Of Cakes and Missed Birthdays.

Birthdays are kinda a thing in my family. Come any one of our birthdays (two in April, two in July and one in August), chances are we will all be at a nice restaurant, sharing a meal with a cake waiting in its moment of glory in the fridge at home.

So when my recent trip to Thailand (best long weekend trip ever!) coincidenced with my baby sister’s birthday, the big sister in me just knew I had to lessen my guilt make it up with an extra special birthday cake- an extra special birthday cake filled with a whole load of cookies, to be exact.

And that was how I found myself in the kitchen late one night, just two nights before my flight, baking, whipping and frosting like there was no tomorrow.

Lucky for me, this cake was just a breeze to make, well as breezy as a layered and frosted cake can get as least- although seriously hard to resist even while in the process of making. While it took me under three hours to get from counter top to fridge fully frosting, this cake with all its layers of chocolate cake, cookies and whipped cream had me dreaming about my first forkful far longer than those three hours the following day at work.

But I guess it must have really been my lucky day because even luckier for me, this cake was so much more delicious than should be allowed for something so effortless to make.

With a incredibly decadent cookies and cream filling sandwiched between two layers of incredibly moist chocolate cake, intensified by a hint of coffee and encased in a whisper of whipped cream, this cake was just truly everything I dreamt it would be and so much more.

And I certainly wasn’t the only one enamoured, judging by the murmurs of how good it was echoing all round the dining table, the loudest of which came from the birthday girl herself.

Now, I can’t guarantee I won’t be missing any more birthdays in the family but you can bet on it that my kitchen certainly will be seeing a lot more this cake, missed birthdays or not.

Cookies and Cream Cake [adapted from The Whimsical Bakehouse]

Note: I know, I know. The recipe that follows is a little long but believe it, if you were gonna take a leap of faith on me, this would be a good one. I used plain flour instead of the cake flour called for (which would give you a more tender cake) because I simply didn’t have any on hand. And as testimonial to how long it has been since I made a dessert, I ran out of icing sugar and only realized when I started on my frosting (note to self: might be helpful to check if you have all ingredients the night before you actually start working on the dessert next time). So yeap, my filling and frosting didn’t have an gram of icing sugar in them but we barely even missed it. Oh, one last thing, I used my all time favourite ones (which are proudly made right here in Singapore and much fresher and creamier than Oreos). Use them if you can get your hands on them- they will seriously make all the difference.

Ingredients
Cake
1/2 cup hot brewed coffee
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
125g unsalted butter, softened and cubed
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
10 chocolate sandwich cookies, roughly chopped

Frosting
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease and flour a 6-inch round springform pan; set aside.
2. To make cake Whisk the coffee and cocoa powder together. Add the cold water to the coffee mixture and whisk together.
3. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs in, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.
5. Alternating between the flour and cocoa mixtures- starting and ending with the flour mixture- mix the flour and cocoa mixtures in until a smooth batter forms.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out with crumbs clinging. Let cool for twenty minutes before moulding the cake and letting it cool on a wire rack completely.
7. To make filling Using an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and whip until stiff peaks form.
8. Gently fold in the cookie chunks and refrigerate until ready to use.
9. To make frosting Using an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
10. To assemble Slice the cake into two equal layers horizonally. Spread the filling on the first layer evenly and top with the second layer of cake. Frost with the whipped cream and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Posted by thecoffeesnob on August 5, 2011

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