Chocolate Chip Cookies and Milk Cake

It isn't hard to guess the inspiration for this cake! One of the best and simplest pleasures in life is dunking chocolate chip cookies in milk and eating them one after another. I love the combination so much; I just had to celebrate those flavors in a party cake.

This cake is made of three 9-inch white butter cake layers that are absolutely chock-full of mini chocolate chips. It is filled with fluffy chocolate chip cookie dough frosting and the entire cake is iced with boiled milk frosting. A handful of regular-sized chocolate chips are all lined up on the outside for an eye-catching, dotty appearance - it's some of the easiest cake decorating I've ever done!

So excited to finally get this cake on the blog! I wasn’t able to bake as much this week because I was out in Chicago and Philadelphia for most of it, working. (Not cake work, unfortunately. Oh, how I wish that was the case! This was for my other job, which is in media research – I moderate focus groups for television shows.) Anyway, I got back Thursday, stocked up on some ingredients and started baking.

This cake had obvious appeal to me because my other dessert love is a good chocolate chip cookie. I was also really intrigued by the milk frosting, which is made by boiling milk and flour over the stove, turning it into a custard-like consistency, and then adding it to whipped butter and caster sugar.

The white butter cake recipe makes a thick batter in order to suspend all those mini chips throughout the baked cake. Be sure to use cake flour (well sifted) for this recipe. Regular all-purpose flour could yield a dense undesirable result. The cake layers are sturdy, yet cottony in the centers. I wouldn't hesitate for one second to make this chippy cake into a many-tiered wedding cake.

The cake itself is really light and fluffy in texture and the taste resembles that of a white cake box mix. Make sure to use cake flour, and to sift it well. This step, along with eight egg whites and more than a cup of buttermilk, really helps to give you that perfect white cake texture (as long as you don’t over bake it!).

INGREDIENTS

CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE

1. 3/4 cup (168g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2. 3/4 cups (155g) sugar
3. 3/4 cup (108g) brown sugar, loosely packed
4. 3 tsp vanilla extract
5. 1/2 cup (115g) sour cream
6. 3 eggs
7. 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
8. 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
9. 1/2 tsp salt
10. 1/2 cup (120ml) milk
11. 1/4 cup (60ml) water
12. 1 1/4 cups (211g) mini chocolate chips

VANILLA FROSTING

1. 1 1/4 cup (280g) butter
2. 1 1/4 cups (237g) shortening*
3. 9 cups (1035g) powdered sugar
4. 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
5. 6–7 tbsp (90-105ml) water or milk

FILLING/ADDITIONAL

1. 1 package chocolate chip cookies**
2. 1/2 cup (120ml) milk
3. Chocolate Chip Cookies, for on top
4. Mini chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS
TO MAKE THE CAKE LAYERS:

1. Prepare three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles in the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
3. Add sour cream and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
5. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then combine the milk and water in a small measuring cup.
6. Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until well combined. Add the milk mixture and mix until well combined. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.
7. Divide the batter evenly between the cakes pans and bake for about 21-23 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
8. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.

TO MAKE THE FROSTING:

1. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and shortening together until smooth.
2. Slowly add half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
3. Add the vanilla extract and 5-6 tablespoons of water or milk and mix until smooth.
4. Slowly add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add additional water or milk, as needed.

TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE:

1. To put the cake together, use a large serrated knife to remove the domes from the top of the cakes so that they’re flat. Place the first cake on a serving plate or a cardboard cake round.
2. Pipe a dam of frosting around the edge of the cake.
3. Put the milk for filling into a small bowl. Dip several chocolate chip cookies into the milk, then crumble them up and spread them evenly over the cake layer, inside the dam. You want a full layer of cookie crumbles.
4. Add a thin layer of frosting over top of the cookies. I used a piping bag and tip to make it easier to add the frosting and spread it evenly.
5.  Add the second layer of cake, then repeat another dam of frosting with the cookie filling and vanilla frosting on top.
6. Top the cake with the remaining layer and frost the outside of the cake. Refer to my tutorial for frosting a smooth cake, if needed.
7. Press more mini chocolate chips into the outside of the cake around the bottom. You might need to put a little frosting on the back of the cookies to help them stick.
8. Use the remaining buttercream to pipe swirls around the top of the cake. I used Ateco tip 829.
9. Top the swirls with chocolate chip cookies and add some additional mini chocolate chips, if desired. Store cake in the fridge, but serve at room temperature. Cake is best for 2-3 days.

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