All the world is a birthday cake...

I threw a small birthday party this weekend and, though it might be considered tacky, I made my own cake.

Now there ended up being a delicious Lemon Chess Pie at the party made by my dear friend Mallory, but I blew out candles on a homemade cake that tickled my taste buds exactly how I wanted it to. 

My costume for the Decades Party: Amelia Earhart

As I had a "decades" party, aka come dressed in any other time period you might want, including the future, I decided to make myself a cake I use to LUST after in elementary school. COOKIE CAKE!

Sally's Baking Addiction: Cookie Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup (200g) light brown sugar

1 large egg + 1 egg yolk*

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (careful not to overmeasure)

2 teaspoons cornstarch (aka cornflour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/2 cup (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips

MILK CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1 and 3/4 cups (210g) confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup (32g) unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

2 Tablespoons (30ml) heavy cream or half-and-half*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

salt, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray a 9-inch pie dish or cake pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fittedwith paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Mix in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. On low speed, slowly mix into the wet ingredients until combined. The cookie dough will be quite thick. Add 1 and 1/4 cups chocolate chips and mix for about 5 seconds until evenly disbursed.

Press the cookie dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cake is lightly golden brown (could be up to 30 minutes, depending on your oven). You may want to cover the cake loosely with aluminum foil after 15 minutes to avoid heavy browning around the edges. Remove from the oven and set the pan on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, use a sharp knife or metal spatula to loosen the sides of the cookie cake from the pan and transfer to a serving dish. (Or use can serve directly from the pan.)

The chocolate frosting is optional. Instead, decorate with whipped cream or top with vanilla ice cream.

For the optional chocolate frosting: sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder to assure there are no lumps. Set aside. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy - about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sifted sugar/cocoa powder alternately with the heavy cream and vanilla. Beat on low speed after each addition. Once all added, beat on high speed until creamy and combined for at least 2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.

Decorate the cooled cookie cake with frosting and remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Depending how much frosting you use, you may have some leftover. I used a Wilton 1M tip. Cookie cake remains fresh covered tightly at room temperature for up to 3 days.

*I prefer room temperature eggs for my cookie cake. Room temperature eggs incorporate evenly into your cookie dough – guaranteeing a uniform texture in each bite of the cookie cake. Simply set out the eggs when you set out the butter to come to room temperature. If you forget to set out your eggs, no worries. Place them into a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes, then use.

*For the frosting, heavy cream or half-and-half will give your frostings the creamiest texture. You may use milk instead, keeping in mind the frostings won't be as creamy.

YUM!

**This recipe is directly lifted from her site. She is a STUNNING blogger and even more amazing baker. I think I will be going to her for most of my future inspirations in baking**

As you can see, I didn't make the frosting as I didn't have time, but it wasn't necessary. The cake went pretty quickly and was well like by all who could have it. I did change one thing, which was that I used Whole Wheat Flour instead of White All Purpose, simply because we are attempting to avoid it.

The long and the short of this cake is that you should make it for anyone who lived through the 90's and who likes chocolate and can eat gluten etc....

Until the next cake...

**Today's title comes from George Harrision: All the world is a birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.**