Cookie cake

Even a famous pastry chefs like Adriano Zumbo use a packet cake mix from time to time! Adriano’s genius recipe transforms supermarket cake mix into an impressive cookie cake that is simple enough for beginner bakers to make at home.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  8

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  1:30 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• Spray oil, for greasing
• 555 g vanilla bean cake mix
• 110 g butter, softened
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• ½ cup dark choc chips (dark baking chips)
• ¼ cup granulated nuts (peanuts)
• ¼ cup roughly chopped chewy toffees (caramels)
• Raspberries and salted peanuts to serve

For the chocolate cake layer 

• 450 g Devil’s food cake packet mix
• 80 g butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 150 ml milk

For the chocolate glaze

• 200 g thin cream (35% fat)
• 40 g leatherwood honey
• 200 g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa

Chilling time: 1 hour

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan-forced (180°C conventional oven). Spray a 20 cm round cake tin (6 cm high) with spray oil and line with baking paper.
2. To make the cookie dough, in a large bowl, combine the vanilla bean cake mix, butter and eggs and mix until just combined. Fold in the baking chips, granulated nuts and chewy toffees, then divide into two equal sized balls of cookie dough. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Press one half of the cookie dough into the prepared cake tin and bake for 15 minutes.
4. To make the chocolate cake batter, in a large bowl combine the devil’s food cake mix, butter, eggs and milk. Use an electric hand mixer to mix the cake batter for 30 seconds to combine, then increase the speed to medium and beat for a further 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl down occasionally. Pour the chocolate cake mixture over the par-baked cookie dough in the cake pan, then return to the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes.
5. Draw a 20 cm circle onto a large piece of baking paper, then press the remaining cookie dough into the same size as the circle, then remove the cake tin from the oven and top with the second layer of cookie dough. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 5-10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack set over a large baking tray.
6. To make the chocolate glaze, heat the cream and honey in a small saucepan over low heat until it just simmers, then immediately remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring until smooth. Pour the warm glaze over the cake on the wire rack. Top the cake with raspberries and salted peanuts and serve.
   

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.