Brownie & Funfetti Cookie Dough Layer Cake
Today was my last day of medicine on the general wards! I chose to do a preliminary medicine year instead of a transitional medicine year because I wanted to take the opportunity to learn as much general medicine as possible before becoming extremely sub-specialized in radiation oncology. I do not regret my choices, but I am extremely glad to be done with the wards. A few too many diabetic foot infections and CHF exacerbations later, I am feeling secure in my decision to work with cancer patients. I also accept that in 1 year I will have forgotten everything and will again panic when a patient is in AFib with RVR and will wonder if an INR of 7 is too high. Oh well, I tried.
Two of my co-interns have birthdays this week, and I volunteered to make the birthday cake for one of my dear friends in this program. I LOVE birthdays. I once went on a date with a guy who confided he’d forgotten his birthday earlier that week and I knew then and there that we would never work out. Unfortunately we hadn’t even ordered yet so it was a very long dinner. So, this cake is two parts birthday celebration (HAPPY BIRTH-WEEK J & M!) and one part celebration of being done with wards. Countdown is officially on to starting physics lectures…
There is a fair amount of flexibility in this cake. I had initially intended to add frosting piping on the top, but decided it might be overkill. If you need a slightly more spectacular cake, go for it! I have a frosting recipe I was planning to use if you want it. I found this cake on Life, Love & Sugar and made very few adjustments. If you are hurting for time or just don’t want to make everything from scratch, you could easily substitute your favorite box brownie mix for the recipe below. I would probably use a little less than 1 box recipe per layer, but you could get away with using 2 boxes. Let me know if you try it!
This cake is quite dense and will feed a lot of people as small slices are decadent and filling. It also is a pretty solid cake that will travel well – full disclosure it fell over twice in my car on the way to the BBQ tonight and no one was the wiser because the ganache had cooled and didn’t smudge (thank goodness for plastic wrap, I really must invest in a cake box).
If you have never lined a cake pan with parchment before, here are a few tips. You want to cut a circle to fit the bottom of the pan and not have edges wrinkling up the sides so that you have smooth sides. Here is a tutorial. I used Hershey Special Dark Cocoa powder for the brownies, which is nice because it is slightly less sweet and balances the extreme sweetness of the cookie dough layers. The ganache should really be made by heating the cream on the stove top, but who has time for that? Be careful to microwave in shorter intervals so you do not scald or have a cream explosion in your microwave. My ganache had some pretty serious dripping down the sides because I was impatient and didn’t wait for it to cool enough. If you want less dripping, wait longer for it to cool and thicken and you can test how quickly it drips from your spoon at intervals until your desired drip is achieved. Add the sprinkles before the ganache fully cools so they adequately stick.
- 1 1/2 c vegetable oil
- 3 c sugar
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 eggs
- 1 1/2 c flour
- 1 c Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 c butter, softened
- 1 c sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 boxes funfetti cake mix (Pillsbury)
- 1 1/3 c all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp milk (any milk, I used 1%)
- 5 tsp sprinkles
- 3/4 c white chocolate chips
- 3/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 c heavy whipping cream
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of three 8 inch pans with parchment paper and grease the sides
- In a large bowl, mix oil, sugar, and vanilla extract
- Add the eggs and mix until combined
- In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt
- In small batches, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined
- Pour the batter evenly into the three pans and spread evenly
- Bake 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out with a few crumbs
- Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove brownies to cool on wire rack
- While the brownies cool, make cookie dough
- Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes with an electric mixer
- Mix in vanilla extract
- With electric mixer on low speed, add 1 box of funfetti cake mix + 1 1/2 cups from second box. Mix until just combined
- Add 1 cup flour and mix until combined
- Add milk + 1/3 c of flour to desired thickness (OK to decrease flour or increase milk if desired)
- Stir in sprinkles, white chocolate and chocolate chips.
- Place 1/2 of chocolate chips in heat-safe bowl. Pour 1/2 of heavy cream into microwave safe bowl and microwave 45 sec - 1 min
- Pour hot cream over chocolate chips and let sit for 2-3 minutes
- Whisk until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Microwave a few more seconds at a time if needed.
- To easily align the edges of the cake, build the layers in the cake pans. Once cooled, line the bottom of the cake pan with saran wrap to help lift the layers out
- Place one brownie layer back in the lined cake pan. Pour ~ 3 tbsp chocolate ganache over the brownie and spread evenly over layer to help the cookie dough stick
- Divide cookie dough in half and spread 1/2 evenly over brownie layer in the pan to the edge
- Repeat above steps with second brownie layer and remainder of cookie dough
- Remove first cake from pan and transfer to serving plate. Pour 3 tbsp ganache over cookie dough, spreading a thin even layer, and transfer second cake section from pan to top of the first section
- Pour 3 tbsp ganache over the second cookie dough layer, spread into a thin even layer, and place the final brownie layer on top
- Repeat steps to make ganache with remaining 1/2 of chocolate chips and 1/2 c heavy cream. Allow to cool and thicken somewhat before pouring over cake
- While cooling, press sprinkles into the sides of the cookie dough layers if desired
- Pour remainder of ganache over the top of the cake, allowing some to spill over the edges
- Decorate with sprinkles on top as desired