This cake is so good, it's ridiculous. The chocolate cake is dense and moist, the icing is incredible and the browned butter taste really comes through. Plus, the cookie dough part of things doesn't have any raw egg!
Recipe adapted from: Bright-Eyed Baker
Ingredients - 3 tier 15 cm (6 inch) cake
500g white sugar
250g flour
75g cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarb soda
1 tsp salt
115g butter
2 eggs
240g buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla essence
225g hot coffee
Ingredients - browned butter brown sugar icing
400g butter (you will brown this)
165g brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
350g icing sugar
20g cream
Ingredients - cookie dough icing
25g butter (you will brown this)
55g brown sugar
1 tbsp cream
40g flour
Method - cake
1. Preheat the oven to 175C (350F). Butter three 15cm cake tins (or equivalent) and line the bottoms with baking paper.
2. Combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, bicarb and salt in a mixing bowl - I used the bowl of my stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
3. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool slightly.
4. Mix the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and melted butter into the flour mixture until smooth.
5. Add the hot coffee and stir into the batter. It will be very liquid.
6. Evenly distribute the batter between the three cake tins and bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs. It should still be moist.
7. Let the cakes cool in the tins for about 15 minutes then invert the cakes onto wire racks to cool completely.
Method - browning butter
1. Both the cookie dough and icing use browned butter, so you can do both at the one time - however, if you like, you can do it separately.
2. Place the 25g butter for the dough and 400g butter for the icing in a saucepan. Heat the butter over medium-low heat until the butter starts frothing, whisking it occasionally. Keep it cooking while whisking until the butter turns a golden colour and brown flecks form on the bottom of the pan. It will smell really amazing!
3. Remove the butter from the heat and transfer it into two bowls, splitting the amounts into approximately 25g and approximately 400g amounts (keep in mind that after browning the weight might have decreased, so eyeball it a bit!) I recommend using something metal as you are going to put this in the freezer and you don't want your bowls to crack from the temperature change.
4. Take the larger amount of butter (the one you'll be using for the icing) and mix the 165g brown sugar into it. Leave the smaller amount of butter with no additions.
5. Freeze both the browned butter bowls until the butter is firm (but not completely hard)
Method - brown sugar icing
1. Using the larger amount of browned butter that you mixed the brown sugar into, and place it in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. The butter shouldn't be rock hard, but you can use a knife and cut it a bit to make it easier to beat.
2. Beat the butter with the vanilla essence until fluffy.
3. Add the icing sugar (sift it for a lump-free icing!) and beat until light and fluffy.
4. Finally, add the cream and beat. The cream just makes the icing smoother, more spreadable and takes away some of the gritty sugar feeling that buttercream can get.
5. Set the icing aside and make your cookie dough!
Method - cookie dough icing
1. Take the smaller amount of browned butter, beat the 55g brown sugar into it until light and fluffy. Since there was such a small amount I just used a wooden spoon.
2. Mix the cream in, and finally the flour until you have a smooth paste-like dough.
3. Take about a cup of the brown sugar icing and beat it into the cookie dough for an amazing cookie dough flavoured icing.
Method - assembly
1. Place one (completely cool) cake layer on your desired serving plate and top with a third of the cookie dough icing.
Add the next cake layer, another third of the cookie dough icing and finally the last cake layer - top this with the rest of the cookie dough icing.
2. Ice the rest of the cake with the remaining brown sugar icing.
3. Decorate as you please or just dig in!
I've never made cookies as big as this before!
Of course, you can make them any size you like - personally, I enjoy bite sized cookies for easy snacking.
These particular choc chip cookies are full of flavour with crunchy edges and soft middles, and chock full of chocolate chips!
Recipe adapted from: Top WIth Cinnamon via Butter Baking
Ingredients
140g butter
2 tsp vanilla essence
100g white sugar
140g brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp bicarb soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
230g flour
1 egg
160g dark chocolate chips/chunks (add more if you desire!)
