Brownie Cake with Cookie Butter Frosting
This Brownie Cake with Cookie Butter Frosting starts with a fudgy brownie that’s baked into the shape of a cake, then topped with a speculoos cookie butter (i.e. Biscoff) frosting. An easy dessert perfect for company!
Behold, one of my favorite desserts of the entire year. Seriously, this brownie cake is absolutely incredible and I’m convinced you’re going to love it as much as I did.
The recipe hails from the new Bakers Royale cookbook, which came out in September of this year. If you’re not familiar with Naomi’s site, BakersRoyale.com, it’s full of absolutely gorgeous, delicious, and totally doable recipes. Mostly desserts, and sometimes savory, I bookmark nearly everything I see, which was also true of her wonderful work. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet and you love dessert, pick up a copy for yourself!
While I doggy-eared many pages in the cookbook, this brownie cake recipe jumped out at me immediately. It’s a fudgy brownie recipe that’s baked in a springform pan so it takes the shape of a single layer cake, then is slathered in a speculoos cookie butter frosting, which I could quite honestly sit and eat with a spoon. It’s one of the best frostings I’ve ever tasted.
What is Speculoos Cookie Butter?
If you’re not familiar with the term speculoos or cookie butter, let’s get that squared away off the bat.
Let’s start with speculoos, which is a generic term for a crispy, shortbread-style spice cookie that originated in Belgium. The most popular brand of this style of cookie is Biscoff, and they can be find in most any grocery store.
Now, where does “cookie butter” come from? Well, just like any type of nut butter is made from grinding down the nuts, cookie butter is exactly that – speculoos cookies ground down with a little extra sugar, oil, and spice to get a nice smooth, spreadable consistency that is unbelievably addicting.
I first found Biscoff cookie butter maybe five years or so ago and I only buy it occasionally because I can’t keep from dipping a spoon in the jar! My grocery store also sells their own brand of cookie butter, and I know that Trader Joe’s does as well. My favorite way to eat it is spread on a plain rice cake (so good!), but my goodness, this frosting is seriously genius!
Not only is this brownie cake with that spectacular cookie butter frosting to-die-for delicious, but it’s crazy easy to make. The brownie cake comes together in less than 15 minutes, and the frosting takes about the same amount of time.
My husband and I went absolutely nuts for this cake (and Joseph loved it, too!); it’s perfect for a lazy day sweet fix or for serving to company – my favorite kind of dessert!
And hello – do you see that “cake” to frosting ratio? I believe it’s about 1:1 and that is as good as it gets for me!
One year ago: Classic Apple Crisp
Five years ago: Pumpkin Seed Brittle
Brownie Cake with Speculoos Cookie Butter Frosting
Ingredients
For the Brownie Cake
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter
- 3½ ounces (99.22 g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 1⅓ cups (293.33 g) lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) instant espresso powder
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup (62.5 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
For the Speculoos Cookie Butter Frosting
- ¾ cup (177.44 g) speculoos cookie butter (i.e. Biscoff)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup (80 g) powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) salt
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
For the Garnish
- Chocolate shavings
Instructions
- Make the Brownie Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Lightly coat a 9-inch (23 centimeter) springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Remove the pan from the heat, add the dark chocolate, and let sit for about 30 seconds, then whisk it all together until smooth and glossy. Add the brown sugar, vanilla, and espresso powder and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, 1 at a time, then sprinkle in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold it all together until there is no flour visible.
- Spread the brownie mixture in the prepared springform pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cake has puffed slightly and the top is shiny and just barely cracked. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before removing the sides of the springform pan. In the meantime, make the speculoos cookie butter frosting.
- Make the Speculoos Cookie Butter Frosting: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, mix together the speculoos cookie butter and unsalted butter for a full minute so it's light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, salt, and cream and beat for another minute, or until the mixture is fluffy and spreadable.
- Spread the frosting on the cake, garnish with chocolate shavings, and cut into wedges to serve. Leftovers can be stored, covered, at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
This was fantastic! It at least it has amazing potential. My boys ate the entire edge! But my brownie was no where near cooked. I baked it for 25 min and was hopeful it would sink and finish baking but it was still fluid. I’m gonna test my oven temp and try again.
I used a springform pan and unfortunately
it leaked a bit. Thankfully I had it on a cookie sheet. It appeared to be done but was too soft after cooling and could not be removed from the bottom. The flavors were good but if I made it again I would definitely line the pan or use a lined cake pan.
