I should have known that when Plum said she wanted to make a cake that she wanted to make a cake.  I should have known that my darling daughter would not be cajoled into something less than she imagined - swirls, layers and ceremony.   And so when the recipe I selected, dismissively,  revealed itself to be for humble cookie dough rather than for silky cake batter, I was in trouble.  At the very least I needed to covert the contents of my mixing bowl into something that could be poured into two round cake pans.  To my delight (and considerable relief) the result was miraculous.  In fact,  I  would call the alterations downright ingenious - if only I was not to blame for cookie/cake debacle in the first place.  I now make this dense rich buttery cake for almost every family celebration and tailor the flavor, frosting, and filling according to the whims of the recipient.