Method
1. Start off by browning the butter. Place the butter in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the butter starts to froth - watch it carefully and take it off the heat when it smells nutty and brown specks appear in the pan.
2. Stir the vanilla into the butter and set aside to cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 190C (375F).
4. In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, bicarb, baking powder, salt and flour.
5. Mix the browned butter into the dry ingredients.
6. Add the egg and mix until combined.
7. Stir the chocolate chips into the dough.
8. Scoop the dough into balls the size of your choosing onto a baking tray covered with baking paper. I did some bite-sized and some the size of my palm! Make sure you leave enough room in between the cookies as they do spread.
9. Let the dough rest in the freezer or fridge for at least 10 minutes, or up to 1 hour (depending on how desperate you are to eat them...)
10. After they've chilled, bake the cookies for about 12 minutes (for large cookies)/9 minutes (for smaller cookies) or until they're golden brown and have spread out and puffed up.
11. Let the cookies cool for a bit after they come out of the oven, then enjoy!
As I usually find with choc chip cookies, they're best when warm and the chocolate's still melty. Delicious.
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| Blondie Jenga! |
While I do love (and always will love) brownies, I've been enjoying blondies more and more. There's something about the fact that it's akin to a cookie, but with heaps more bits stacked into it, that appeals to me. Plus, the batter tastes like cookie dough, so that's a win!
These particular blondies are delicious, and the addition of browned butter takes them to another level. I have used browned butter before in these cookies, but I felt that the taste was lost, and I was afraid that the same thing would happen with these blondies; but it was not so! I could definitely taste the nuttiness of the browned butter in the end product, and coupled with white chocolate chips and pecans, I was in blondie heaven. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
Recipe adapted from: Bake or Break
Ingredients - 21 x 31 cm (8 x 12 inch) brownie tin
310g butter
370g brown sugar
125g white sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
350g flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup pecans, chopped roughly
1 cup white chocolate chips
Method
1. Begin by browning the butter. In a saucepan, cook the butter over a medium heat until brown specks form underneath the foam. It will smell absolutely amazing !
2. Transfer the butter into a bowl and leave it to cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 175C (350F).
4. Stir the brown and white sugar into the cooled butter.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat until light and fluffy.
6. Add the vanilla and beat until combined.
7. In a few portions, add the flour, baking powder and salt, mixing in between.
8. Finally, mix the chopped pecans and white chocolate into the batter.
9. Pour the batter into a brownie tin lined with baking paper, and bake for about 35 minutes or until the blondies are golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
10. Let the blondies cool, then cut them into slices of your choosing and enjoy!
This recipe was my first experience with browning butter and it was quite an education. I loved how the butter smelled after it was browned, and the dough tasted absolutely divine! Unfortunately, I thought that the baked biscuits didn't have as much of the browned butter taste, but they were still delicious and chewy and coconutty.
Recipe Adapted From: Joy the Baker
Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp bicarb soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup choc chips
Method
1. Preheat oven to 175 C (350F).
2. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread the coconut out on top. Put it in the oven to toast for about 5 minutes until golden brown. I leave the oven door open and keep a sharp eye on it, because it can burn easily! Once the coconut's brown, take it out of the oven and set aside.
3. Brown your butter! Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. It will bubble for a while and then start to brown.
Once the butter is well browned, remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the butter into another receptacle and allow it to cool. I was terrified of burning my butter so it ended up as this golden colour, but yours can be darker that that!
4. Beat the cooled browned butter, white sugar and brown sugar together in a mixer. The mixture will look grainy, but don't worry!
5. Add the egg and egg yolk and beat until combined. The mixture should now look smooth.
6. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
7. Add the flour, bicarb soda and salt and incorporate.
8. Stir the coconut and chocolate chips into the dough.
9. Bake tablespoon-sized balls of dough and bake in your preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. They should still be soft in the middle! Let them cool on the tray for a bit and then transfer them to a wire rack.
Or, you could just eat them.
