Is this really only the second cake on bethcakes? Don’t worry, I’ll fix that soon.
Monday was my mom’s birthday, and a while back, she asked me to make her an all-cookie-dough-themed cake. I knew I had to go all out for several reasons. 1) She’s probably the best mom in the history of moms. 2) It’s been a hard year for my mom and she deserves the best! 3) That is the definition of a bethcake. (For real though, you can look it up.)
When my mom asked me to make her a chocolate chip cookie dough cake, I played around with the idea of making several large cookies, stacking them on top of each other, and frosting them to look like any old, regular cake on the outside. I was envisioning cutting into the cake and then hearing gasps of, “Omg, it’s really made of cookies!” But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to make a layer cake with cake layers that tasted like chocolate chip cookies.
I decided to brown the butter for this cake (layers + frosting, oh yeahh) mainly because I’d never browned butter before and it seemed fancy. There are about a billion brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipes in the foodblogisphere and I figured it was time to hop on the bandwagon. Maybe take a ride, dangle my feet off the back, take in the scenery. It was a grand old time. (FYI – definitely still on the bandwagon.)
If you’re looking for a good tutorial on how to brown butter, I used this one from How Sweet It Is. One of my favorite blogs! Check it out.
This cake is reminiscent of a chocolate chip cookie, but I used a combination of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour. I wish I would have gone straight all-purpose though, because the cake layers came out a little darker in color than I expected. So feel free to sub in all purpose flour for the whole wheat.
A note about the frosting: make sure it’s not too thick before you frost the cake. Mine was waaaayyy too thick and wouldn’t stick to the cake at all. Or the offset spatula I was using. I added more milk and adjusted the recipe so it should be fine, but just keep that in mind if your frosting isn’t sticking.
ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup brown butter (chilled and then brought to room temp)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup - 1 cup mini chocolate chips (plus more for garnish)
- 1 cup brown butter (chilled and then brought to room temp)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 12 oz bag of chocolate chips (Can be the same bag of mini chocolate chips, you only need half)
instructions
- Line three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine both flours, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl and carefully whisk them together. Set aside.
- In another bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream brown butter and both sugars on medium speed for about a minute, or until fluffy.
- Add vanilla extract and eggs and mix well.
- Add half the flour mixture and half the milk to the sugar mixture. Mix until just incorporated and scrape the sides of the bowl. Repeat.
- Stir in mini chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into cake pans and bake for 20-23ish minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
- Cool in pans for five minutes, then transfer cake layers to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cream butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed for about two minutes, or until fluffy.
- Add vanilla and milk. Mix until incorporated.
- Next, add flour and mix on low speed.
- Add powdered sugar, mixing on low speed, until just combined. Mix on medium for another minute or two.
- If the frosting is too thick at this point, add another tablespoon of milk. If it's too runny, add 1/4 cup flour or powdered sugar.
- Cream butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
- Add vanilla, one table spoon of milk, and cocoa powder. Mix on low at first, and once the cocoa powder has mostly combined with the butter, mix on medium speed until completely incorporated.
- Add Powdered sugar 1/2 cup - 1 cup at a time, mixing well and scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.
- If frosting is too thick, add another tablespoon of milk.
- Place half of the bag of chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl.
- In a small saucepan on medium heat, bring cream just to a boil, stirring continuously.
- Pour cream over chocolate chips and let it all sit for a few minutes.
- Whisk the chocolate and cream until the chocolate chips have completely melted.
- Place the first layer on a cake plate or stand. Spread the top with half of the dark chocolate frosting. Repeat with second cake layer and dark chocolate frosting.
- Place the third layer on the cake. Cover entire cake with brown butter cookie dough frosting. (I do the messy style because I haven't mastered the perfectly-smooth-frosting-thing.)
- Drizzle with chocolate ganache and let it run down the sides slightly.
- Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.
- Add candles. Light, sing, serve, enjoy!
Recipe from bethcakes. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without permission. If you would like to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe. Thank you.
GORGEOUS cake!! What a sweet dessert for your mom 🙂
Thanks so much, Jennifer! 🙂
I have THE most wonderful daughter ever! She happens to also be an artistic baking blogging photographic genius, I love you!
Aw, shucks. 🙂 Love you too, mom! Glad you liked it.
What a cake!!! The little chocolate chips on top, the ganache, the chocolate frosting between the layers, the brown butter frosting – amazing. Too bad my birthday is still many months away.
Well you know, cake aren’t just for birthdays. 🙂
I want a big slice of this heavenly cake!! I love the drippy chocolate!! Yum!
Thanks, Jocelyn! There can never be too much drippy chocolate. 🙂
it looks delish!
Thanks so much, Dina!
Wow — the ganache drizzled on top of this looks incredible. And I love how light and fluffy the brown butter frosting looks. What a creative take on chocolate chip cookies!
Thanks, Jamie! The frosting is probably my favorite part. 🙂
Drool…
Haha, thanks 🙂
What a beautiful cake that has my belly growling! And the frosting – oh goodness, I’d just eat it with a spoon! 🙂
Thanks, Pamela! I may have had a spoonful or two. 😉
Wow, this is one heck of a cake!! And so right up my alley – cookie dough anything is a very good thing in my book. And I love that you used brown butter too! Now if only I had a slice for breakfast …
Thanks, Ashley! I agree, anything cookie dough is the best! I’m also wishing we still had some left, haha. 🙂
BROWN BUTTER IS A GIFT FROM THE GODS! lol or at least it is in my book. 😉 Beth this cakes looks gorgeous and I wish I could dive into every cookie-dough flavored layer!
Thank you, Jess! Yeah, not sure why I haven’t tried brown butter before now!
This looks heavenly decadent! My mom always wants chocolate chocolate chocolate for her birthday, so it really doesn’t leave me much room for creativity!
Thanks, Lily! I have that problem with my family too, haha. Starting to run out of ideas!
YUM! What a great birthday cake!
For the brown butter, did you use salted or unsalted butter? Cake looks and sounds divine! I’m planning on making it for my special little lady’s b-day!
Hi, Jessica! I used unsalted butter, but I’m sure you could use salted if that’s what you have. I don’t think it would change the flavor too much. If you make this cake, please let me know how it goes! 🙂
I’ve been craving something sweet and something with chocolate all morning and I wish I had this cake. It looks delicious!! My family loves chocolate chip anything so I will definitely be trying this recipe out soon!