Recipe: Nutella-Stuffed Cookie Dough Cake

Yep. I’ll say it once more. Nutella-Stuffed Cookie Dough Cake. Doesn’t that sound like the stuff of dreams?!

One of my weaknesses is Nutella. There’s something so comforting about a spoon slowly melting into a bowl of creamy porridge or over a stack of pancakes. But it has to be proper Nutella. Over the past few years I’ve tried to (mainly) stick to cheaper supermarket varieties for budget reasons. I’ve been lucky enough to receive some Jim Jams low refined-sugar hazelnut spread. For me, nothing has come close to actual Nutella. Sure, other brands are nice enough, but they’re never quite right. They melt too thinly, don’t have a balanced a flavour, aren’t creamy enough. The biggest decider for me? Whether I can eat it by the spoon, straight out of the jar. Don’t judge…
I’m not the only one with such a weakness for Nutella; my younger sister loves it too. And because excellent GCSE results deserve baked goods, I created this gooey, oozy, chocolatey treat a few weeks back. A Nutella-Stuffed Cookie Dough Cake. She’s not a fan of cake so I know she was worried when I said I was baking her a well-done treat, but I reckon I got this pretty much spot on. I got told I could make it again, so I must have done something right?!

Slightly reminiscent of Pizza Hut’s Cookie Dough Desert, this is crispy, chewy cookie on the outside. Gooey and molten cookie dough inner. A layer of sticky, warm Nutella to sandwich together. A sprinkling of sea salt to keep it from being too sickly. A handful of chocolate chips, because you can never have enough chocolate. We ate it on its own, but I can imagine it would be perfect with some cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Ingredients

• 110g salted butter
• 100g light brown sugar
• 60g caster sugar
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 125g plain flour
• ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100g pack chocolate chips – I used milk, but I reckon dark would work better
• 4 tablespoons of Nutella, warmed slightly so it’s not too solid
• ½tsp flaked sea salt

Beat the butter in a large bowl until softened, then beat in both of the sugars. Beating the butter singularly first helped to combine the mixture, I also find it reduces the chance of the batter splitting. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again until just combined. Stir through the flour and bicarb (you may want to mix them together first) but don’t overmix. Finally stir through around half of the chocolate chips.

Add half of the cookie dough to a 20cm dish lined with baking paper – make sure the dish is relatively deep as I found mine rose rather more than I expected! Spoon over the nutella (having it melted slightly makes this a lot easier) and spread over the cookie dough base. Scatter with a little sea salt. Top with the remaining dough, scatter over the rest of the chocolate chips and smooth the top. Bake for 30 minutes at 180C, then cover with foil and bake for 10 minutes more. I found this timing gave me the perfect gooey cookie, but cook for longer if you fancy a harder, more fully-baked cookie ‘pizza.’ To reheat the next day, cover with foil and pop in the oven (120C) for around 10-15 minutes. This remelts the nutella, increases the gooeyness and makes it just as good as the first day. Dangerous I know!

And though this is pretty much perfect as it is, I’m tempted to try a peanut butter version soon. Or a smores cookie dough cake, complete with melted marshmallows…

Are you a Nutella fan? What’s your favorite way to eat it – in a baked good, on toast or just by the spoonful…?