Cookie Dough Showstopper Cake

Oh hi guys, welcome back! I’ve been quite excited about posting the recipe for my Cookie Dough Showstopper Cake! This cake is 3 layers of…

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Oh hi guys, welcome back! I’ve been quite excited about posting the recipe for my Cookie Dough Showstopper Cake! This cake is 3 layers of chocolate chip caramel sponge, sandwiched together with vanilla buttercream, chunks of cookie dough, and chocolate ganache decorated with chocolate drip, mini cookies, and even more balls of cookie dough.

If you have already read my Mini Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe then you will know when I made the cookie dough for this cake I made FAR FAR too much! So I turned it into a little mini-series. I have already posted the recipe for the Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies and I also made a Giant Cookie Dough Sandwich that I haven’t posted yet but will be here fairly soon. You can see all three recipes as the header image on my site here.

How utterly delicious is cookie dough?! You can eat it raw (just so long as you bake the flour and don’t use eggs) or you can bake it into cookies, cakes, cheesecakes, there are so many options, the sky really is the limit!

To make the cookie dough I just make a slightly larger batch of my Mini Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

In this cookie dough, I only used dark and white chocolate chips. Of course, you can use whatever kind of chocolate chips you want, if you want to use white, dark and milk then go for it. If you would prefer just to use all milk chocolate chips then again, of course, you can do this too, your choice.

Cake

The cake in this recipe has a slight caramel flavour because I used Light Brown Sugar. Again, this is completely optional, you could just use normal caster sugar if you prefer. I used light brown sugar simply because it is the same sugar as the cookies. I also added some chocolate chips to the cake to imitate a cookie.

To decorate I used a simple vanilla buttercream. I thought that there was so much going on with the chocolate chip sponge, hidden cookie dough, and chocolate ganache that I was worried if I used a different flavor of buttercream it would end up a bit too overwhelming.

I sandwiched the cake together with the buttercream but before adding an extra layer of cake I sprinkled some broken-up cookie dough on and finished with a drizzle of chocolate ganache as an extra little surprise for people who are eating the cake.

Decorating

To decorate the outside of the cake, I first go around with my cake smoother to smooth in any inconsistencies in the buttercream which may have splodged out from the middle of the cake. Next, I used a piping bag with a large round nozzle and go around the cake so that it is covered in buttercream. I must admit the cake will look pretty ugly at this stage but bear with me.

Next using your cake smoother, go back around the cake and smooth the buttercream. If any excess buttercream comes off the cake pop it back into your bowl by just scraping your smoother along the rim. If there are any gaps or bumps in the cake use your excess buttercream to fill the gaps and go around the cake again until it is completely smooth, making sure to be gentle.

Related Post

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Giant Cookie Sandwich

Ultimate Chocolate Drip Cake

Using the leftover chocolate ganache from the inside of your cake go around the edge and create a drip. I find this easiest to use a piping bag or a squeeze bottle. Go along the edge of your cake, gently squeeze the piping bag or bottle then pull the nozzle away from the edge of the cake slightly so the ganache drips. Once you have gone around the entire cake, if you have any leftover chocolate, simply pour it on the top of the cake and smooth it over so that it covers the top of the cake. Pop it into the fridge until the chocolate sets.

You will always have leftover buttercream. It is impossible not to with these types of cake because you put the buttercream on the cake and then scrape it off again. With your leftover buttercream, pipe swirls onto the top of your cake and decorate with leftover cookie dough balls.

What Equipment Will I Need?

Cake Tins

In this recipe, I use 3 8” Loosebottomed Cake Tins. If you don’t have three you could just use one cake tin 3 times or use smaller or larger sized cake tins. Just bear in mind if you use the smaller cake tins then your cake may be taller than mine and may take longer to bake or you could end up with leftover batter. If you use larger cake tins your cakes could be thinner and take less time to bake.

If you only have 1 cake tin just don’t add the Baking Powder to the cake batter as it basically starts working as soon as it mixes with the dry ingredients and might ruin your cake batter. I would suggest using 1/3 teaspoon per cake tin and adding it just before you pop it in the oven. Just make sure you mix it through the batter before you put it in the oven.

Spatula

I will always recommend using a spatula. It just means that you can get all the extra cake batter, cookie dough, chocolate, whatever you have in the bowl out and you don’t waste any.

Baking Trays

You will also need some baking trays to bake the mini cookies.

Turntable

I recommend a turntable for decorating the cake as it makes it so much easier to smooth the icing. Instead of constantly having to stop and turn the plate or board you are decorating onto you can simply use the turntable.

Cake Smoother

I love my cake smoother. It makes smoothing the buttercream so much easier.

Piping Tips

In this recipe, I use a large round nozzle to pipe the buttercream in between each layer but also on the outside of the cake. To create the swirls on top I use a 1M Piping Tip.

What Ingredients Do I Use?

I used Billington’s Light Brown Sugar, Dr Oetker’s Vanilla Extract and Baking Powder, Stork Unsalted Butter, Silver Spoon Icing Sugar, and a supermarket own brand for the Self-Raising Flour, Cornflour, Chocolate Chips, Dairy Milk Chocolate, Double Cream

A reminder that for the buttercream, you MUST use unsalted butter! This is so important as if you use Stork or a supermarket own brand it will make the buttercream too soft.

