Look, I’m not a big cake maker. I don’t enjoy the decorating process, I’m not very good at it, and frosting is way to sweet for me. My sister wanted a cake for her birthday, but like me, she isn’t a big frosting fan. Which is why both this cake and the cake I made for her wedding last year were “naked cakes”. Delicious cakes without cloyingly sweet frosting? Yes, please. This vanilla bean cake has a bunch of my brown butter chocolate chip cookies crushed up in it and piled on top. My sister has good taste!
I have to admit, when she first told me she wanted this cake, I was a little apprehensive. Crushing up my favourite cookies just to put them in/on a cake?! It felt a little sacrilegious. But what my sister wants, my sister gets (hopefully she won’t read this, I don’t want her hanging that comment over my head forever)!
This cake is really pretty quick and easy to make. I like to use vanilla bean paste, but if you don’t have any or don’t want to buy it, vanilla extract will work just fine. You won’t have the flecks of vanilla bean throughout, but that’s really more of an aesthetic thing than anything else.
So we’ve got three vanilla bean cake layers. Each layer is sandwiched together with a vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream (the least sweet frosting), and plenty of crushed chocolate chip cookies. Finally, we top the cake with a chocolate ganache and pile lots and lots of crushed cookies on top.
This is my kind of birthday cake and apparently my sister’s too. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Vanilla Bean Cake with Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- Cake:
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
- 3/4 cup boiling water
- Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- 1/2 cup egg whites
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed
- 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
- Chocolate Ganache
- 2 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
- 2 oz. heavy whipping cream
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, crushed
Directions
- Step 1 Vanilla Bean Cake:
- Step 2 Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line 3 six-inch cake pans.
- Step 3 In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Step 4 In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla bean paste (or extract). Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined, then stir in the boiling water.
- Step 5 Pour an even amount of batter into each cake pan and bake until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 28-34 minutes.
- Step 6 Allow cakes to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- Step 7 Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
- Step 8 Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk together to combine. Fill a saucepan with a few inches of water and place it over medium high heat. Place the mixer bowl on top of the saucepan to create a double boiler, do not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water.
- Step 9 Whisking intermittently, heat the egg mixture until it registers 160°F on a candy thermometer or is hot to the touch. Once mixture is 160°F, carefully fit the mixer bowl onto the stand mixer.
- Step 10 With the whisk attachment, beat the egg white mixture on high speed for 8-10 minutes, until it holds medium-stiff peaks. When done, the outside of the mixer bowl should return to room temperature and no residual heat should be escaping the meringue out of the top of the bowl. Stop the mixer and swap out the whisk attachment for the paddle.
- Step 11 With the mixer on low speed, add the butter, a few tablespoons at a time, then the vanilla. Once incorporated, turn up the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until the buttercream is silky smooth, 3-5 minutes.
- Step 12 Chocolate Ganache:
- Step 13 Put chopped chocolate and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 20 seconds, stir, then heat for 10 second increments, stirring, until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool and slightly thicken.
- Step 14 Assembly:
- Step 15 Once the cakes have completely cooled, level them and choose which layer will be at the bottom. Place it on a cake plate or turntable. Spread on some of the Swiss meringue buttercream, top with some crushed cookies, and place the next layer on top. Spread over more of the buttercream and cookies, then place on the final cake layer. Frost the top and sides of cake with remaining buttercream. I chose a semi-naked cake, so scraped off most of the frosting. Feel free to decorate with as much or little frosting as you’d like. Drizzle on the chocolate ganache and top with more crushed brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
