Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer Cake – the ultimate cookie cake for cookie lovers! 12 layers of chocolate chip cookies and buttercream frosting stacked tall, layer cake style.
Last month we celebrated a very special birthday in my house… my husband’s! Of course my husband likes cake. Or is at least smart enough not to tell me that he doesn’t like cake. But I know, deep down, that his true favorite is chocolate chip cookies. It’s pretty apparent. And trust me, I’ve come to terms with this over the years. So this year I decided to celebrate his inner cookie monster and do something a little different for his birthday ‘cake’. A cookie cake like none I had seen before. The ultimate cookie cake, with one cookie layer for each of the years we’ve been together. Layers upon layers of chocolate chip cookies and buttercream icing, stacked tall and high. So grab a knife and a cold glass of milk because we’re celebrating a wonderful man, my best friend and most loyal supporter, with a 12 layer Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer Cake!
No, this is not your typical cookie cake from the cookie place in the mall food court. Yes, it is a cookie cake for extreme cookie lovers! 12 layers of chocolate chip cookie, filled with buttercream icing and stacked high. Ready to slice for a statement making presentation! This cake definitely says “Happy Birthday to YOU…. Dear Cookie Lover!”
Okay, so I know this idea is not rocket science. And a cake-ish dessert made from cookies is not a new concept. Great ladies such as Martha, Paula Dean and many others have created amazing cake-ish desserts using cookies. But they aren’t cakes, like a stacked cake. Given that I’ve never seen one made in the true style of a layer cake (12 layers no less!) and that it did take some trial and error before getting this right (translation: this was not my first attempt) …. I thought I’d share a quick DIY with you today.
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE CAKE
a DIY by Carrie Sellman
Supplies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
- Mini Chocolate Chips
- Buttercream Icing
- Ice Cream Scoop
- Cookie Trays
- Parchment Paper
STEP 1 : Mix up your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough using mini chocolate chips. Using an ice cream scoop, place one ball of cookie dough onto a parchment lined cookie tray. The size of your scooper will determine the final size of your cookie. I used a #10 food scoop, which is roughly 3.25 oz. This resulted in layers that were roughly 8″ round. I highly recommend using a scoop, no matter which size you choose, to ensure that each layer comes out very close to the same size.
STEP 2 : Place a second square of parchment paper on top of cookie dough. Pressing with your hand, gently flatten the ball of dough using an even circular motion. Continue flattening until dough is a thin round disc, about the thickness of the mini chocolate chips. The more you do this, the easier it gets. Reusing your top square of parchment builds a thin layer of butter on the parchment, helping it peel off easily.
STEP 3 : Remove top parchment and bake at 375 for 8 to 9 minutes, until lightly golden around the edges.
STEP 4 : Let cookie cool until set. Remove from tray and set aside. Repeat Steps 1 to 4 with remaining cookie dough, making roughly 10 to 12 layers. You can double up and bake two trays at a time. Simply rotate their placement in the oven half-way through baking. Let all cookies cool.
STEP 5 : Place a cooled cookie directly onto serving platter. Cover with a thin layer of buttercream. Top with another cookie. Continue alternating layers of cookie and buttercream until all 12 cookies are stacked.
STEP 6 : Cover cake with a dome or cling wrap and let rest for 4 hours or overnight. Cookies will soften slightly, making the cake easier to cut. Slice somewhat modestly, as each piece is quite rich and full of cookie goodness! Pour a cold glass of milk and enjoy!
Bakers Notes : I originally made this cake using my grandmother’s cookie recipe, a highly-guarded family favorite for decades. Ironically, that cookie recipe didn’t translate well for this project. After several variations, I finally decided that the classic recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House bag was the winner. I know, right?! Could it really be that simple? I felt like I was in an old episode of Friends, searching for the perfect cookie recipe. Only to find the recipe right on the back of the chocolate chip bag. {I might be dating myself with that TV reference but I know some of you will get it!} I didn’t reprint the recipe here because well… it’s not mine. And it’s quite easy to find. HERE’s a link.
Whether you top if off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or simply serve with a cold glass of milk, I hope you enjoy this ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer Cake!
Happy Birthday to my sweet, cookie-loving husband!
YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:
Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwich
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip S’mores Cookies
Ok, I’m going to try this! Wish me luck! Thanks for the great directions.
what kind of knife did you use for slicing? any tips to avoid crushing / crumbling when cutting?
What a great idea! I love chocolate chip cookies and butter cream frosting, so you know I’m in. And while you may be dating yourself with the Friends reference, I got it and remember that episode. So funny. Thanks for sharing.
Call me crazy, but just looking at this cookie cake (beautiful photos!) makes me giddy! I can only imagine how dreamy it would be to have a slice:) I plan to make it a reality in the near future. Thanks for the tutorial and tips!
