I made this Chocolate Candy Bar Cake for my boyfriend’s birthday. I was inspired by this cake from Art of Dessert, but mine is mini sized at only about 6” in diameter. Living in Japan, we have different candy bars, so instead of Hershey’s and Twix bars, I used Crunky Bars and Black Thunder along with Kit Kats*.

For frosting, I used this Chocolate Swiss Meringue recipe from Martha. Powdered sugar is ridiculously expensive in Japan, so I had to learn how to make meringue buttercream over here. The first time I tried making Swiss Meringue buttercream, I failed miserably, but now I think I’ve got it down pretty well!

The bf loved my cake, though I think he did get tired of chocolate by the end of the week!

*Kit Kat’s are VERY popular in Japan. Each region of Japan has many different flavors ranging from Sakura Matcha, to Hot Cakes, to Wasabi! Why are they so popular? One reason is that “Kit Kat” sounds almost like the phrase, “Kitto katsu!” which means, “Surely win!” Often parents will give their children a Kit Kat as a good luck charm to pass their exams.