Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Fudge Mountain Cookie Dough Cake



As you can see, this cake is completely gluttonous and over the top, which is what makes it so fantastic.  I made it for Christmas but it's sure to be a hit at any gathering before people even try it.  There's something about a giant pile of brownies that just gets people going.  Oh, and a cake, too.  I was actually really impressed with this recipe, the buttercream frosting tastes exactly like cookie dough and the cake is very good. To simplify things you could easily use box mix rather than bake your own cake and still come out with a great end product. 




Make the brownies first.  These can be made a day in advance and kept in the fridge.  This is a fairly involved cake so doing it over two days actually makes it a lot easier.  First, melt the chocolate in a double boiler.  




While it's melting, whisk the eggs together in a bowl.  Wait until the chocolate has cooled slightly after melting, then add to the eggs.  If the chocolate is too hot the eggs might start to fry.  I gave it about five minutes before mixing. 



Combine the sugar and flour in a bowl.  Add in the chocolate mixture and mix until just combined.  Pour the mixture into a 9x13 baking pan which has been greased and lined with parchment paper.  Leave some of the paper hanging over the edges of the pan - this makes it easier to remove the brownies once they are done cooking.   Cook at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes or until brownies are set. 




Now on to the cake.  Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Here you can see me adding corn starch to regular flour in order to create a substitute for cake flour. 



In another bowl beat together flour and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and beat again until combined. 


Add flour mixture to egg mixture in two batches, alternating with the buttermilk and ending with flour.


Place the mixture in two separate bowls.  In a third bowl mix cocoa and boiling water until smooth.  Add this mixture to one portion of dough. 


Using a spoon alternate dropping the vanilla and chocolate dough into two cake pans.  These are 8" and the cake turned out fairly thin, so I wouldn't advise going much larger than that.  Pull a knife thru the batter before baking to create a swirl effect if desired. Bake for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees.


Prepare the buttercream.  Beat together butter and brown sugar on high until fluffy. Beat in flour and salt, then mix in milk and vanilla extract until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. 



Once the cake is cool apply the buttercream. I found it very difficult to spread and ended up applying it by pressing it on with my hands, which worked pretty well.  




Where did this massive blob of cookie dough come from??? Oh wait, that's the cake. 





Pull out your brownies.  Slice and dice them into about 1" pieces.  You could go larger or smaller on this, I found this size looked the most proportional to my cake.  Pile the brownies haphazardly on top of the cake, creating the look of a chocolate mountain.  If desired, melt chocolate and drizzle over cake.  At this point you could also add nuts, sprinkles, or even more chocolate chips sprinkled over the cake. 

Fudge Mountain Cookie Dough Cake


For the cake:
115g (1 stick) butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing
300g (1 3/4 cups) cake flour (not self-rising, I used 270g plain flour + 30g (3 1/2 tbsp) cornflour/cornstarch as per these instructions)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
225g (1 cup) sugar (I used caster sugar)
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp boiling water
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Dutch-process cocoa powder

For the buttercream:
250g (about 2 1/4 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 cups (about 315g) icing/confectioners' sugar, sifted
2/3 cup (about 85g) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
200g (about 1 cup) mini chocolate chips or finely chopped pieces of milk chocolate

For the brownies:
200g (7oz) good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
200g (1.75 sticks) butter, chopped
3 eggs at room temp
2 egg yolks at room temp
200g (about 1 cup minus 2 tbsp) caster sugar
115g (3/4 cup) plain flour
35g (1/3 cup) cocoa powder

Adapted from: Raspberri Cupcakes