February 21, 2017
This week marks a bit of a sad week for me, in that I have to say goodbye to three things in my life. Firstly, I’m saying goodbye to a company that I’ve worked with for 3 years, which is a very weird feeling. I don’t know what it’s going to be like working for another company, and I’m really sad to say goodbye to all the amazing people I’ve worked with.
I’m also saying goodbye to my life here in Melbourne, which also means the end of living with my best friend. It’s been an awesome year living in South Yarra and experiencing everything that Melbourne has to offer. I feel like I really gave it my all, and had a great year and a bit. I’ve absolutely loved being in Melbourne, especially the foodie scene, and so I will miss elements of living here. Although there are certainly some perks of moving back to Brisbane (no mould on my clothes, consistent temperatures, no jumpers in summer…etc), and I’m really more excited for the next chapter back in my hometown.
But it does mean saying goodbye to my best friend, who I’ve had such an amazing year living with. It has been the most amazing experience sharing our two bedroom apartment, and I’m so glad that I was able to have this time with her before moving back. I know she’ll never move back to Brisbane, so I’m glad that I got all the time I could get in with her before we go back to being long distance besties. I’m so sad to leave behind our almost nightly popcorn occurrences, roomie date nights, chick flicks and Bachelor sessions, and of course our consumption of a lot of wine! But most of all I’ll miss having such a supportive and amazing roommate who is always there for me and knows how to put a smile on my face! I’m so lucky to have such an awesome lady in my life, and looking forward to visiting her and her new puppy many times this year!
So to celebrate the end of our amazing year as roomies, we decided to have a little party. It started as a way to get rid of as much as we could out of the pantry, but then we realised that it would be a great opportunity to celebrate our roomie year! We decided to call it the conscious uncoupling party, and it was awesome celebrating and saying goodbye to a few of our good friends. It was probably the last time that I would see a lot of them, and so it was really good to have everyone over for a bit too much wine, heaps of food, and loads of Polaroids!
No party, particularly a conscious uncoupling party, is complete without a cake! I decided that we needed something sweet to finish off the evening (plus I also wanted to use up more of my baking stuff from the pantry) and so I decided to make us something special to celebrate the momentous occasion. I wanted to make it something easy to eat, and something that would use up what we had left, so I wasn’t buying additional ingredients. We also had a whole heap of icing pens left over from Christmas, so I wanted something we could decorate together. I thought immediately of making cookies, because they are easy for people to grab as they are socialising, but still wanted to make a cake. So I had an idea that combined everything that I needed: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake.
Oh my god, how have I never made one of these before? Not only was it super easy, it was delicious! And it was chocolate chip, which is basically my favourite thing to make and eat. Honestly, what more can you want? It brought me back to when we were younger and every Thursday used to get a giant choc chip cookie from the shopping centre on our way home from school. We’ve had some good times with choc chip cookies, and so there was no cake more appropriate for the occasion!
- 150 grams of unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup of packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup of caster sugar
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 2/3 cups of plain flour
- ¾ teaspoon of baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon of salt
- 1 block of good quality dark cooking chocolate or 1 cup of chocolate chips
- To decorate: icing pens and sprinkles
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Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line a cake tin with baking paper.
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Cream the butter and sugars together for 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and beat to combine.
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Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the bowl and beat to combine completely, using a spatula to ensure the flour on the sides is mixed in.
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If you’re using cooking chocolate, roughly chop the block into small pieces, and add to the cookie dough. Stir to combine using a wooden spoon.
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Press the cookie dough into the cake tin, using your hands to compress it and distribute the dough evenly. If you want you can reserve a bit of dough to make letters to top the cake – I shaped this dough into the letters and placed on a separate baking tray.
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Bake in the oven for 22-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow the cookie to cool completely before removing from the cake tin, and transfer to a platter.
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To decorate, firstly if you have cookie letters, glue these on using an icing of your choice. Then decorate the cake however you want using the icing pens. Top with sprinkles to finish.
This cake was not only really easy to make, but it was super fun to decorate! My roommate and I had a blast making it pretty with icing pens, so it was a nice thing to do together before the party. I think it ended up looking pretty great, even though it could have been mistaken for being decorated by two 4 year olds. It’s the effort that counts, right?
This cake was an absolute hit at the party! I think it came down to the fact that the cookie was still a bit gooey in the middle, so it was the perfect combination of cookie dough and baked chocolate chip cookie – you really got the best of both worlds with this one! Plus it was really easy for people to grab a piece as they felt like it and nibble, rather than having a full on cake which can sometimes be hard to eat without a plate and a fork.
For a party where you are just having a couple of people around, this is the perfect solution. It’s a pretty simple and casual way to still celebrate but not compromise on deliciousness. I was so happy with how this turned out, and so glad that we could use it to celebrate our last weekend as roomies! Honestly I couldn’t have asked for a better party, and the cake just topped it off!
Until next time, happy eating!
Ella xx
