Blum's Coffee Crunch Cake
A coffee crunch cake inspired by Blum's. It's not quite the same as theirs because it starts with cake mix, but the crunch and cream are similar.
Servings 10 pieces
Cost 5
Ingredients
- 1 box Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix
- 15 oz can of pears in juice or syrup
- 4 large eggs
- ¾ cup neutral flavor vegetable oil
Coffee Crunch
- 2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee
- ¼ teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
Coffee Flavored Whipped Cream Frosting
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoons instant espresso powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8x2 inch round cake pans.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, combine the cake mix, pears, eggs and oil. Beat on medium for 2 minutes or until smooth. Pears will mostly disappear, but you may have a few lumps here and there.
- Scrape batter into the cake pans, dividing evenly, and bake on center rack for about 28 minutes or until cakes spring back when touched and appear set.
- Let cakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert and let cool completely while you make the coffee crunch.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set it next to the stove.
- Measure out the baking soda and have it ready to go.
- In a 2 quart saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, and coffee. If using extra espresso powder, you can add it too. Stir off heat, then set over heat.
- Bring mixture to a boil. If your saucepan has a lid, cover it for about 1 minute after mixture starts to boil. Remove cover, insert a deep fry/candy thermometer and boil gently without stirring until mixture reaches 300 degrees F. Remove from the heat and quickly stir in the baking soda. Candy will puff up. Pour onto the parchment lined baking sheet, do not flatten, just let it form a blob. Let it sit and harden. This could take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. If you let it go to 300, it should harden pretty quickly.
- When the candy is cool and hard, break it up over the parchment lined tray so that you have big pieces and little scraps. You can do it by hand or you can put it in a bag and crush carefully, but don't pulverize it all because you want big chunks.
- When you have your cake and candy ready, make your coffee cream. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the cream, sugar and espresso powder until thick.
- Sprinkle some of the smaller bits of crunch mixture over the first layer of cake, then spread on a thick layer of the coffee cream. Add second layer and coat the whole cake. Press the pieces of crunch decoratively all over the cake and keep chilled until ready to serve.