Chocolate Crunch Cake

Chocolate Crunch Cake Recipe

---

---

I first made this cake a day or two before the family and I headed out to the lake cabin we rented for the last summer week. Not wanting to cook long hours in the kitchen and take away time from swimming with my kiddos, so I made many dishes ahead of time, including this exceptional Chocolate Crunch Cake dessert. I made it in a deep aluminum casserole dish that came with a plastic lid, and it was perfect for baking and then transferring to the cabin neatly and easily.

We had family come to the cabin, and this dessert didn’t last long. Everyone raved about it and gave many ideas on how to change it up for the same dessert base but different candy and icing varieties. Below are many ideas on how you can change things up for this dessert.

Crunch Cake Variations & Tips

LOW to NO SUGAR: Substitute white granulated sugar and powdered sugar for Swerve Sugar Substitute Sweetener. I can do this with a 1:1 ratio. I have used Swerve often, and the cake comes out wonderful. You can also use Jell-O Sugar Free Instant Pudding in place of regular-flavored mixes.

CANDY BAR VARIETY: Add your favorite candy bar topping to the crunch topping. The picture above shows mint chocolates candy pieces sprinkled on top. M&M’S MINIS, Heath Bar pieces, or KIT KAT chunks would work great for this recipe. You can even fold in some candies into the cake batter before baking.

FLAVORED ICING: To give a distinct flavor to the icing, I like to substitute the milk with the icing with flavored coffee creamer. In the picture above, I used COFFEE-MATE Peppermint Mocha coffee creamer instead of milk.

CHANGE CRUNCH TOPPING FLAVORS: Since pudding mix makes up the majority and flavor of the crunch coating, it is easy to change the flavors. Use Oreo Cookies ‘N Cream pudding with crushed Oreos, or Cheesecake Pudding flavor with Graham cracker bits on top.

SAVE FOR LATER: Chocolate crunch cake can be fully made and frozen for up to six months to enjoy later.

Similar chocolate recipes to try

Cost to make recipe

Coming Soon

Recipe adapted

My chocolate crunch cake is a Vintage Mountain Homestead original recipe. All images and text are original to this website. Please visit our disclaimer page for more information.

---

Chocolate Crunch Cake

Ingredients

Vanilla and Chocolate Crunch Coating

• 1 stick butter, cold & divided…[$1.00]
• 1 package chocolate pudding mix, …[$1.00]
• 1 package vanilla pudding mix, …[$1.00]
• 1 cup all purpose flour, divided…[$

Chocolate Pudding Cake

• 2 cups white granulated sugar, …[$
• 1¾ cups all purpose flour, …[$
• ¾ cup cocoa powder, …[$
• 1 package chocolate pudding mix, …[$
• 2 tsp baking powder, …[$
• 1 tsp baking soda, …[$
• 1 tsp salt, …[$
• 2 large eggs, …[$
• 1 cup milk, …[$
• ½ cup vegetable oil, …[$
• 2 tsp vanilla extract, …[$
• 1 cup boiling water, …[$

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

• 1 stick butter, softened…[$1.00]
• 3 cups confectioners sugar, …[$
• 3 Tbsp milk, …[$

Instructions

Vanilla and Chocolate Crunch Coating

• Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with foil or use a silicone mat.
• Divide the stick of butter in half and place each half into two separate bowls. I designated one bowl for vanilla and the other chocolate.
• Pour the entire vanilla pudding mix contents into one bowl. Then pour the entire chocolate pudding mix contents into the other bowl.
• Put ½ cup of flour into the vanilla bowl and ½ cup of flour into the chocolate bowl.
• Blend with your hands each bowl separately until you get a crumble mixture. Then crumble both bowls contents onto the baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes. Stir the crumbles around and bake for another 7 minutes.
• Take out of the oven, place in a container, and set in the refrigerator to cool down while you make the cake and frosting.

Chocolate Pudding Cake

• In a large bowl, put all dry cake ingredients together and mix until uniform.
• Add all the wet cake ingredients to the dry and blend.
• Grease a 9×13 baking pan and pour cake batter evenly in. Bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Take out of the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

• Blend all frosting ingredients together until it reached a smooth consistency. Add more milk or sugar to receive the desired smoothness and spreadable.

Putting It All Together

• When cake is cooled enough to touch, smear on all frosting, then sprinkle on the crunch later. Eat and enjoy!
• Save for later. The completed cake is freezable for six months.