The 10-Minute Cake That Looks Like It Took You All Day
If you haven't heard of 73-year-old TikToker Barbara Costello aka Babs from Brunch with Babs, give her a follow pronto. The self-proclaimed “internet mom/grandma you didn’t know you needed" has a hack for everything under the sun from gardening tips to brilliant dump meals and more grandma-approved tips, which have earned the Connecticut-based influencer a boatload of loyal fans.
Recently, Babs shared a brilliant hack for making a cake without really making a cake. Let us explain by introducing you to her angel food cake hack which has already amassed 3M views and counting. You can thank us later for solving your "What do I bring to the party?" qualms this summer.
Related: 23 Easy Strawberry Cake Recipes
What is the angel food cake hack?
Babs shows you how to make this "10-minute" cake by taking a store-bought angel food cake, cutting it into three layers, frosting the layers (perimeter of the cake) with freshly whipped chocolate and rum-spiked cream, then coating it in crushed Heath bars. Commenters on the original post loved the idea, saying "BABS THIS LOOKS INCREDIBLE!" and obviously, we agree. So we knew we had to try it at home.
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Related: Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too, With 27 Cake Flavors—Ranked Worst To Best
How to make Babs' angel food cake hack
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Ingredients:
Six Heath bars
1 1/2 pints of heavy whipping cream
One store-bought angel food cake
1 cup of chocolate syrup
1/4 cup of rum (I used bourbon)
1 tsp vanilla
Directions:
Cut your store-bought cake into three even layers.
Place your Heath bars in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
Whip cream with a handheld or stand mixer. As soon as soft peaks form, add chocolate syrup, vanilla and rum and gently whip to combine.
Spread some of this whipped cream mixture on top of the first angel food layer.
Sprinkle generously with Heath bar crumbs. Repeat with the next two layers.
Frost the cake with the remaining whipped cream mixture and sprinkle top with Heath bar crumbs.
Refrigerate for 3 hours to set before serving.
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What does the angel food cake hack taste like?
This cake tastes exactly as you'd imagine it would. It's light, fluffy and delightful with a chocolatey crunch from the toffee hidden in between the layers of angel food and a buzzy punch from the booze whipped into the cream. It's not too sweet and I can definitely see why Mr. Babs loves it so much. I added bourbon to mine instead of rum because it's what I had and it went with the Heath bar flavor perfectly.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
My honest thoughts
I consider myself a pretty decent baker, and even though there was no actual baking involved in this recipe, it was a tad tricky. The angel food cake was sticky and tough to cut evenly into three layers (if you want to get it right, though, there are great hacks online for cutting your cake layers evenly with rulers and toothpicks). I couldn’t find regular Heath bars at my supermarket, nor could I find the crushed bits in the baking aisle so I had to crush up minis from a 10-ounce package which was fine, but took a little bit more time. The first time I made the whipped cream, I followed the directions from Babs but my whipped cream curdled in the worst way. The second time, I used less alcohol, added it in slowly, watched the cream to make sure it held together, didn't overmix it and it ended up being successful.
Related: How to Make Homemade Whipped Cream
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Tips for making the angel food cake hack
Frost the sides and top with an offset spatula, if you have one. You should have enough whipped cream to fill the hole in the middle so it's smooth on top. If not, just leave the center unfilled. Remember, this is a casual, unfussy cake.
I added slightly less chocolate syrup than the recipe called for since mine looked thinner than the one Babs used in her video and I was determined to make the whipped cream work on round two (and it did).
One commenter on the original video shares this brilliant hack for making whipped cream: "Whipped cream hack: make it in the food processor (not the mixer). Less air is incorporated and it remains stable for a much longer time! (No weeping/watery mess!)"
Another commenter had a great idea for adding in the rum or bourbon in a different way: "Mix the bourbon with a couple of teaspoons vanilla, in a spray bottle, then thoroughly mist both sides of each layer!"
I didn't encounter many crumb issues when frosting, but if you do, this another commenter had a great tip: "I would cut in two and freeze the two layers before you frost them (learned this trick working in a bakery, the cake decorators only use frozen cakes to frost, less crumbs)."
And with that, we leave you to go forth, frost away and enjoy this candy-coated cake all summer long!
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