Our friend Luke had a birthday last week and we had a BBQ to celebrate.  When I asked him what kind of birthday cake he wanted, he said to let my five year old son, Charlie pick.  This is what we ended up with.

A fudgy, dense chocolate cake, layered with hot fudge filling, and layers of egg-free cookie dough, topped with a milk chocolate ganache.  We put sprinkles around the edges to make it festive and pretty.  It was delicious.

I made a mistake and left this cake in the fridge too long before serving.  I usually really like my cakes cold, but what I didn’t anticipate was how hard it would be to cut through refrigerated cookie dough.  I should have let this cake (and the dough) come to room temperature before slicing.  My pieces would have ended up much prettier and been easier to eat.

If you like cookie dough and chocolate though, you’re going to love this cake.  I promise.  And it looks complicated to make but really isn’t at all. You do need two days to make it because the cake layers need time to freeze, but I daresay anybody who can follow directions should be able to make this one!

A Rumbly in my Tumbly original.

Ingredients:

For the cake:
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (or sub by using a cup of whole milk with a tablespoon of white vinegar and letting it sit 5 minutes until thick)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup of hot coffee

For the filling:
1 jar of hot fudge (the kind you buy for ice cream topping)
(Sprinkles, if desired)

Cookie dough:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups Nestlé Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Ganache:
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:

For the cake layers:

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Grease and flour (3) 8 inch cake pans, or grease and line with parchment paper circles. (I really recommend parchment paper for easy removal with cakes)

In your mixer, add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined.  Add the eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and buttermilk, and mix until just combined.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir the hot coffee into the batter by hand.  The batter will be runny.  It’s supposed to be!

Pour into your cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with just a few bits of cake stuck to it.  That’s when it’s perfect.  After the cakes have cooled for about 10 minutes, flip them out gently onto a piece of plastic wrap and wrap them up while they are still warm.  Then wrap each layer in foil as well and place them in the freezer overnight.

When you are ready to assemble your cakes, remove them from the freezer, unwrap them, and set them out.  Assemble while still pretty frozen.

Make your cookie dough:
Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.  Add salt and flour and mix until combined.  Fold in cookie dough.

Assembly:
Place one layer of chocolate cake on your cake board or plate.  Spread it with about 1/2 cup of hot fudge.  Place a piece of saran wrap into the same pans you made your cakes in, spray with cooking spray, and pat in half the cookie dough.  Gently remove the cookie dough from the pan and place on top of the chocolate cake layer.

Repeat entire process one time and top with the third and final layer of the chocolate cake.  Pat sprinkles around the edges of the cookie dough if desired.

Melt chocolate chips and heavy cream in a saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently.  Once smooth, spread over top of cake, letting the ganache drip down the sides.  If you are decorating with sprinkles, sprinkle the top immediately before the ganache sets.

Refrigerate this cake until about 6 hours before serving.