Skor Bar Layer Cake

A few weeks ago I was in my favourite local grocery store, and I noticed they had a number of items on sale in the "Baking Needs" aisle. I am a person who loves to bake and who also likes a good sale - I may or may not save my grocery receipts just to show my husband and/ or mother just how much I received in promotional discounts on any given day. What can I say, I like praise.

Anyway, there I was in the "Baking Needs" aisle and I saw that Skor Bits were on sale, $2 off per bag. At first I had myself a private giggle, thinking of the HBO series Vinyl that my husband and I had been watching, and specifically of the scene where the lead singer of the Nasty Bits is found "smacked out" of his mind right before opening for the New York Dolls, wearing nothing whatsoever but a pair of very unattractive white brief underwear and a rubber tie around his arm. Honestly, if you're going to show a guy nearly dead from heroin usage, then I guess you shouldn't glamourize his underwear, so well done, HBO. Then my giggle turned to sadness as I thought of talented people cursed with inner demons and their early demise due to drug usage.

I know! Going from giggles about bad underwear to melancholy about addiction and death, all stemming from the word "Bits." Some people do their best thinking in the shower, I do mine in the grocery store.

I digress. Obviously. My mother's birthday was fast approaching and I had been planning to make her a cake, but I wasn't sure what kind of cake until the grocery store sale on Skor Bits. (Heh, bits.) Skor Bars are her favourite, and I wondered if I could make a cake that would incorporate the flavours of that candy. I used my stand-by favourite recipe for Pot of Gold Cupcakes, tweaked very slightly, with a toffee mid-layer and coconut cream topping. It was a hit! Wait. Not THAT kind of hit. Sigh. It was very good, and my mother was pleased with her birthday cake.

Ingredients

For the cake

3 cups flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups cold water

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Add water, oil, and vanilla, and whisk until smooth. Stir in vinegar.

Grease or spray two 8-inch round baking pans. Divide batter evenly between the two, and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan. Set one layer, top down, onto a plate.

For the toffee middle

1/4 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

pinch salt

2 tablespoons almond, soy, coconut, or dairy milk

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

In a small saucepan, melt coconut oil together with brown sugar, salt, and milk, stirring constantly.

Bring mixture to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Stir in vanilla extract; beat mixture together with powdered sugar until smooth.

Assembly