Growing up, who didn't want a cookie cake from Mrs. Fields? It's basically the largest cookie ever, and I always thought about how wonderful it would have been to have gotten one of those and eaten the entire thing. Yes, I'm a true glutton and I'm not ashamed.
This is my version of the cookie cake, except clearly on sugar steroids. Layers of moist vanilla cake, fluffy buttercream and addictive cookie dough, which is then covered with more cake crumbs. Are you one to always eat the cookie dough before it's baked? Luckily, this is eggless and just as delicious!
I am sure that I could have just baked a ginormous cookie, covered it in frosting and been done with it. But as someone who has dreamed of scarfing down a cookie the size of an XL pizza since they were 5, I wanted it to be the most decadent cookie cake known to man. It's taller than it is wide, which makes it easier for me to accept eating more than 1 piece in a sitting. Not only do the layers perfectly balance each other, but the outside is just as flattering.
It's true what they say, what's on the inside is what counts the most, but this cake will prove to you that being attractive and yummy on the outside is okay too!
vanilla cake ingredients
Butter--3 oz, or 6 TBL
Sugar--16 oz, or 1 3/4 C + 1TBL
Brown Sugar--2.5 oz, or 4.5 TBL
Eggs--7.95 oz, or 5
Milk--6 oz, or 3/4 cup
Canola Oil--3.5 oz, or 1/2 cup
Vanilla--0.5 oz, or 3 tsp
Flour--16.85 oz, or 3 cups
Baking Powder--0.4 oz, or 2 1/4 tsp
Salt--0.3 oz, or 1 1/4 tsp
process
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugars.
Once light in color, add the eggs.
Add the milk, oil and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of your bowl.
Add your sifted flour, baking powder and salt.
This recipe will make enough to fill 2-6" cake pans.
Spray your pans with nonstick spray, and then lightly coat in flour.
This method is foolproof! No more sticking cake! To do so, put a couple of tablespoons (more if needed!) of flour in the center of your pan, and then shake the cake pan until the bottom is coated. To get the sides, tilt your pan and move it around so that the flour will cover all sides.
Fill up your pans about halfway with the cake batter.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until the cake springs back/toothpick comes out clean.
Let the pans cool on a rack for 10 minutes and then take them out of the pan, allowing them to continue to cool.
*Note*: if there is any extra batter, make some cupcakes with it! It'll be perfect for decorating later.
Chocolate chip cookie filling ingredients
Butter--9.6 oz, or 2 sticks + 4 TBL
Sugar--6.6 oz, or 1 C - 1 TBL
Brown Sugar--6.6 oz, or 3/4 cup
Vanilla--0.2 oz, or 1/2 tsp
Milk--3.8 oz, or 1/2 cup
Flour--20 oz, or 3 3/4 cups
Salt--7 g, or 1 tsp
Chocolate Chips--11 oz, or 2 cups
process
In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light in color.
Add the vanilla and milk. Mix until combined.
Add the sifted flour and salt.
Add chocolate chips.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, store in the refrigerator for at least an hour so that it can firm up a bit.
When you're ready to use it for assembling the cake, roll into 6" circles (or whichever size cake layers you have decided to make!).
buttercream ingredients
Sugar--10.65 oz, or 1 1/3 C + 1 TBL
Water--3.35 oz, or 1/3 cup
Egg Whites--5.35 oz, or 5
Butter (room temp/cut into TBL)--16 oz, or 4 sticks
Thermometer
process
Make sure that your egg whites are scaled out before you begin to cook the sugar! Put them in the bowl of your mixer with the whisk attachment.
Put both the sugar and water into a small pot on the stove.
Turn the burner to medium-high and cook the sugar, using your thermometer, until it reaches 240 degrees F.
Once the sugar temperature is at 240 F, turn your mixer up to high to begin whipping the egg whites.
When the sugar reaches 245 degrees F, take off of heat, turn your mixer to low, and slowly stream in the cooked sugar syrup.
This may sound intimidating, but if you are careful and use a pot that is not too heavy to lift on your own, it's easy as cake!
Turn your mixer back up to medium and allow for the egg whites and sugar to whip so that it cools down. This is also how you would make meringue, so your mixture will begin to look like just that!
You may begin to add the butter in chunks once the whipped whites have cooled, which you can test by putting your hand/forearm against the base of the bowl to see if it feels about body temperature.
When it feels cool enough, turn the mixer to medium-low, and add the room temperature butter 2-3 tablespoons at a time, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl as you go.
After all of the butter is added, turn mixer back to medium and let it whip until it looks like beautiful buttercream!
*Note*: the buttercream will at first fall apart a bit, but if you do not panic and just let it keep whipping, it'll come back together wonderfully!
If there are any flavors that you would like to add, such as extracts, now is a great time to add them to give your buttercream a hint of another flavor!
simple syrup ingredients
Water--4 oz, or 1/2 cup
Sugar--4 oz, or 1/2 cup
process
Put both the water and sugar into a small pot on the stove.
Turn the burner on to medium until your sugar water comes to a boil.
Let boil for a few minutes, take off of heat, and cool.
Now it's ready to use!
now let's assemble!
You may assemble this cake in ANY way that you would like, but I am going to tell you how I like to do it!
Once your two 6" cakes have cooled, you're going to want to trim them and then cut them in half.
To trim the top of your cake, use a serrated knife. If you have a cake turntable, that will help immensely with all of your cake endeavors, so that as you are cutting your cake, you can spin it, making it easier. If you do not have one, that is not a problem!
Once you have trimmed off the top and cut each cake into two layers, it is time to fill the cake!
Place one layer of cake on your turntable, or a plate works as well, and brush a generous amount of simple syrup on it.
You'll now want to put a layer of buttercream on the cake, about 1/4" thick. Using a medium offset spatula, spread the buttercream and spin your turntable simultaneously. By putting the tip of your spatula in the center of your cake, hold your hand steady while spinning the turntable, which will ensure the buttercream will be even and smooth.
Place one of the cookie dough inserts on top of the buttercream.
Put a very thin layer of buttercream on top of the cookie dough. This is so that the next layer of cake will stick better and stay in place.
Continue to do this until you have made 4 beautiful cake layers and you're ready to dirty ice the cake! This is also called a crumb coat.
Refrigerate your cake for 30 minutes-1 hour after you have finished crumb coating it.
Now it is time for the final frosting of the cake!
Luckily, for this cake, it is not imperative that you do a perfect job with the outside coat of buttercream because of how I have chosen to decorate it. But you use the same technique that you did for the crumb coat, using your offset spatula and turntable to apply the buttercream. (This video is quite helpful for the outside frosting)
To decorate it, I chose to use the extra cake from the tops which I cut off, as well as some baked cookies from leftover cookie insert dough. Although there are no eggs or leavening agents in the dough, they come out great as little cookies when you bake them!
I made tiny cookies with a small round cutter and baked them at 350F for about 10 minutes. I also crumbled up the cake tops to stick all over the side of the cake. Decorating is where your artistic ability (or my lack of) comes out!
I love you more than I love cookies.
This was for my ever so sweet fiancé, who has, somehow, done the impossible and made the above true!
Bon Appétit!