If you follow along on snapchat (username: whatsgabycookin) you know that this day was coming. It was a long time in the making and it’s finally here! Slutty Brownie Cake. Buckle up friends, it’s go time.
It all started a few months back when Adam texted me this pic.
All that came with the sketch was the word BOOM. He gets me. I obviously was super excited with the idea and ran with it. I took my favorite layer cake recipe (the one we used for my birthday cake a few months back) and divided it into 3 bowls and then flavored each bowl to be reminiscent of slutty brownies. That means one cake layer tastes like chocolate chip cookies, one with oreos and one like a brownie. It’s basically heaven on earth and it’s seriously a show stopper.
Each layer gets some swiss buttercream in between to hold it all together and then a major ganache topping. In case it wasn’t decadent enough, we added some freshly baked cookies, brownies and then some oreos to the top for good measure. Because when you’re going for it… you might as well REALLY go for it!
Slutty Brownie Triple Layer Cake
Ingredients
For the cake layers:
- 4 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter room temp
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups buttermilk
For the Swiss Buttercream:
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 9 large egg whites
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- pinch of salt
- 1 ¼ pounds butter room temp, cut into small pieces
Cookie Dough Layer
- 1 tbsp molasess
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Oreo Layer
- 8 oreos crumbled
Brownie Layer
- 1/3 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
Optional toppings
- Brownies
- Cookies
- Oreos
- 1-2 cups ganache
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour three 9-inch cake pans.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together for 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, Beat in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add half the flour mixture. Add 1 cup of buttermilk and mix until combined. Add remaining flour mixture and beat. Add remaining buttermilk and beat. Remove from the mixer and finish mixing by hand if needed. Divide the batter into 3 bowls adding in the various mix-ins for each layer listed below. Once combined, transfer the dough into the prepped cake pans.
- Bake until golden brown and done, about 30-35 minutes. Let cakes cool for a few minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a standing mixer's bowl above the water. Whisk the sugar, the egg whites, lemon juice, and salt in the bowl by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and continue whisking until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar dissolves, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the bowl to a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat the egg whites at medium-high speed until they almost hold a stiff peak and are fully cooled, about 10 minutes. Beat in the butter, a little at a time, until the icing is smooth and spreadable.
- To assemble the cake, place one layer of the cake on a cake stand. Spread a 1/2 inch layer of the Swiss Buttercream on top and carefully place the 2nd layer of cake on top. Repeat the process with additional Swiss Buttercream. Add the last layer of cake of top. Frost the top of the cake with more of the Swiss Buttercream and add a super thin layer of the Swiss Buttercream to the sides of the cake. Frost until smooth. Drizzle with ganache and decorate with any desired toppings and serve as needed.
Since we only live once, this is the way to do it! One question. The flavour for the brownie layer shows ?cup Dutch processed cocoa powder. Would that be 1/2 cup or 1 cup?
This sounds totally awesome. I am suffering from withdrawal symptoms from “The Great British Bakeoff”, which finished a week ago, and using my imagination on this is filling the gap. Quite a show stopper. How much cocoa powder was it, anyway?
Looks great! but a bit overboard for me.
Did you know that a slut is a bad housekeeper?
Oh no you didn’t! This is the most dangerous and delicious cake I’ve ever seen.!
O.M.G.
Heaven on a plate.
Just waiting on the cocoa proportion……
Uhhh yeah that looks awesome! Great recipe 🙂
I love everything about this. LITERALLY. Everything.
What a fantastic cake! Luxurious..
I was looking forward to this recipe since you snapchatted about it! I don’t often tackle cakes, but I think this might be worth it 🙂
WOW!! This looks breathtaking! Can’t imagine how good it tastes. I’m going to try out your recipe this weekend, hopefully it turns out to be as good as yours! 🙂
Absolutely epic!! Gah, I’m so hungry for this cake now!!
Oh my gosh- this is so awesome! seriously insane.
totally and completely ridiculous in the best possible way. I would shove my face in that.
I both love you and hate you for making this because 1) it’s amazeballs and 2) I want it all for myself and that does not bode well for my pants
This cake is beyond!!!
What an incredible cake! I love this idea, so devilishly good 🙂
This looks amazing, and I love your drawing of the cake. I will definitely try it at home!
Or I mean – Adams drawing. It’s so cute.
This is genius and amazing and luxurious, I NEED this in my life stat!
I got a toothache just looking at it! This cake can also be dubbed everything but the kitchen sink cake! 😀
This looks insanely delicious! do you think it can be made with a hand mixer instead of the standing one and if so, how best to handle the change?
yes – 100% a hand mixer would work! Same directions + timing 🙂
This looks absolutely decadent!
Hi,
Beautiful cake! I wondered what is the trick to have a slendid ganache on the top of the cake, like yours ? I tried several times on different cakes, and sometimes my ganache is too liquid (too hot?) and it runs down the cake, or my ganache is too thick and I have to spead it with a knife. How do you do it ?
