Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Chocolate Frosting

My boys saw these cakes cooling on the kitchen bench and asked me what they were, "chocolate cake" I said. "They look like giant chocolate chip cookies" said one of my precious pups. He was right. They hadn't risen quite as well as I had hoped. The original recipe was for 12 individual Double Chocolate Cupcakes and I suspected something had gotten lost in translation. I was on the verge of binning them when the boys came up with the new name. It gave me a whole new perspective on the cake and I decided to carry on (with the support of my offspring). And I'm glad I did. This isn't the lightest cake in the world, but if you're in to dense, chocolate studded, cream-filled, chocolate-frosted cookie-cake, then you can join our gang.


Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Cake from Junior MasterChef Australia
Frosting from Nigella Lawson's Feast

For the Cake:
125g unsalted butter, softened
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
185g self-raising flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
100g dark chocolate, melted
160ml buttermilk
65g milk chocolate chips
2 tablespoon hazelnut oil
Whipped cream for sandwiching the layers together

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease 2 x 20cm round cake pans and line with baking paper.

Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 6  minutes ot until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour and cocoa into a bowl bowl. Fold half the flour mixture into butter mixture and stir in melted chocolate. Fold in the remaining flour mixture, then the buttermilk. Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.

Divide the batter between the two cake pans, making them as even as possible. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a wooden skewer come out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Chocolate Frosting:
60ml water
2 tablespoons golden syrup
125g caster sugar
175g dark chocolate

Combine the water, syrup and sugar in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve over low heat. Let it come to the boil then take it off the heat.

Break up the chocolate into small pieces and then add to the pan, swirling  it around to cover in the hot liquid. Leave to melt for a few minutes.

Leave it to cool a little, it should be still warm but spreadable.

To assemble:
Put one cake on a serving platter and sprinkle the top of it with 1 tablespoon of the hazelnut oil. Cover this cake with whipped cream. Sprinkle the bottom of the other cake with the other tablespoon of hazelnut oil and place it on top of the cream topped cake. Pour the frosting on top of the cake and spread to the edges.