Milky Way Cake is a classic recipe and there are versions of it all over community cookbooks and the Internet.  Some are layer cakes with marshmallow frosting; some are sheet cakes with boiled fudge icing.  But I like this simple Bundt version.  This is a sweet cake, with a lovely caramel undernote and adding masses of thick gooey icing, in my opinion, would make this too achingly sweet and take away from the lovely flavor of the cake itself.  So I just make a very simple glaze, and affix some chunks of candy bar for decoration and a little extra sweet.  A cake like this is great for Halloween – and a way to use up those extra candy bars.

Milky Way Crazy Candy Bar Cake

I used seven regular candy bars and a bag of mixed mini size (smaller than funsize) Milky Way, Milky Way Dark, Snickers and Twix.

7 (1.84 ounce) Milky Way bars or the equivalent in mini size bars (about 50)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature, divided

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 ¼ cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the Topping:

2 Tablespoons heavy cream

6 mini sized candy bars (Milky Way or Three Musketeers)

1 bag mini candy bars (as many as you would like to use!)

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.

Cut ½ cup (1 stick) of butter and the candy bars into pieces and place in a saucepan.  Melt over medium heat, stirring frequently, until smooth and combined.  Do not let the mixture scorch.

Meanwhile, cream the remaining ½ cup butter and the sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the flour and baking soda alternately with the buttermilk, beating well after each addition.  Add the vanilla.

Pour in the melted chocolate bars and beat until thoroughly combined.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 – 50 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool the cake in the pan, then turn out onto a platter.

For the topping:

Melt the cream and the candy bars in a small saucepan, or in the microwave.  Stir until melted and smooth, though a few flecks of nougat is fine.  Leave to cool for a few minutes while you chop the candy bars into pieces.

Spoon the glaze over the top of the cake.  Use the wet glaze to affix pieces of chopped candy bar to the cake.  Sprinkle any remaining pieces around the platter.

Serves 10 – 12