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Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake


This post is definitely a bit delayed, but better late than never, right?? I’ve received a lot of emails asking for this recipe, so here it is 🙂 It’s quite an undertaking, but it’s worth it! It is made with four super moist chocolate cake layers, a cookie dough flavored buttercream, and is decorated with egg-less chocolate chip cookie dough and mini chocolate chip cookies. It took a little bit of experimenting to get this right. I had been pretty dissatisfied with most of the edible cookie dough recipes I’d come across online, so i tweaked the recipe until it as just right. I also created a simpler cookie dough buttercream, as most recipes require melting down the brown sugar. Mine is just as easy to make as regular buttercream, and in my opinion has a better cookie dough flavor!

Chocolate Cake Batter:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1½ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon espresso powder
  • 1 cup milk
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water

Cookie Dough Buttercream:

  • 2 cups unsalted butter (4 sticks), at room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 6 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

  • 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 cups flour (pasteurized in the microwave or oven)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 2 and 1/4 cups  all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, and 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
  • 2 tsps vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare four  8-inch cake pans by spraying with baking spray, and lining the bottom of the pans with parchment rounds.

Add flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk through to combine or, using your paddle attachment, stir through flour mixture until combined well. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to flour mixture and mix together on medium speed until well combined. Reduce speed and carefully add boiling water to the cake batter. Mix until fully incorporated.  Distribute cake batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from the pan and cool completely.

Once the cake layers are out of the oven, prepare the cookie dough. Combine the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. In a medium bowl, mix the melted butter, brown sugar, and sugar together until smooth. Whisk in the egg, vanilla, then the egg yolk. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft, yet thick. Fold in the chocolate chips. Form 1 inch balls with the dough, and then cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats, and leave at least 2 inches of space between the cookies. Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. The cookies will be very soft and look a little underbaked. But don’t be scared, they will continue to bake on the cookie sheet! Allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cake layers and cookies cool, prepare the cookie dough frosting. Beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed for 5 minutes. Pour in the vanilla and salt, and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to medium-low and slowly add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, until it has all been incorporated. Add heavy cream as needed. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for an additional two to three minutes, until light and fluffy.

For the edible cookie dough, cream the butter and brown sugar together. Add in the salt and vanilla, and beat until combined. Mix in the flour in two installments, add the cream between installments to help the ingredients come together. Gently mix in the chocolate chips on a low speed, or with a spatula. Form into 3/4 inch balls, and refrigerate to allow the cookie dough balls to firm up.

Once all the components are prepared, it’s assembly time! Top each cake layer with a thick smear of frosting, and sprinkle a generous handful of edible cookie dough on top of the frosting. Repeat, stacking all four layers. Apply a crumb coat to exterior of the cake, and refrigerate to let the frosting firm up.

Remove from fridge, and apply another coat of frosting. Smooth the frosting, then press the small baked cookies around the base of the cake. Push edible cookie dough bites around the side of the cake, and fill in some of the open space with mini chocolate chips. Form a circular cookie pyramid on top of the cake, anchoring each layer of cookies with a smear of buttercream. Use the remaining edible cookie dough to create a boarder around the top of the cake, and sprinkle white and regular chocolate chips into any open spaces, and around the boarder. And about 5 1/2 hours later, the cake is complete!!


I also made a smaller version of this cake for an order (shown above), and decided to decorate it a little bit different to keep things interesting 🙂

Vegan Edible Cookie Dough: Ready in 10 Minutes - Chelsweets

Sunday 26th of June 2022

[…] made a few cookie dough cakes in the past (like my funfetti cookie dough cake or my ultimate cookie dough cake), but I felt like it was time to put a different spin on my classic edible cookie dough recipe. […]

CH

Wednesday 8th of July 2020

Normally I'd go to your vegan buttercream recipe, but the cookie dough flavor sounds great. How could I incorporate that into the vegan/dairy free recipe?

Andrea

Wednesday 29th of April 2020

Hi! I'm going to make one of your cookie cakes for my Bday cake :). I'm obsessed with those cookie dough cupcakes you made.... the cookie buttercream is a little different than the one on this recipe and I'm wondering if I make a vanilla cake like the cupcakes should I just use the other buttercream or this one? and should I only use the cookie buttercream with the cookie dough in the middle and then regular buttercream on the outside of the cake? Sorry - hopefully this isn't confusing..

Chelsweets

Friday 8th of May 2020

So sorry for the delayed response, that's awesome Andrea!

Haha this is your cake, so you can really do whatever you want!! I think this cookie dough buttercream recipe is a more up to date / better recipe than what's listed in the cookie dough cupcake recipe. It's easier to frost/smooth the outside of a cake with plain vanilla buttercream, but you can use cookie dough buttercream too! :) Hope your cake turned out great, and happy birthday!!

pickingupmypeices

Tuesday 4th of September 2018

This looks so amazing. Is the smaller version a half recipe? I want to make this but there are only a few of us to eat it and I hate to waste any since it only keeps a few days.

Chelsweets

Tuesday 18th of September 2018

the smaller version is a half recipe! For smaller cakes, I use a half batch of cake batter to make 3, 6-inch cake layers! Hope that helps, happy baking!!

Christy

Wednesday 23rd of May 2018

I know that you made this post several years ago and was wondering if the chocolate cake recipe listed is the one that you still recommend using for the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake. You have "The Best Chocolate Layer Cake recipe", "Moist Chocolate Cake recipe" and this one. Just wanted to make sure you haven't change your mind over the years and prefer to use a different chocolate cake recipe instead of the one. Thanks!

Chelsweets

Friday 25th of May 2018

haha I have changed my mind quite a few times over the years around my favorite chocolate cake recipe. right now, this is my go to chocolate cake recipe: https://chelsweets.com/2018/05/08/my-go-to-chocolate-layer-cake-recipe/