Happy birthday to me! To celebrate I made a cookie dough cake for me myself and I. Okay who am I kidding I could barely get through one slice of this massive layer cake. This cookie dough flavoured layer cake is super sweet, super decadent but also so dang delicious and sure to impress anyone and everyone you may choose to share it with. We're talking three super moist choc chip cookie dough flavoured cake layers encased in a super decadent cookie dough frosting, topped with actual edible cookie dough, chocolate buttercream and heaps of chocolate chips. It's also the third layer cake I ever made and honestly? I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it now! This one is also the easiest one assembly-wise compared to the other ones I've made, so if you're a beginner when it comes to layer cakes this is a great place to start!
Equipment:
Electric beater
3x 22-24cm (if using 22cm you might need to bake for longer) diameter springform cake tins
2 wire racks for the oven
Parchment paper
Paper towels (quite a lot of them)
Aluminium foil
Cling film
Offset spatula
Bench scraper (not necessary but recommended)
Cake turntable
Piping bag/ziplock bag for piping
Cookie dough frosting:
600g vegan butter
150g brown sugar
750g powdered sugar
3tsp vanilla
240g flour
Chocolate frosting:
600g of the cookie dough buttercream
25g cocoa powder
Method: Heat treat the flour to get rid of any bacteria by spreading it onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and baking it in the oven at 180C for at least 5 minutes until it reaches at least 75 degrees Celsius. Cool the flour completely. Then, beat the vegan butter, brown sugar and vanilla together. Gradually add the powdered sugar and flour and beat until light and fluffy. Take 600g of the cookie dough frosting and add it to a separate bowl. Sift 25g cocoa powder into the the 600 grams you just set aside and mix to combine. Add to a piping bag.
Edible cookie dough: 100g vegan butter
40g brown sugar
120g granulated sugar
2tbsp plant based milk
1/4tsp fine table salt
80g chopped dairy free chocolate
160g all purpose flour
Heat treat the flour to get rid of any bacteria by spreading it onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper and baking it in the oven at 180C for at least 5 minutes until it reaches at least 75 degrees Celsius. Cool the flour completely. Then, cream together the butter, sugars, milk and salt. Add the flour and mix to combine. Fold in the chopped chocolate. Place the cookie dough in the fridge until you assemble the cake.
Other toppings: 100-200g dairy free chocolate
For the cake:
630g all purpose flour
510g granulated sugar
90g brown sugar
3tsp baking powder
1.5tsp baking soda
630g unsweetened soy milk
30g apple cider vinegar
180g vegan butter
3tsp vanilla extract
3 egg replacer (I used Orgran)
1.5tsp fine table salt
300g dairy free chocolate
Method:
Add apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract and soy milk to a bowl and leave to curdle. Mix all dry ingredients (including the sugars) and set aside. Prepare the egg replacer, and heat the butter until just melted (or use one that is liquid at room temperature). Add the curdled soy milk, egg replacer and butter into the dry mix and mix until everything is well incorporated. Chop the chocolate into fairly fine chunks and fold into the batter. Line the bottom of 3x22cm springform cake tins with parchment paper. Evenly distribute the batter into all three tins.
Lay out three strips of paper towels that are all long enough to wrap around the outside of your cake tins (and then a bit extra), and do the same with aluminium foil. Wet the paper towels in cold water - they should be damp but not dripping - and wrap each of them in the aluminium foil. Wrap each strip of paper towel/aluminium foil around one cake pan each. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius and place two wire racks in the oven for the cake pans to bake on. Place the cake pans evenly in the oven, two at the bottom and one at the top, making sure no cake is directly placed above another. Bake for about 45-50 minutes (switching the wire racks once you’re a little over half way through the baking), until a toothpick or fork comes out clean indicating all cakes are cooked through. Leave the cakes to cool completely before wrapping in cling film or placing in an airtight container and place them in the fridge overnight.
How to frost and assemble:
If you find the instructions here a bit complicated or hard to understand, I highly recommend watching this video from Claire from the BA test kitchen as she has an excellent tutorial on cake assembly and decoration (which is where I learned what I’m about to tell you!)
Assembly:
Frosting:
https://youtu.be/x63WXEoII5M Unwrap the cake layers from the cling film and remove the parchment paper from the bottom. Place one cake back on the bottom of the cake tin you baked it in and use this as your “cake plate” when decorating and moving it around. Place this bottom layer onto the turntable. Spread on a medium/thin layer of frosting onto the cake, depending on how much frosting you like but I recommend maybe 1cm or so (believe me, there will be enough frosting once you eat it in the end). Place the next cake layer on top and repeat the process. Ensure each layer is placed right on top of the other and make sure the cake is level at all times as it’s a lot harder to correct this after the cake is fully frosted! Add your final cake layer and give the cake a crumb coat. This is done by spreading a thin, even layer of frosting all around with the offset spatula and using your bench scraper to scrape off any excess. This “locks” the cake crumbs in place and makes it a lot easier to frost the cake later. Let the crumb coat set for a few minutes and then add the rest of your frosting on top, evenly spreading it to coat the entire cake. Use your offset spatula to scrape off excess frosting and even out the whole thing. Chop some chocolate and press the chocolate chunks into the frosting around the bottom half of the cake. Pipe the chocolate frosting onto the top of your cake, roll the cookie dough into little balls and decorate the cake as you wish. Garnish with more chocolate as well if you'd like. Enjoy!
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