Cookie Butter Cake Recipe

Hello, my name is Dubba and my son has food allergies. Since he can't eat many of the things I grew up on, sometimes I get a little crazy in the kitchen. Now I don't have any kind of culinary experience (or natural talent) that for many would tell you "hey, don't do that, it's a terrible idea". I've had more than my share of these bad ideas, but every now and then, my foolishness gets lucky.

"Cookie Butter Cake" (me) or "Cookie Spread Bread" (my son)

So what did I do? First, take the tried and true depression cake recipe from Milk Allergy Mom. I have made this recipe tons of times and can basically bang out a cake in under an hour nowadays. The chocolate version anyway, not the vanilla version. (here's a tip, don't bother taking it out of the cake pan because it'll just make a mess). You've got the recipe right? Ok, let's make our changes.

1) Ditch the cocoa. Smash up 8 Biscoff cookies. I use Biscoff because it's not cross contaminated like some other brands. You should wind up with over half a cup of crushed cookies.

2) Replace the oil with a half cup of Biscoff cookie butter. Again, go with Biscoff brand if you want to avoid the possible allergens in something like Trader Joe's speculoos version.

3) Replace some of the sugar with brown sugar (1/2 cup, maybe more?)

4) Throw in a half teaspoon of cinnamon (maybe more?)

I cooked it for about 40 mins at 350 degrees. For whatever reason, you will probably get an odd burning smell from the oven when it's close to but not quite done. Like any cake, just stick it with a toothpick and make sure the toothpick comes out clean before removing it from the oven.

Considering I did this on a whim (because I didn't have another can of pumpkin handy), I have to say it came out pretty well. I was guessing the whole way but I got a really nice, soft texture which is great. The flavor isn't super strong, but it's distinctly Biscoff. It kind of reminds me of carrot cake or pumpkin bread.

I really do love cookie butter and this isn't the first time I've added it to dessert recipes. It's as simple as "well, this recipe wants butter or oil, and cookie spread is kind of oily, so let's see what happens!". I just checked and  I may not be the first to try it in a cake, but maybe my version is the first to be nut free, egg free and dairy free?

It's up to you if you want to take thinks up a notch. As is, you could easily throw on a layer of vanilla (or maybe cream cheese) frosting on top. Unfortunately I didn't have any frosting, so I actually pretended that this was my beloved AP Cake and threw a little butter on one slice to see how it would be. You could also go the bundt pan route and put a nice sugary drizzle on top. I'd also be tempted to make some kind of cinnamon sugar (biscoff) crumb top to round things out. The idea is just have fun. It's easy to make, easy to eat, and you can tweak as you go.

Of course, you could always just turn it in to a sundae...

Verdict?  thumbs up from the family
Bake Again?  yup