Caramel Glazed Toffee Loaf

Saturday, 31 January 2015

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I'm not sure what it is about the flavours of Toffee, Caramel  and Butterscotch that makes me go weak at the knees, but I know I am not alone in this.  They have long been favourites of many people and one only has to look at the proliferation of recipes for Salted Caramel anything on the internet these days to see just how popular that flavour is.

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I am going to go out on a limb a bit here and say that these flavours are pretty similar . . .  toffee . . .  butterscotch . . . caramel.   All contain copious amounts of butter,  brown sugar and vanilla . . . so a rose by any other name and all that.  If there is much difference in flavour . . .   it's pretty insignificant. You can drop a few seasalt flakes on top and call it salted caramel, but it's the same basic thing.   My opinion only  of course!

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When I was a girl my father always had a tub of butterscotch wafers in his top dresser drawer, along with his clean hankies, extra wallet and  extra reeds and corkgrease for his clarinet.   To this day I can go to my mom's house and open the dresser draw and be sent back in time with just one sniff . . .  leather, cotton, cork, bamboo, beeswax . . .  butterscotch.  Those are smells that instantly make me think of my dad.  I love them and I love him.

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This cake is fabulous.   It's got a rich caramel/toffee flavour . . .  nice and buttery and studded with chopped wether's soft toffees that melt into the batter giving you little rich pockets of moreish butterscotch . . . it is dense and fudgy.

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As soon as you remove it from the oven you poke some holes in it and spoon a brown sugar/vanilla glaze over top, allowing it to soak into the loaf . . .  once cooled it has a bit of a crunch.  Nice.

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Once the cake is cooled you drizzle a butterscotch/caramel like icing glaze over top decoratively and scatter little fudge bits over top of the whole thing.    Are you sold yet?   I  bet your taste buds are tingling just at the thought.   Nice, nice with a hot cup of whatever floats your boat.

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*Caramel Glazed Toffee Loaf*
Makes one large loaf

A deliciously moist toffee studded loaf cake topped with a fabulous caramel glaze and lots of fudgy bits!  Scrumptious! 

For the loaf:
210g of plain flour (1 1/2 cups)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
200g of soft light brown sugar (1 cup packed)
100g of caster sugar (1/2 cup)
115g of butter, softened (1/2 cup)
2 large free range eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
120ml of whole milk (1/2 cup)
about 12 soft toffees, cut into bits (remove about 1 TBS of flour from the main measure and toss them with this.)
(such as the Werthers soft toffees) 

To glaze as soon as it comes out of the oven:
100g of brown sugar (1/2 cup)
1/2 tsp vanilla
boiling water 


For the Icing  glaze:
2 TBS butter
50g of soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup packed)
1 TBS milk
100g icing sugar, sifted (about 3/4 cup) 

You will also need caramel fudge bits to garnish 


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Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Butter a large loaf tin, line with baking paper, leaving an overhand to lift out the finished cake.  Butter the paper.   Set aside.


Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.   Cream together both sugars and the butter until light and fluffy.   Beat in the eggs, one at a time.   Add the vanilla to the milk.  Slowly beat in the flour mixture.  Stir in the milk to combine without overmixing.  Fold in the floured toffee bits to combine.   Scrape into the prepared loaf tin.  Smooth the top.   Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

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Whisk together the brown sugar, vanilla and enough boiling water to give you a really thin glaze.  Poke holes in the top of the warm cake with a toothpick and spoon this glaze over top a bit at a time, letting it soak in before you spoon more onto it, spooning it over all until it is all gone.

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Allow the cake to sit in the pan for about 10 minutes before carefully lifting out to a rack to cool completely.


For the glaze, melt the butter and brown sugar together over low heat, stirring, until the brown sugar no longer feels gritty.  Beat together with the milk and icing sugar until you have a smooth drizzable icing.  You may need a bit more milk.  Drizzle this decoratively over top of the loaf and sprinkle with fudge bits before it sets.   Allow to set before cutting into slices to serve.   Delicious!

12 comments

  1. I just made a dulce de leche cake,we were thinking along the same lines..this loaf looks terrific Marie..Do you remember McIntosh toffee? In the red box w/ tartan..and we would hit it on something to break into pieces?:)

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  2. Oh yes, Monique! I remember it well. It was a real favourite. Nice and buttery! WE used to knock it on the edge of the counter in the Kitchen to break it up. My ex always loved it also. I reckon he bought himself a box of it once a week! (Maybe even more often. He was a sugar fiend!) xx

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  3. How delicious, thanks for the recipe, I just love all things caramel and butterscotch as well!

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  4. I think this might just be the first comment I've made on this site after seeing and saving just a ton of recipes. This coming Saturday, the 7th of February the youth group at my church will be holding once again their yearly Chocolate Festival. As one of the major bakers in the congregation they always make sure to hit me up for as many things as they can. I don't mind, I love to bake and I love to bake for the church. Even though it's officially a "chocolate" festival I always make sure to donate a few none chocolate items. As difficult as it is for you chocoholics out there to grasp this concept, there are those of us in this world that don't always choose chocolate first. Personally, I don't dislike chocolate, but present me with a choice of chocolate, lemon, black raspberry, and maybe even a few other flavors and I'll choose many of them over chocolate, especially lemon. I'm a human that does NOT like chocolate chips tossed into every food item known to mankind as in quick breads, pancake, muffins, scones, etc. I think this cake will be one of the items I make and take to the church. I like how you've used the Werther's Original Caramels. I'm assuming it's the same candy vendor we have here in the US. They have THE best caramels, in my opinion, sold in the mass commerical candy industry.

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  5. Hi Pam! Thank you so much for your comment. I would be one of those that would be hard pressed to choose between chocolate and lemon, but I think Lemon would win in the long run, I really do. I am hoping that the Werthers' you are thinking about are the same as I am thinking about. I am thinking of the soft Werther Toffees not the hard Werther's candies. One is soft and chewy . . . chewable, and the other hard and crunchy . . . and if you value your teeth you have to suck them. I mean the soft ones!

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  6. This looks amazing, I was just wondering which size of loaf tin you used? I want to make two and I'm not sure whether I need to double the mixture šŸ™‚ x

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    1. My tin is a 9 by 5 inch loaf tin Unknown. I have never doubled it. Let me know how you get on! xo

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  7. Hi I've made this twice and I'm getting a sticky caramel base? I wondered if this was the fudge pieces sinking as I don't see them through the cake? I did toss the fudge through the flour mixture! Still tastes good!

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  8. It must be the fudge pieces sinking. I am not sure how to get around that. Mine did not do that as you can see, they are scattered throughout the loaf, however some do sink to the bottom. What kind of fudge pieces are you using?

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  9. How long does it keep after baking I'm going to bake this for my friend today but not seeing her till Sunday. Thanks

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