Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Cake, Chocolate, Desserts / Thursday, October 27th, 2011

We can be honest, right?

I couldn’t find my pumpkin cookie cutter right now if my life depended on it, but that’s OK, because making something fun doesn’t have to be a major production.

This Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake is made with baking staples you probably have in the house right now. You mix them up like you would for any chocolate chip cookie recipe, and then you bake the batter in a 10-inch cake pan until you get a big, beautiful, golden-brown cookie cake with a soft, puffy center and crisp, caramel-colored edges.

Not to mention all of that chocolate.

But if you need to get your Martha on, make the accompanying ganache and streak it across the cake or use it to pipe a decorative border. Or a jack-o’-lantern face. Or write the Magna Carta. Really, the possibilities are endless.

You can slice this cake into lovely triangular wedges, but it’s more fun to just break it apart with your hands. Perfect for celebrating a special day, a good report card or just sharing while you snuggle up and watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” or “The Walking Dead.”

One cake with the power of dozens of chocolate chip cookies.

Beat that, Candy Corn.

P.S. The cake needs four hours in the pan to fully set up. If you don’t mind a moist bottom(!), you can pop it out sooner, or check out this Snow-Day Skillet Cookie, which just needs 20 minutes to cool.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

From David Guas and Raquel Pelzel’s “DamGoodSweet”

Makes one 10-inch cake

    Ganache (Optional):

  • 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup cream
    Cookie:

  • 1 stick plus 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  1. For the Ganache (Optional): Place 3/4 cup chocolate chips in a small bowl. Measure the cream into a microwavable container, and microwave for about 1 minute on high, just until it begins to simmer. Pour the cream over the chocolate, and set aside for 3 minutes. Whisk it from the center of the bowl to the edges until smooth. (You can use the ganache to streak the cake now, but if you want to it to pipe a decorative border, cover the ganache with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature for at least 6 hours or overnight.)
  2. To Make the Cookie Cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place a 1o-inch cake pan on top of a piece of parchment paper, and trace a circle. Cut out the circle, and set aside. Grease the cake pan with 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter, and then press the parchment paper circle into the pan. Grease the top of the parchment with a little more butter, and set the pan aside.
  3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl, and set aside.
  4. Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, cream the stick of butter, light brown sugar, and vanilla and almond extracts on medium speed until combined, about 1 minute.
  5. Increase the mixer speed to high, and beat for 15 seconds.
  6. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg. Blend on medium speed for 30 seconds.
  7. Add the dry ingredients, and combine on low speed until just a few dry streaks remain.
  8. Stir in the 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips.
  9. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan. Dip a rubber spatula in cold water, shake off the excess, and use it to press the batter into a smooth and even layer in the pan.
  10. Bake until lightly golden and puffy around the edges (the center should still feel quite soft), 18 to 20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, and then run a knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake. Cool for at least 4 hours before turning the cake out of the pan and onto a large plate or cutting board. Peel off the parchment, and invert back onto a cake plate or stand.
  11. To Decorate with Ganache (Optional): Use a rubber spatula to fill a pastry bag fitted with an 8-mm tip (or a resealable plastic bag with one corner snipped off) with the ganache. Pipe a decorative border around the edge of the cake, and streak with the remaining ganache across the entire cake.

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