Friday, June 19, 2009

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie "Cake"

Today was my handsome hubby's 28th birthday so we celebrated with a round of golf (I am lobster red after not seeing the sun much since before my mission!) going to the movie "Up" (I highly recommend it . . . darling!) and of course birthday cake!
This year I made my cookie dough loving hubby a giant cookie cake . . . so I have another cake making an appearance! (SG fam I am bringing half of it to Mom's Saturday so we don't have it at our house to tempt us . . . so grab a fork and head over!) I am going to have to change my blog title if this keeps up!My nephew has requested an Optimus Prime birthday cake on Tuesday . . . so yes I will most likely have another cake posted again! We will see if I get anything else on here between now and then! I think this would also be a great idea to do with sugar cookies or to substitute M&M's in place of the chocolate chips! I did a light chocolate cream cheese filling by adding melted chocolate chips but you can so straight up cream cheese filling by eliminating the chocolate. It seriously was a fun cake and delish to devour! Zum Geburtstag Viel Glueck babe!

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie "Cake"

4 cups all-purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp Salt
6 Tbsp Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed Light Brown Sugar
3/4 cup granulated Sugar
3 tsp pure Vanilla Extract
2 large Eggs, plus 2 Egg Yolks
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
3 cups Semisweet or Milk Chocolate Chips (I am a milk chocolate girl myself)

Cream Cheese Filling
4 Packages Cream Cheese, room temperature (if you use fat free cream cheese it is a little more runny, I meet in the middle and do neufchatel or half neufchatel and half fat free . . .)1-1 1/2 cups Confectioners' Sugar
2 Tbsp Butter, room temperature
1 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Semi-Sweet or Milk Chocolate chips, melted (optional)

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Put butter and brown and granulated sugars into mixer bowl; mix on medium until pale and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, eggs, and yolks. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the cream. Stir in chocolate chips.
2. For each of the 7 layers, drop 1 level cup batter onto center of a baking sheet lined with parchment (keep unbaked dough refrigerated). Spread batter with wet hands or a spoon into an 8-inch circle. Bake until edges are pale golden brown, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven. Use offset spatula to reshape circle. Return to oven; bake until edges are golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes more. Transfer to wire rack; let cool. Can be stored airtight up to 1 day.
3.Mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add melted chocolate if desired and mix until just incorporated. Spread onto 4 cookies. Stack cookies, placing unfrosted cookie on top. Refrigerate until frosting is set, at least 20 minutes or up to 4 hours. Serve at room temperature. Enjoy!

(Yes this does make 7 cookies, but the birthday boy loves cookie dough . . . so our cake had 6!)

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Cowboy Wedding Cake

My sweet, totally beautiful and amazing cousin Casi got married this weekend and asked me to do her wedding cake! It was a lot of fun because it was a western cake complete with cowboy and cowgirl silhouettes and horseshoes around it! It also tasted pretty darn good with an Almond Sour Cream White Cake and Vanilla Almond whipped filling!My littlest sister was my hero when she stayed up with me until 2 and carefully cut out the silhouettes and then dusted the accents with bronzing dust! (Thanks Velv!) My husband was also amazing as always and stepped in to knead some of the fondant when I could not bare touching the powder sugar anymore so thanks again Toph! I was trying not to cry when after driving 3 hours (and Utah roads are NEVER bumpy . . .) to the reception we discovered that the fondant had started to slide on the top 2 layers . . . my aunt reminded me that this even happens on Ace of Cakes . . . but still I wanted it to be perfect but everyone was so nice and complimentary and the reception was darling and all who attended from our clan had a great time and thoroughly loved watching Casi and Jake and seeing how happy they were! Congrats again!Thanks you two for including all of "the Parry girls" so much and Teri and Dave you two are awesome and a day and have a great son in law to add to the Christensen clan! We were thrilled to share this happy occasion with you all and look forward to many more!!!
Vanilla Almond Filling

1 Large Package Instant Vanilla Pudding
1/2-1 tsp Almond Extract
1 8 oz carton Cool Whip
1 Cup Milk

Whisk the pudding, milk and almond extract together in a bowl until all the lumps are out. Fold in the whipping cream and chill until use. Enjoy!

(This filling is so delish!)