Print Recipe
4.70 from 10 votes

Cookie Dough Showstopper Cake

Caramel chocolate chip cake, sandwiched together with vanilla buttercream, chooclate ganache and chunks of Cookie Dough, decorated with mini chocolate chip cookies, a chocolate drip, cookie dough balls and chocolate chips.
Prep Time1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time35 minutes
Total Time2 hours 5 minutes
Servings: 12 people
Author: Sarah Mark

Ingredients

For the Cake

  • 350 g Unsalted Butter
  • 350 g Light Brown Sugar
  • 350 g Self-Raising Flour
  • 8 Medium Eggs
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 250 g Chocolate Chips

For the Cookie Dough

  • 100 g Self-Raising Flour
  • 100 g Light Brown Sugar
  • 50 g Unsalted Butter
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 tsp Cornflour
  • 100 g Chocolate Chips
  • 2-3 tsp Whole Milk

For the Cookies

  • Check out my post for my Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

For the Buttercream

  • 1 kg Icing Sugar
  • 500 g Unsalted Butter
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

For the Chocolate Ganache

  • 200 g Milk Chocolate
  • 200 g Double Cream

To Decorate

  • 200 g Chocolate Chips

Instructions

To Make the Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 170C (150C Fan). Line three 8” cake tins with greaseproof paper and leave to one side.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
  • Add in the flour, eggs, baking powder, vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Whisk until all combined.
  • Split the mixture evenly into the three cake tins and bake in the over for 35-40 minutes. You will know they are ready when they are golden brown and springy to touch.
  • I leave them to cool in the cake tin for 15-20 minutes and then remove and put them on a wire rack to cool fully.

To Make the Cookies

  • To make the cookies please follow the instructions on my post for Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

To Make the Cookie Dough

  • Place the flour on a baking tray and bake in the oven at 180C Fan for 5 minutes. Leave to one side.
  • In a bowl mix together the sugar and butter until they are combined.
  • Add in the vanilla, cornflour, flour and mix until all combined. The mixture may be quite dry and may not stick together, if this happens add in the milk one tablespoon at a time until the mixture combines.
  • Finally add in most of the chocolate chips and mix until they are evenly distributed. It should become one large ball of mixture in the middle of your bowl.
  • Wrap the mixture in cling film and place in the fridge until you need it.

To Make the Buttercream

  • In a bowl mix together the butter and icing sugar until it is combined. Add in thevanilla extract and mix again.
  • If you find the buttercream is quite thick add 1tsp of milk at a time mixing inbetween until it reaches the desired consistency.
  • Put the mixture into a piping bag with a large round nozzle.

To Make the Chocolate Ganache

  • Place the cream and chocolate in a bowl and microwave in 20 second bursts suntil the chocolatehas completely melted. Stir the mixture and put it into your piping bag or squeeze bottle ready to use.

To Decorate

  • Place your first cake on your board or plate and pipe the buttercream on top. Smooth the buttercream and then drizzle some chocolate ganache over the top.
  • Break your cookie dough into chunks (remember and leave some for the decoration) and place some on top of your buttercream and chocolate ganache.
  • Repeat this process until your cake is completely stacked. Don’t worry if your buttercream splodges out of the sides a little.
  • If some of your buttercreamhas splodged out the sides, using your cake smoother, smooth around the side of the cake.
  • Pipe the remaining buttercream around the side and top of the cake. It doesn’t need to be completely covered if there are some gaps this is okay because when you smooth it out it will cover the cake.
  • Smooth the buttercream on top first. If it spills over the side don’t worry.
  • Smooth around the sides of the cake. A lot of the buttercream will likely come off, just pop this into your bowl. If there are any bumps or gaps fill them in using the excess buttercream. Keep smoothing until the cake is completely smooth.
  • Cut your cookies in half and place them around the bottom of the cake. I used six cookies.
  • Using your chocolate ganache go around the edge of the cake and encourage it to drip.I do this by holding the piping bag or squeeze bottle ever so slightly awayfrom the cake. If you have any leftover ganache pour it onto the top of thecake and smooth.
  • Pop the cake into the fridge for half an hour to allow the ganache to set. If you don’t your buttercream will just slide off.
  • Put your left over buttercream into a piping bag and pipe swirls onto the top ofthe cake.
  • Roll the cookie dough into balls and place on top.
  • Decorate with chocolate chips.

If you make any of my recipes use #aspoonfulofvanilla on social media so I can see all the deliciousness! If you have any recipe suggestions or any comments good and bad about this post and others on my blog, then you can either leave them in the comments section below. You can also find me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest or you can email me at aspoonfulofvanilla@outlook.com.

*I have used affiliated links in this post.

50 comments

  1. I could get in trouble if I made this – because I would eat it all myself, haha. That being said, this cake looks amazing and I am totally adding it to my to-try list of recipes. I don’t make cake very often so this will be a very nice treat to whip up for the family.

  2. This looks so beautiful I’m not sure if I’d want to ruin this masterpiece of yours! I absolutely love cookie dough I may give this a try!

  3. Oh my goodness, this looks SO good! It’s a good thing baking isn’t my strength because none of my clothes would ever fit. I might have to get try this one, though.

  4. oh my god this looks amazing! It’s definitely my kind of cake combining my two favourite things – cookie dough and cake! Thank you for posting the recipe, I’ll definitely be giving this a go soon!

  5. 4 stars

  6. 5 stars

  7. Oh wow this cake looks delish! I wish I could make this for my family. Unfortunately, there are allergic to chocolate” ppl here. I usually have to eat chocolate 🍫 alone and away from them. Do you think you could make this recipe cupcake style too?

  8. 5 stars

    Thanks for sharing.

    James.

    1. Thank you! This is definitely one of the harder recipes on my blog. If you are looking for other recipes to build your confidence I have lots on my blog! Baking is so much fun I hope you enjoy! I can’t wait to see what you bake!

  9. This looks yummy, Your recipe is inspiring me to go in my kitchen and bake a cake for my son’s graduation party.

  10. Um this cake looks amazing!! I love cookie dough flavored anything and I’m sure I would love this cake too. It definitely looks like such a sweet treat!

  11. 5 stars

  12. 5 stars

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