Chocolate Key Lime Fudge Bars
These chocolate key lime fudge bars are a dessert game changer. And for the chocolate lovers out there, this one’s also for you. Are they a brownie? Could be. But more like fudge? You’re getting warmer. Or is it cake-like? I won’t disagree. Is it also like cheesecake? Sorta. But its more Key Lime Pie, right? Supposedly.
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil (or coconut, canola oil)
- 3 Eggs
- 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
- 2 cups All purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1 1/4 cups Black coffee (room temperature)
Cake Icing Ingredients
- 2 cups Confectioners sugar
- 1/2 cup Cocoa powder
- 1 cup Milk (Plant-based or regular is OK)
Fudge Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Fresh lime juice (squeezed) (Persian or Key Lime works fine)
- 24 oz White Almond Bark or white chocolate chips
- 1 can Condensed milk (14oz.)
- 1/2 stick Unsalted butter (1/4 cup)
Instructions
Chocolate Cake Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F and grease/line two round 9 inch pans or one 10-12 inch rectangular pan.
- Using your mixer, combine sugar, oil and vanilla on low/medium speed. Add in eggs separately, allowing each to incorporate.
- Mix in flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt until blended and smooth (batter will be quite thick).
- Lastly, pour in 1 1/4 cups of lukewarm or room temperature coffee on low speed. Careful to not use hot coffee. The batter will become very thin - this is expected.
- Pour batter into greased/lined pan(s) and bake for no more than 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out mostly clean.
- Allow to cool before handling.
Frosting Instructions
- *Note: I always make homemade icing (it's so much better for you, and it's incredibly easy), but if you are keen on using store bought, that is fine to use for this recipe as well.
- While allowing the cake to cool, start making the "icing" that you will be mixing with it. This gives it that "dough" consistency, making the cake portion easy to mold with your hands and keeps the cake moist.
- Using a mixer or by hand, start by adding your confectioners and cocoa powder to the bowl on low speed. Slowly add in the milk until it starts to incorporate. You don't want the icing to be too runny (this can be caused by adding too much milk), so it's best to add the milk slowly in increments.
- When the ingredients are clump-free and fully combined, set aside. If your icing becomes too runny - there's an easy fix. Place icing in the fridge or freezer up to 15 minutes to thicken. If it is still runny - this is OK (mine was for this recipe) - just simply use 3/4 instead of the full amount for the next step.
Combining the cake and icing
- Essentially, you want to break up the cake into crumbs. This gets messy - beware - so I found it easier to do in the mixer (sorry, you'll be washing that bad boy a good 3 times for this recipe). Break up the cake into chunks and place in your mixer, processor OR a large bowl if doing by hand.
- Allow mixer to break up the cake until there are no large clumps - start at low speed at first (I made the mistake of being overzealous and cake went flying everywhere).
- Add in your icing to the bowl. Again, if the icing is too runny, just use half or 3/4 the amount. Otherwise, use the full amount from the listed ingredients. If you are using store bought icing, start with adding 1 cup at a time - keep adding if you need more, but read on about consistency before adding additional amounts.
- CAKE-POP CONSISTENCY: this is key, and it comes quick. You don't want the cake to be "wet" or "gooey", you want a very "dough-like" consistency (more on the dry side). This is super tricky, and makes or breaks your "cake-pop" for this recipe. You literally can't turn back if your cake is too soggy and wet.
- To avoid this, add in your icing in slow increments. Keep testing the mixture by simply molding a small ball into your hand. The ball should be somewhat shiny on the outside, easy to mold and hold together in your hand without crumbling apart.
- If you are not getting the desired consistency, you will need to add more icing. *TIP: melted butter can also be a splint if this occurs and you have no more icing (1-2 tbsp at a time).
- Once you've perfected your cake-pop, line a 13x9 baking pan with wax paper. Nothing fancy - this just makes it easier for you to take the bars in and out of the pan to cut. So make sure you give yourself extra paper on the sides.
- Using your hands or something flat, evenly mold the cake onto the bottom of the pan (over the wax paper).
- Then place in the fridge for the time being while the fudge is made (see next step).
Key Lime fudge instructions
- Start by heating a saucepan or pot over low heat. Melt down the butter and almond bark or white chocolate until smooth - stirring consistency to prevent burning (like I did, having to restart the entire process).
- Once everything has nearly melted add in the condensed milk and continuing to stir on low heat. You will begin to "fold" the fudge rather than stirring it - that's your cue to take it off the heat.
- Using 2 limes, zest one into the fudge first. Fold thoroughly to evenly distribute.
- Then squeeze the juice from the two into the fudge (be sure to remove any seeds). The juice doesn't exactly soak into the fudge - as you may notice it sits over top like an oil. That's okay, fold thoroughly to "marinate" the fudge.
- Place the fudge over the cake-pop layer, evenly spreading the fudge to the corners. Yes, there is one extra lime listed in the ingredients, because more than likely you threw away the other two you cut. Use this extra lime to zest the top of the fudge, giving it that extra key lime flavor.
- Allow the fudge to cool up to 4 hours in the fridge before serving. Cut bars into 1-2 inch cubes (which easily makes over 20 cubes).
- Store at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the fridge up to 7 days. *Psst, it's even better stored in the fridge!