chocolate chip cookie cake

If you want a big fat cookie for your birthday rather than a regular cake, check this baby out. Mmhmm.

I’m not sure if cookie cakes were much a thing in my family, but I certainly do remember my mom baking one up from time to time. Not in a double-layer format, mind you, but as a single fixture spread into a large round pizza pan, baked, then smattered with chocolate frosting. Always chocolate. We’d call it a “cookie pie.” A fabulous invention regardless of its nomenclature.

This year, I created this beauty for my mom’s birthday. She always will be my chocolate chip cookie queen, and this cake felt like a swell way to honor her fresh baked batches of doughy goodness. She bakes far less of them now, but the smell is ingrained in my olfactory system forever. I can’t not think about her whenever I bake cookies – and she always gets a sampling of them.

Two stacks of chocolate chip cookie, filled and frosted with the same milk chocolate buttercream we know and love from the Classic Yellow Celebration Cake from awhile back. A fabulous make-ahead cake – especially if you’re like and have a weird thing for cold cookies – all ages will adore. Hell, you could make yourself the PTA’s new sweetheart, if endearing yourself to other parents is your thing. Just don’t tell your kids you made cake.

Once a Cookie Rookie

But once you bake this, you are a rookie no more.

The dough for this is no different than my usual cookies, excepting a bit more flour to sturdy up the layers. So, if you’re familiar with cookie baking as is, the deviation is minimal.

Cream butter with brown and regular sugars, until pale and floofy. Whip in two eggs, one at a time, then some vanilla extract.

Add in flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined, then fold in lots of chocolate chips. Mini chocolate chips work well too, and might even make the cake a bit easier to cut.

Now, to prep your cake pans. I use two 9-inch pans, as I do for any layer cake. Grease the bottom and the sides. Cut out a circle of parchment – one for each pan, so two total, if math is hard – that fits flush on the bottom. This will help when you remove the layers from the cake pans. Stickage her is a bit less forgiving than with a normal layer cake, since the cookie is so much heavier.

Divide the dough evenly among the two pans. To make spreading easier, grease a rubber spatula with a bit of oil and press the dough until it reaches the borders of the pans. Make it as flat and well-distributed as possible. Bake the layers for 25-30 minutes until the center is no longer jiggly or shiny and the entire cookie takes on a nice golden hue.

Cool as a…Cooled Cookie Layer

I mean, I’m not wrong. If you do it correctly, it is pretty cool.

Set the pans onto a wire rack and cool the cakes in the pans for at least 30 minutes. Any sooner and you risk the too-hot layers from splintering and crumbling. Yummy, but no bueno.

To remove the cakes… I will probably describe this like shit but I’m gonna try…run a butter knife around the edges of each cake to unstick any rogue particles. Flip the layer carefully onto a wire rack, then invert the cake onto another wire rack so it’s right side up again. Repeat with the second layer. I usually cool layer cakes upside down to even out the tops (and, honestly, it photographs better) but this method is not as effective with cookie cake.

You can cool the cakes at room temp, but if you aren’t in too much of a hurry, I like stowing them in separate ziptop bags overnight to really set up the layers. The chill also helps reduce crumbliness when frosting.

When the cakes are cooled completely, it’s frosting time. Like I said, this is the same milk chocolate buttercream I used in my yellow cake: it’s soft, spreadable, and rich, but not overbearing. Whip together some softened butter and vanilla until combined, then add cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and heavy cream. When the ingredients are aptly melded, crank up the speed to tornado status and beat until silky. If the frosting is too thick or grainy, add more heavy cream.

Plop one layer onto a plate or a cake stand, frost the top (I’d say about 1/2 cup of frosting will do the trick for a nice thick filling), then smack on the second layer and frost those bitches up down and all around. Finish with a smattering of funfetti sprinkles, as many or as little as you want.

This cake keeps wonderfully in the fridge for up to a week. You can eat it cold (which I love) or let it sit on the counter for a bit before consuming. No method is incorrect. Except if you didn’t eat it at all. That’s an abomination.

For birthdays, parties, birthday parties, or no reason at all, keep this cookie cake in your back pocket. Well, not literally. It might turn into (very delicious) crumbs that way.

Tried this recipe out? Leave a rating and comment below with your thoughts, and don’t forget to come say hi on Instagram and show me what you made!

Just want cookies? No problemo:

Bourbon Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Blueberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Lavender Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Salted Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies