Slutty Brownie Cake

Most of the time, I love baking. It's relaxing, you get to eat the end result, and it makes other people happy too. Other times, I completely understand why people cry on the Great British Bake Off. Breaking down over your burnt sponge or collapsed baked Alaska? Totally justified. This cake was one of those moments.

It should have been simple. I'd made all the components before and they'd all turned out fabulously. But in reality, I was close to chucking it in the bin. However, in true Beth style, I soldiered on and embraced the mess that is this cake, determined to not be defeated.

Would Paul and Mary approve of my presentation skills? Probably not. Is this cake delicious and indulgent and likely to send you into a sugar coma? 100%.

Almost everyone in the blogging world will have heard of Slutty Brownies. They're a brilliant, sickly sweet creation by The Londoner, combining cookie, brownie and Oreo, and have become a classic. They're also incredibly easy to make. So, when I saw the idea of a Slutty Brownie Cake whilst searching for a cake to make for my brother's birthday, I thought, "what could possibly go wrong"?

I'll be honest, I can find slutty brownies a little bit too sickly. It's the Oreo in the middle that does it. But brownie combined with cookie? I'm all over that. So, in an attempt to remain true to the original slutty brownie, whilst toning it down a bit with the Oreo, I decided to make my own version. Because it's no fun playing by the rules, right?

For the cookie layer, I followed the same recipe I used for the well-received Cookie Cake I baked a couple of years. However, as I was just making a single sponge layer instead of triple, I divided the ingredients by 3.

Whilst the cookie sponge was baking away, I started on the brownie layer. Here, I used my go-to recipe for the best brownies ever, but instead put the mix in a cake tin. You will still have some mix left over, so pour that in a tray as usual to make some extra brownies for decoration (or, ya know, to keep to yourself).

Now, here was where chaos ensued. After taking the brownie out of the oven and leaving it in the tin to cool, I excitedly went to remove it. Instead, to my horror, only half came out, with the middle completely undercooked. So, that's why the brownie layer is a bit of a mess. Because it is instead a mosaic of brownie with added brownie chunks to level it out, complete with undercooked very gooey brownie in the middle. Lovely.

For the Oreo part, I decided to follow an Oreo buttercream recipe (but halved the ingredient measurements), assembling the layers together with a spread of buttercream in the middle and on top. I then sprinkled crushed Oreos on top and piled a small mountain of brownie bites in the middle.

Turns out it wasn't a total disaster as the brownie did set a bit overnight. Did I slightly over-react over this cake? Perhaps. But in my opinion, it's definitely understandable to get upset over a potentially ruined brownie.

And there you have it. Messy, a bit chaotic, but delicious.

A true reminder that looks aren't everything.

Have you ever tried Slutty Brownies?

Love, Beth xxx