Cookie Monster Cake
Society’s general consensus is that cakes are reserved for special days.
That’s exactly how this chocolate cake came about; and I am glad to give it as a gift for my neighbor’s birthday). Hence there are no images of the towering 6-layer chocolate chip cookie and cream filled interior.
Derived from Sweetapolita’s Midnight Cookies and Creme Cake, I did a few visual adjusts. No special order black cocoa powder or neon pink gel or even Oreos. I was very constrained in my arsenal of ingredients. I did not make an exact replica. However, in the world of the internet, aren’t exact replicas a little boring? You can google search the original cake, why make a clone copy? It’s fun to run with a recipe. Follow the trail of cake recipes through countless blogs and you’ll end up with delightful variations.
It’s for the better that this Cookie Monster cake turned out blue. I do not think my male neighbor would have liked a flaming hot pink cake.
Only after I finished frosted and decorating the cake did I notice the cake’s “theme.” The blue and the chocolate chip cookies are indicative of Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. Things eventually came together theme-wise.
- For the Chocolate Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 cups superfine sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 cup strong coffee, warm
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- For the Blue Sprinkle Cookie Frosting:
- 2 3/4 cups (5 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup shortening
- 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 10 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 1/3 cups heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons water, plus more if needed
- Blue Gel food color
- 16 chocolate chip cookies, semi-crushed for the filling, plus more whole chocolate chip cookies for decorating (at least 8 to make cookie sandwiches for decorating the top)
- 1/3 cup rainbow sprinkles
- For the Drippy Chocolate Glaze:
- 5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
- Pinch of fine salt
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray three 8-inch round cake pans with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, sugar, black cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the buttermilk, coffee, oil, and vanilla, and then mix in eggs.
- Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Divide the batter between the three pans and bake until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out with a only a few crumbs, about 23 minutes. Do not over-bake. Let cakes cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, and then turn onto rack to cool completely. Once cool, wrap the layers in plastic and let them chill in the refrigerator.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, cream cheese, and salt on medium speed until pale and creamy, 8 minutes.
- Reduce the speed to the lowest setting and gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract and water. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until very light and fluffy, about 6 minutes.
- Transfer about 5 cups of the frosting to a medium bowl and tint it blue using soft gel paste color. Set aside. Add the semi-crushed Chocolate Chip Cookies (reserve about 1/4 cup of the crumbs to press into the bottom border of cake, if desired) to the remaining frosting and beat on medium speed until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate, butter, corn syrup and salt in the microwave, about 50 seconds, and stir until smooth. Let cool until it thickens slightly, about 15 minutes.
- Level off the cakes, so each layer is flat. Divide each layer in half.
- Frost each layer with plain blue frosting. Sprinkle crumbled cookies. Stack the next layer on top and repeat the process with the remaining layers.
- Do a light crumb coating on the outside of the cake and let the cake chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
- With the remaining blue frosting fold in jimmie sprinkles.
- Frost the cake with a final coat of frosting of jimmie filled frosting. Let the cake chill for a final 15 minutes.
- Press some of the cookie crumbs onto the border of the cake.
- Carefully pour the glaze onto the top of the cake. Smooth it with an off set spatula.
- Return the cake to the refrigerator until the glaze sets, about 10 minutes.
- Take 8 Chocolate Chip cookies and sandwich frosting between two cookies. If the frosting is soft, let them set up in the fridge for a bit. Once the frosting is a little firm as a layer between the sandwich cookies (so it doesn’t squirt out of the sides), cut each cookie sandwich in half. Pipe 16 “stars” evenly spaced around the perimeter of the cake top and place a cookie half on each star.