I am so happy to have found this recipe! I will only comment on the frosting because I needed two 6 inch brownie cakes and since I hadn’t made this before I wasn’t sure if the amount of batter would be enough. So, I cheated and used a boxed mix. I can’t even describe how wonderful this frosting is! We love Michelle’s peanut butter frosting but have a young grandson with a peanut allergy so most often it is not a choice. This frosting recipe is so similar in texture, light , fluffy and melt in your mouth yummy! I am looking forward to making the brownie cake to go along with this. Many thanks!
I made in a 9” springform, looked the way described after 25 minutes at 350degrees. But the center was ooozing underbaked. I had to make a second one, using 9” cake pan. Waste of expensive ingredients, but absolutely delicious!!
This is now officially an award winning recipe. My son baked this for a chocolate bake off at our local library and won the children’s division! See the article: http://www.adaicon.com/news/201902/you-can-have-your-chocolate-and-eat-it-too
i cannot wait to make this! i’m a chocolate shaving novice…is this something you buy or something you make?
I make it… I just take a chocolate bar and use a vegetable peeler to create the shavings.
I made this for our family night dessert this week. So delicious! Everyone loved it and have already requested it again 🙂 I made it in a pie dish instead of the springform pan and it turned out perfectly.
So glad you and your family enjoyed it April! Thanks for sharing the review and the tip on the pie plate!
I made the brownie/Biscoff cake over the weekend and it was amazing!! The frosting to brownie (which was so moist and delicious on its own) ratio was perfect. I love chocolate mushy baked goods. I did use a regular 9″ pan because my springform is a 10″ and I thought the cake would be too flat. I had some difficulty in removing it from the pan as I didn’t use parchment paper but just sprayed it with Pam. It came out it 2 sections – a ring shaped outside and the circle in the middle. It didn’t matter at all because it was so moist that I just patted the two parts together on my cake plate and the frosting covered up all of the ‘mistakes’. The only down side is that it is not a large enough recipe. It was gone in no time. Will definitely be making it again really soon. I suppose if you didn’t have cookie butter you could sub peanut butter and that would be terrific also. Best of luck with baby #3. Can’t wait for the gender reveal!
They don’t sell cookie butter in my country but my parents recently went on holiday to Hawaii and I asked them to bring some back if they found any. They bought me two jars but I have been totally unable to open them for fear of wasting my limited supply! I have been waiting to find a recipe that sounded like a sure fire winner. Well I found it! I’m going to make this for sure and I love that you could make the same brownie base and add other kinds of frosting too, like peanut butter buttercream maybe… Thank you for the recipe!
This was absolutely delicious. The frosting alone should be illegal!! I thought cookie butter from the jar was irresistible, but this was roll-your-eyes-in-the back-of-your-head, crazy good!!
Is the dark chocolate called for in the recipe unsweetened chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate?
Hi Cathy, Dark chocolate would fall somewhere in between. The dark/bittersweet chocolate I use is 60% cacao. You could use semisweet, though, in a pinch!
Just curious before I try this-It says to bake till slightly puffed and lightly cracked. So would this be slightly undercooked? I’m just wanting to know if the toothepick method would work, or if this is pulled out “on the fudgey side”- which is totally fine. :)
Hi Laura, I found the outside of the cake to be cooked through, but the center still fudgy.
I want to make this today! But I live in a small town in Alabama so ingredients can be tricky if they aren’t normal, every-day products. I’m hoping our closest Publix has cookie butter (please, oh please). I looked online and it says that some Publix carries it in crunchy, would that make too much of a difference? Just a little consistency change? I shouldn’t try to grind it down or anything?
Hi Mandy, I haven’t tried crunchy myself, but I think it would be just fine; kind of like the difference between creamy and crunchy peanut butter. Enjoy!! :)
They didn’t have it :-(
Yes to everything about this recipe! What a great idea to “dress up” any brownie! Pinning and making soon!
I’ll have a piece or two…or three! MMMM! That looks good!
I had many, haha!
Omg – thank you so much for sharing and all the kind words!! You made it look fabulous.
And I’m the same when it comes to speculoos – I eat it by the spoonful!
You are so welcome, Naomi! Love, love, love your book and happy to share a slice of it with my readers! This was a fabulous dessert!
Be still my heart! Cookie butter and brownies together? Going to have to re-arrange the dessert making schedule for this. So glad you posted–thank you.
Hi Tara, You’re welcome, and yes, it is totally deserving of being bumped up on a baking schedule!
I don’t have a springform pan. Do you suppose this could be made in a regular eight or 9 inch cake pan, or my regular square pan I typically bake brownies in?
Hi Susan,
Yes, you can definitely make it in your regular brownie pan or cake pan. If you want to remove the brownie cake completely from the pan, line the bottom with parchment paper. If you are serving from the pan, no need to line it. hope you enjoy it!