Chocolate chip cookie-cake

What can be better than a chocolate chip cookie? Difficult question...even more difficult after trying one bite of this chocolate-chip dessert, that is something in between a cookie and a cake, with a soft and slightly chewy interior and a crunchy exterior. Really nice!
The first time I made it was last summer, while I was in Italy. The occasion was my niece birthday; the girl, who turned seven, knowing my love for baking (and for chocolate too), asked me to prepare her birthday cake. The task was not so easy. First of all, how to guess (and match) the expectations of a seven years girl? Too tricky, I skipped this point. At least I wanted to make a good cake, no matter the girl's inscrutable will. But here came the real problem: I was far from my house, that means far from my collection of cookbooks, magazines and folders full of recipes ripped out from magazines, from which I usually take inspiration; and we were in a holiday home, that means no internet connection. Luckily when I travel I always bring we me, together with my beauty case, at least one of my recipe notebooks; this time I had with me the "baking notebook", containing the recipes for breads, cakes, cookies, tartes & Co. that I make more often  and those never tried yet but labelled as "must try". And I had also a USB pen with some notes for the blog and other recipes. I had enough material to choose both a birthday cake and another dessert (after all, more than twenty people were invited to the party). As a birthday cake, since I didn't want to risk much, I made a chocolate cake filled and covered with a chocolate ganache. And then one of the "must try" recipe hand written on my notebook was this chocolate chip cake that I had copied from a lovely French blog with a self-explaining name, chocolat & caetera. And I chose it with no hesitation.

Given the number of people to feed, I increased the quantities and made a very big cookie-cake. That was much appreciated, especially by many grown-ups: it was funny to see those dads taking one piece of cake, then one more, and maybe one more. I hardly had the chance to taste one piece...
Considering the success of the cake, even if made in non optimal conditions (I was not in my kitchen, with my oven, my pans and  kitchen tools), I made it again as soon as back home; I brought to friends who had invited us for dinner, and it was appreciated again. This simple cake has become a favorite of mine: I will make it many times again.
Just one note: I made it once using chocolate chips and another time chocolate morsels and I have to say that I prefer bigger pieces of chocolate (but with chips is delicious anyway); in any case it is possible to use chopped chocolate and make bigger or smaller pieces according to your taste.
Also, compared to the original recipe I reduced the amount of sugar and I think it is perfect like this.

Chocolate chip cookie-cake

adapted from chocolateetcaetera

makes one 20 cm Æ cake  

180 g all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

150 g cane sugar (granulated or light brown sugar, or muscovado for a more crunchy texture)

120 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 egg

150 g dark chocolate morsels or chips (or dark chocolate, chopped) plus some for topping

1 pinch sea salt

1 heaped tsp natural vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to  180° C.

Sift the flour and baking powder, two or three times until well mixed.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk the soft butter, sea salt and sugar until creamy and smooth, then add the egg and vanilla and combine. Add the powders and the chocolate morsels. Mix rapidly just to incorporate all ingredients; do not overmix. Transfer the dough into a 20 cm Æ loose base cake tin or springform pan, lined with baking paper (or greased and floured). Gently press the dough with a spatula (or fingertips) into an even layer. Sprinkle some additional chocolate chips on the top, and press them a bit into the dough.

Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until the surface turns golden but the cake is still soft. Cool on a wire rack.

I like to slice this cake into bite-sized morsels (about 3x3 cm), but it can also be served in wedges.

It can be served at room temperature but is also very good when still warm, with a scoop of ice-cream.