coffee
- ¼ cup (60g) hot water
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Grease and flour THREE 8 inch cake pans
- In a mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk for 1 minute to blend.
- Add softened butter a few pieces at a time while the mixer is on low speed. Mix until the dry ingredients look like coarse sand and the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, milk , oil and vanilla until blended.
- With the mixer on low speed, SLOWLY add approximately ½ of the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 1 ½ minutes at medium speed. Don't mix above medium speed. Scrape the bottom and sides of bowl. Add the remaining egg mixture in 2 pourings, beating for 20 seconds after each pour. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl.
- Slowly add the cup of hot coffee and mix another 30 seconds until blended. The batter will be very runny. Don't worry!
- Pour into 3 prepared 8" pans
- Once the batter is in the pans, sprinkle about ½ of the pecans and toffee bits over the top of the batter. The remaining pecans and toffee will be sprinkled over the mocha buttercream filling when assembling the cake. You can increase the amount used if you would like more crunch.
- bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool the cakes 10 minutes on a rack and then turn out of the pans.
- *Yields approx 9 cups of batter.
- Making cupcakes? Check out our Classic Chocolate Cupcake Recipe (conventional method of mixing for fluffier cupcakes) Holds up well to fondant
For the Mocha Buttercream Frosting
- Mix the instant espresso coffee into the ¼ cup of hot water, set aside to cool slightly
- Beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Blend in the vanilla and cocoa powder and salt.
- Add half of the powdered sugar and half of the coffee. Beat at medium speed until the powdered sugar is incorporated.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and coffee and mix at medium speed another 3 to 6 minutes scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.
- This recipe makes 6 cups of frosting. This is enough to fill, frost and add a moderate amount of decorative piping on a 3 layer 8 inch cake.
- If your consistency is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If too thick, add a bit more water or milk, a teaspoon at a time.
Loved This Recipe?!
Can I substitute whipped frosting instead of buttercream?
Sherri, I think that would be fine.
Hiya, I live in the UK and can't get the toffee bits easily would it be OK to substitute crushed English toffee instead?
Hi Brooke, Yes, crushing into small bits should work well
I made this cake and it was fantastic! Your directions were wonderful and easy to follow. Thank you!
Hi Peggy, Thank you so much for posting your nice comments. We are very happy you enjoyed the cake.
can this be made in a bundt pan
Can this be made into cupcakes?
Hi Saundra- Yes, but usually we use the chocolate cupcakes recipe linked below (which has the same ingredients for chocolate cake but uses the traditional creaming method.)
Here is a link:
https://www.mycakeschool.com/chocolate-cupcakes-classic/
You could do the chocolate cupcakes, mocha buttercream, and then sprinkle with toffee bits and pecans if you'd like.
Can you freeze the cake layers so you can make it in advance? I wasn't sure if that would work with the toffee bits.
Hi Rachel! Yes, you can bake, wrap, and freeze these cake layers in plastic wrap and foil- they'll stay fresh for up to three months.
How do keep the Toffee bits and nuts from ending up at the bottom of your layers?
Hi Susan, our pecans were chopped very small and the toffee bits are small and light. Half of the pecans and toffee are sprinkled on top of the batter in the pans and the rest were sprinkled on the buttercream between the layers. We did not have a problem with them sinking. I hope you enjoy the cake.
Hello there! By 9 cups of batter, do you mean by measuring it by a dry ingredient cup, or by using a liquid measuring cup?
Hi Artemis, when we refer to the amount of batter, we are using a dry cup measure. It's the easiest for us to use for scooping the batter from the mixing bowl to the prepared pans.
Hi, is the coffee flavor noticeable in this cake or does it just enhance the chocolate flavor?
Hi Olivia- The layers are rich and chocolatey-- and the coffee enhances that flavor (but I doubt you would be able to detect it). Most of the coffee flavor in this cakae recipe comes from the frosting in between layers and outside- so don't skip the mocha frosting ;0) Hope you enjoy it!
Is there a chocolate frosting recipe you’d recommend if I’m wanting to avoid the coffee flavor?
Hi Olivia, you can just use our chocolate buttercream recipe if you don't want the coffee flavor:
https://www.mycakeschool.com/classic-chocolate-buttercream/