This 4-layer, fun-sized insanity was Sarah’s selection for this week’s Project Pastry Queen Challenge: Toffee Bar Brownie Torte.

Chocolate. Espresso. Mascarpone. Heavy whipping cream. I feel like I’m forgetting something.

Oh yeah. Almost an entire package of fun-sized Heath Bars.

As published, the recipe yields the Texas-sized dessert we’ve come to expect from The Pastry Queen: 3 layers of brownie, baked in 9 inch pans, layered with an espresso-mascarpone filling, and covered with an espresso-spiked whipped cream frosting. And that is covered with crushed toffee bar bits.

I mostly stuck to the recipe and made a half batch, baking it in four 6-inch pans. A fun-sized (yet still somehow gigantic) cake! I didn’t use espresso powder in the filling or frosting – I reduced 1/4 cup fresh espresso to about 1 Tablespoon and used that for the filling and frosting instead. I catch enough grief for not using the Please-Please-Please! I just gotta have one! espresso machine enough as it is 🙂

I wish I could show you the pretty layers inside. I was so certain that the cake wouldn’t cut well (I thought the filling was too soft for crisp layers on the inside and the toffee bits would wreak havoc on the soft whipped cream frosting on the outside) that we packed up the camera and tripod before reaching for the knife. It actually cut cleanly with three perfectly crisp white stripes of filling between the 4 layers of brownie. I made the components in steps over the entire day and refrigerated the frosting and filling before assembling that night.

You can get the full recipe over at 20 Something Cupcakes. Next week is a Wildcard Week so I’ll have a chance to make a recipe that I missed the first time. Decisions, decisions, decisions!