It’s here! It’s here! It’s finally here!
If you follow me on twitter you may have seen me complaining about this recipe a lot over the past week. I first tried making it on Saturday and it made far too much mixture. I ate about a cake’s worth of mixture (resulting in a massive tummy ache) and put the rest of it in the tin. Fortunately, I was smart enough to put a baking tray underneath the tin, so that when it overflowed everywhere it didn’t get stuck to the bottom of the oven.
Because the cake tasted AWESOME, I decided I needed to tweak the recipe to make a sensible amount of mixture. So I tried it again. I reduced the quantities by about 10% and when I got it into the tin it was looking fairly good. I actually sat on the floor in front of the oven watching the cake rise for a good 10 minutes. Yes, I am so cool it hurts. It seemed to be going well, but when I checked on it at 30 minutes, there it was, all over the stupid mixture-catching tray. Hmph.
I decided to try again and hope for third time lucky, and it finally, finally worked. The cake is lovely and soft, and you can really taste the Mars bar in the mixture. There are extra pieces of Mars bar layered through the cake and there’s a Mars bar and double cream sauce to top it all off. Nom nom nom. It’s actually brilliant without the topping too, so if you prefer your loaf cakes plain then skip the sauce. Apart from the fact that it tastes amazing, another ace thing about this cake is that you make it all in one pan, so there’s no faffing with a million bowls and not much washing up to do. So get baking!
P.S. Mars bars are similar to US Milky Ways and so can be substituted with those if you want/need to 🙂
Mars bar loaf cake
A Cafe Lula recipe
Serves 8-10
Ingredients:
110g/3.9 oz/1 stick (0.5 cups) butter , plus extra for greasing
75g/2.65 oz plain chocolate (around 50% cocoa solids)
1.5 full-size (58g/2 oz each) Mars bars (or Milky Ways), chopped into small pieces (don’t eat the other half! It’s going in the sauce!)
110g/3.9 oz/ 1/2 cup creme fraiche (I used half fat, to save on calories. Ahem.)
3 large eggs
200g/7 oz/1 + 2/3 cups self-raising flour
125g/4.4 oz/ 2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 full-size Mars bars, each cut into 10 slices
For the sauce:
1.5 Mars bars, chopped small
100ml/3.4 fl oz/ 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp double (heavy) cream
25g/0.9 oz plain chocolate
1-2 Mars bar, chopped, for decoration
Preheat the oven to 160C (320F) fan oven/170C (340F) conventional oven.
Place the butter, the 1.5 chopped Mars bars and chocolate and melt over a medium-low heat, stirring regularly. Mash the nougatty bits with a wooden spoon to help them melt, but don’t worry if they don’t melt completely. Once the mixture is smooth (apart from any stubborn bits of nougat), remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
While the mixture is cooling, grease and line a 900g/2 lb loaf tin. Cut the baking paper so that it overhangs at both ends (this makes it easier to remove the cake from the tin).
Stir the creme fraiche into the chocolate mixture until the mixture is smooth. Beat the eggs in one at a time.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarb and sugar and stir the mixture until it is smooth and even.
Put a third of the mixture in the loaf tin, then dot one of the sliced Mars bars evenly over it. Add another third of the mixture and put the other sliced Mars bar on top, then cover with the remaining third of the mixture and use the wooden spoon to smooth the top.
Bake for 45 minutes, then increase the temperature to 170C (340F) fan oven/180C (360F) conventional oven and bake for a further 10-20 minutes (so total cooking time is 55-65 minutes). Mine took 60 minutes in a 160C fan oven increased to 170C at 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool in the tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove the loaf from the tin and cool completely on the wire rack.
In the mean time, make the sauce. Place the chopped Mars bar and double cream in a saucepan over a medium-low heat. Stir regularly and mash the nougat bits until the mixture is all melted together. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until it is melted. Whisk together with an electric whisk to make sure it’s lovely and smooth. Cool for around 5 minutes, then pour and spread over the cooled cake. Sprinkle over the chopped Mars bars. Aaaannnddd stick your face in it.
