Mary Duke Cooks! Sassy Southern Cuisine

Part of this recipe was left out of the March 14 edition, the complete recipe is posted here. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Perfect for children’s birthday parties, Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Icing Swirls tastes like cookie cake purchased at the mall. It costs a lot less too!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Icing Swirls

¾ cup unsalted butter
¾ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon iodized salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350º F. Line the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Spray bottom and sides of pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.

Place butter, brown and white sugar in a mixing bowl. With a mixer, cream butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes or until mixture changes color to a pale yellow. Add egg and vanilla.

Stir flour, cornstarch, salt and soda together in a small bowl. Add half of flour mixture to dough. Mix until flour is incorporated, then scrape down sides of bowl. Add remaining flour mixture and mix until
flour is incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Add chocolate chips and mix until chocolate chips are evenly distributed.

Press dough in an even layer in prepared pan. (I use a spatula sprayed with non-stick spray so it would not stick to the dough.)

Bake 18-20 minutes.  Cool in pan. Remove from pan and decorate with Buttercream Icing Swirls (recipe follows).

Vanilla Buttercream Icing –
enough for decorating a one layer, 9-inch cookie cake

½ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup shortening
⅛ teaspoon iodized salt
2 cups powdered sugar
¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ tablespoon water
multi-colored sprinkles

With a mixer, cream butter and shortening until combined. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add vanilla and water. Beat for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy. (Make sure to add the water- it makes the
icing fluffy and easier to pipe the swirls.)

I used a Wilton 1M or Ateco 844 closed star tip to make miniature cupcake swirls. (For directions go to Wilton.com and look up, “how to make a cupcake swirl” under the “Learn”/ “piping techniques” tabs.
Sprinkle swirls with sprinkles as soon as they are piped. That way sprinkles will stick to the icing and not fall off.