Thank you very much!
Émilie
Montréal, QC
Wowsers!!! This is incredible. Probably not an everyday baking adventure but certainly a special occasion extravaganza!!
Made this yesterday, my first attempt at SMB, won’t be doing it again. My kids really do not like it, also found it was far too much in proportion to the cake.
Yummy cake though!
whats SMB?
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Super cake but there must be an error with frisking. 1 1/4 pounds of butter? I made it and it was way way to buttery. Shouldn’t it be cups?
No – it’s right as printed. It’s a buttery flavored buttercream! If it’s too buttery for you, another icing like cream cheese frosting! THAT would be delish too!
Made this cake yesterday for my sister and it was such a hit! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
OMG. I binge baked my way through the holiday season so I’m trying to relax for a while and let my pants get a little looser but THIS!!!!! I don’t know how much longer I can hold out now that I know this cake exists! You and Adam are pure genius!
Update: Hi Gaby! I finally made this cake (you can check it out on my instagram @startedfromthebatter!). The chocolate chip and Oreo layers were SOOOO good, but the chocolate layer was very dry. Do you have any suggestions for how I can make the cake again but make the chocolate layer differently so it’s more moist? Add liquid in addition to the cocoa powder, or something else? I would love to make this cake again, the only reason I would hesitate is because of the chocolate layer. Thank you!
Making this for my sisters birthday and she is gonna freak! About how many grams of egg whites for the Swiss buttercream? I already have a container of separated egg whites that I would like to use. Thanks!
This is absolutely amazing looking and I plan to make it for a dessert auction for a charity event!
– Can the buttercream recipe be halved or will all of it be used? It seems like it will produce a lot of frosting.
I used almost all of it, but you can totally half the recipe and just have less frosting 🙂
I’m hoping to make this for my father’s birthday and I’m concerned about the buttercream. I’m not too excited about the buttery flavor, so what would your recommend as a substitute? Do you have a person recipe as a substitute?
how do you feel about cream cheese frosting? This one is great! https://dev.afterhoursagency.com/wgc/triple-layer-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cake/
Hi! Thank you so much for the beautiful idea and recipe! Unfortunately, I tried to make it this past weekend and it did not come out great (I am sure due to my fault and not the recipe’s). Do you have any advice for what to do if the chocolate layer and the oreo layer came out very dense? Almost bread like. I also found that the molasses to be a bit overpowering, but ironically that layer turned out the fluffiest?
Hoping to make this for a friend’s birthday coming up! Thank you in advance for any help you can offer 🙂
well for the molasses layer, I’d just reduce the molasses by half and it won’t be quite so molassessy 🙂 For the other layers – did you over mix them? Sometimes when you overmix a batter it can get really dense. You just want to lightly incorporate the add-ins!
Hi I was wondering if I could just use American buttercream instead of Swiss buttercream ? And I want to make a bigger version with a 12 inch cake pan instead of 9, how would I do this?
Thanks a lot 🙂
yes you can absolutely use any type of frosting you want!! You can do 12 inch cake pans but the layers will be much thinner than what you see pictured here!
Hi, I’m wondering, why do you butter and flour the pan vs. just spraying it with a non stick spray? Can you just spray the pan if not can you tell me what how much flour I use to butter and flour my
Pan? Thanks!
it works either way!!
I made it for my friend’s birthday. I don’t have 3 9″ tins so did a tiered version with the buttercream sandwiched in each cake rather than between the layers. I also really overdid the cookies and brownies on top and cascading down one side, but I’d made so many I figured “the more the merrier”. It was well received and the Swiss buttercream was light enough to stop it being sickly. So, thanks for this recipe. It’s a real showstopper and tastes great!
Thanks a million Gaby! OMG!!!
I made this today for my daughter’s 17th birthday and wow!
It was really very tasty. And I thank all who gave reviews, it was very handy.
I increased the cake by 1 and 1/2 and made a square cake since. The frosting was a little runny and gave me a scare, but Alas! It was perfect.
Is it fine if I just use a cake box recepie?
it alters the amount of cake in each layer so I can’t say if the baking time would be the same or not
How much time do you need to make and decorate the entire cake?*
2 hours to be safe
How do I make the chocolate ganache?
1 cup heavy cream – warm it over the stove. Add 8 oz bittersweet chocolate – melt everything together until smooth!! Remove from heat, let cool and use!
Thank you and also how much honey should I use instead of molasses
Will the flavor be noticeably altered if I use regular cocoa powder instead of dutch processed?
it will still be delish!
Hi! Sounds perfect!
What can I use instead of the molasses?
can’t say exactly what would work as a replacement to molasses as I’ve never tested it with a substitute. Is it an allergy that you’re looking to avoid?
What type of flour do I use, self raising or plain?
all purpose (plain)