If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that I LOVE to bake! In fact, I actually got my start practicing photography on all the treats I would put together in the kitchen and would regularly blog them before I had enough sessions to fill my schedule! But being a Washington, DC wedding photographer is time consuming and that hobby often got pushed to the side as weekends became filled with wonderful wedding celebrations! So when I found myself with a little (okay, a lot… thank you, COVID) extra time on my hands, I quickly found myself back in the kitchen. I know it’s not for everyone, but diving into a new recipe is both exciting and soothing at the same time… except the clean up, of course, I could definitely (and sometimes do — sorry Rob!) skip that part!

I had made a few smaller treats here and there over the weeks of quarantine, but when a friend’s birthday was coming up, I knew I wanted to go big with a new cake recipe. My mom (the OG cake extraordinaire) had made this for us a few years ago, so I already knew it would be delicious, but I haven’t ever had the opportunity to try it on my own.

I followed the recipe over at Sugar and Sparrow to a “t” and am happy to report it turned out perfectly! She mentions this in the recipe, but I highly, highly recommend making your own chocolate chip cookies! I know you won’t think it’ll be worth the effort, but I promise you, it just takes this cake to another level. And do yourself and favor by underbaking them, the way cookies should be! ;) The only other thing I would recommend is to take those freshly made cookies and break them up into smaller pieces, then crumble them on top of the icing before starting the next layer…. because whoever said extra cookies were a bad thing!?

Okay, now take a look at these pictures… the sugar rush will begin in 3…2…1…