How good does this look!
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! You did a wonderful job! Your cake looks delightful.
Thank you! It was definitely worth the extra tries 🙂
OMG this sounds ridiculously good! Seriously…. mars bar and you can make it all in one pan. Awesome! You Rock!
Thank you!
Wow so decadent – looks great. Love the mars bar colour.
Thanks!
Yummmmm! Your Mars Bars cake updates on Twitter have been making me laugh – I’m so glad you got there in the end 🙂 The results look absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to try this myself. Mars Bars in any baked goods are delicious, but this takes it all to another level.
Haha, thank you, glad it provided some entertainment! 🙂
I’ve been waiting for this post and it doesn’t disappoint! I bet it was a real hardship having to make (and eat!) it three times 😉
Oh, it was, but someone had to do it 😉
I like recipes that incorporate our favorite candy bars! The way you described this does make me want to try it. In addition you picture has really won me over. Saved this to enjoy at my house. Great post.
Thank you! I hope you like it 🙂
Oh my god I need this! It looks so amazing!!! I have to try it with bounty…
Good idea! If you do, let me know how it turns out 🙂
Ooooh my, this looks like my kind of cake 🙂 Yum! Mars bars are my favorite, I wish they were as easily available in the US as at home in Germany! Fantastic cake!
They are my favourite chocolate bar ever!
Thank you for testing and perfecting what could be the best loaf ever. In the history of the world. Ever.
You are most welcome. I shall be testing many other Mars bar treats yet. For the good of everyone, obviously, not because I’m greedy.
Wow this sounds like one amazing loaf! I love the mars br inside and on top, extra mars-y ;). And the sauce on top…YUM!!
Thank you! Yep, I pretty much used as much Mars bar as possible 🙂
Omg.
Omg omg omg.
I am drooling! Milky Ways (Mars Bars) are my FAVORITE. And this cake…this cake is overflowing with Milky Ways in all forms! I need to make this. And tell no one, so I can keep it all to mysef.
I’m glad you like it! I tried to share as little as possible but people kept taking pieces when I wasn’t looking.
You did amazing job this time…it looks soooo so good! This would be perfect for any time of the day..
Thank you for sharing your failures and success..I sure appreciate your honesty!
Thank you! I’m so glad it finally worked 🙂
If our Mars Bars are their Milky Ways, what are our Milky Ways? and I wonder if the Red Car/Blue Car still had a race….?
Cake looks yum tum, I am going to make one for Pete x
Our Milky Ways are called the 3 Musketeers bar in the US, I think. Yes, I have researched this far too much.
I hope the red car and the blue car did still have a race, my life was vastly improved by that song!
I haven’t recovered from the mars bar brownies yet! You torture me…
Oh I am so making this once I’m settled in the new house! Must must must bake. 🙂
This looks so delicious!!!
This cake looks so delicious! I think i need to stock up on Mars bars 😉
[…] that’s how this Mars Bar loaf cake came about. After a bit of searching I found Cafe Lula’s recipe which uses the sickly sweet treats in 4 different ways – a quadruple Mars Bar cake if you […]
Your Mars bars cake looks so good!!! 😀 I’ll try your recipe and give the cake to my mars bars-crazy friend! I have a problem though. Do you recommend any substitutes for creme fraiche? I’ve been seeing a lot of suggestions for using sour cream + heavy cream instead. Your thoughts on this would really help! Thank you!! 🙂
Can you freeze the loaf. I’m going on holiday in a few weeks and looking for recipes I can make now and freeze until we go away. As I’m on nights until the day before we go.
I’m looking to make a mars bar birthday cake next week and stumbled upon this beauty! Thing is, I want to make a two tiered sponge. What would work in the middle? Would caramel carnation milk frosting be too much?!
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