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Sunday, September 6, 2009

Chocolate Cookie Dough Ice Cream Cake

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As with every recipe on Emily's blog, I saw this one and immediately wanted to make it. Since my mom was out of town on her birthday over Labor Day, I decided to make this while she was gone so she could come home to a birthday cake! This took quite a bit of time to make (which Emily warned me) and her pictures of it are far prettier, but it was well worth the effort!
Ingredients: (I've copied Emily's recipe below, my changes are noted in red)

For the chocolate chip cookie layers:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces coarsely chopped semisweet chocolate 


For the chocolate cake layers:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup yogurt or sour cream
(I used light sour cream)

For the ice cream layers:
1 quart chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (I used 1 1/2 quarts and almost wished I had more)

For the Ganache:
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
4 ounces coarsely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
To make the chocolate chip cookie layers, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; continue to cook the butter, whisking frequently, until it starts to brown and foam, about 4-5 minutes. Set aside.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat browned butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined and grainy, about 1 minute. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined; stir in chocolate with a wooden spoon until combined. Chill dough in the refrigerator, lightly covered, for 1 hour. (You could speed up this process by placing the dough in the freezer for about 45 minutes.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans.
(I lined these with wax paper and sprayed with cooking spray which made it super easy to remove!)

To make the chocolate cake layers, in a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together oil, butter and granulated sugar until well combined and creamy, about 1-2 minutes. Beat in egg, vanilla and yogurt until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until combined, about 1-2 minutes.

Divide batter into cake pans. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into cakes comes out with moist crumbs attached.
(mine were perfect after 15 minutes) Cool pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; run a knife around outside edges and invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Butter the cake pans again, and line with parchment or waxed paper circles; butter paper.

Divide cookie dough and pat evenly into pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown
(mine took 20 minutes). Cool completely in pan before running a knife around outer edges and lifting out paper-lined cookies; remove paper.
Spread the ice cream evenly between cookie and cake layers (ha this step is easier said than done! I let the ice cream soften before spreading, but then as I was spreading it got super melty so I had to work fast!); freeze for 10 minutes before covering with ganache. Meanwhile, to make the ganache, bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove pan from heat and stir in chocolate until melted and smooth. (Stir in vanilla & corn syrup) Cool to a good consistency before pouring over ice cream cake.



I wasn't really sure how this would turn out since I had had trouble spreading the ice cream. However, the layers ended up looking pretty perfect and all in all, it tasted great! I only had one piece before leaving town (this was probably for the best!), but I have no doubt that my ice cream loving siblings will finish off the rest! While I typically prefer an ice cream cake where ice cream is a more substantial ingredient, this still looked and tasted amazing.