I just made this for a pregnant friend’s birthday – she’s been craving cookies, so I think this will fit the bill. 🙂 I had to refrigerate my dough as the process went along (started with truly softened butter & room temp eggs, so maybe that’s why?), and had to alternate pans since squishing the dough down on a hot pan was not producing a good result. I wanted a wider cake, so I actually weighed out all the portions on my kitchen scale (I know, totally OCD, but it’s who I am) to make sure I got 10 even cookies – don’t have a big enough scoop. I used doctored up store-bought chocolate frosting between the layers, and it looks delicious! Can’t wait to taste it!
…and I’m totally there with you on the Friends reference!
All my son wants for his 4th birthday is a cookie cake. This one looks perfect! Thanks!
Love it! Great post. Great instructions. Here’s my take on your cookie cake! So delicious. https://afternooncrumbs.com/2013/03/cookie-cake/
OMG! I love it! In two weeks is my birthday, I will try it 😀
HI! I was inspired to do this cake, as my husband isn’t a cake person! ha!
What I did was used more of a “Bar cookie” recipe, and put them in disposable cake pans (a 3 pack is just a buck) lined with parchment paper on the bottom. I baked them all at once, it was easy to pull this together. Thanks!
Loves this idea! Made it for my niece’s 15th birthday with 15 layers! Simple and fun! Thanks for the tips and how to!
So I’m guessing his real present was a years membership to the Gym after that cake..
I so loved the cake.. and I love your sense of humour.. (Friends) but I think you had better try something else for your 50th year together..
You are a god.
quick question…Do I stack each cookie on top of each other (with parchment paper) and bake all layers at once? I know it’s a stupid question, but it looks great, and I would love to do this for my son. I am just a little confusted. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Jolie – you will bake each layer individually. After they are all completely cool, then you stack them up with frosting in between each layer. Hope that makes sense!
Yours looks so much nicer than the other cookie cakes! I would much rather have a slice of your cake any day I will make this cake soon! 🙂
After seeing this link on numerous pages, I decided to try this for my birthday, which is today. I tinted the buttercream to a light pink, my favorite color and decorated the top with extra chocolate chips.
Oh wow, it was wonderful! I use a chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe so, the end product coupled with the buttercream was more cake like.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Hi Carrie!!
I made this cake for my 18 year old nephew about 5 months ago and he still talks about how great it was. I layered it by alternating chocolate and white buttercream!! It came out really pretty and delicious apparently, I didn’t get to share it with him 🙁 ! Thanks for posting this and many other amazing recipes.
This CAKE WAS AWESOME…i tweaked the size of the cookie layers a bit and used Cream Cheese frosting instead – worked out great…..I loved the idea and the guidance – NEW birthday tradition in my house!
thanks so much
LOVE LOVE LOVE this! I am making one of these for my nephew’s 16th bday in a couple weeks.
And that Friend’s episode…LOL….one of the best. I also like the one with Jean Claude when Rachel and Monica are fighting and Phoebe gets them by their ears…if we were in prison….HAHAHA! Man, I love that show. 🙂
Thanks for this recipe. I’m going to go check out the rest of your site.
Just made it this weekend, was fabulous! I needed to make a mountain cake so this worked perfectly. Every two layers were a bit smaller. I used a cup, half cup and so on… 14 layers in all! Looked perfect and graduated amazingly well in size because I was able to see through the paper. The technique worked like a charm. I did a peanut butter and whip in place of the buttercream. Was heaven! Sliced beautifully. The amazing part was that the middle softened and tasted and looked like a layered cake while the outer rim stayed cookie crunchy! A true winner! Thanks!
Fun! My husband would love this with peanut butter cookies! Yum!
I finally made a sugar cookie version of your fabulous cc cookie cake! It was so fun and I love it! Thanks so much for the incredible inspiration, Carrie!
My boyfriend will be getting deployed in about three months. (sad face). He loves chocolate chip cookies and even cake! ( He really does share the love for goods like me lol). But I will be throwing him a going away gathering and this sounds like the perfect idea to wrap it all together. Reading that you had to bake it a few times to get it down, the timing of me finding this recipe works out, for it takes me a couple of times to get a recipe down as well. I will be looking into this recipe to try it for myself. I hope I can do justice to this recipe, thank you for sharing. This chocolate chip cookie cake sounds so delicious and yummy!
(Just side note, I wonder if any other cookies would work or just chocolate chip cookies because they are a little bit simple to make? Hmm…)
i spread the layers out to 8″ and i was only able to get 6 layers out of one “original tollhouse cookie recipe”. i haven’t baked them yet. anyone else have this problem ? i spread them as thin as the mini chips allowed.
Cant beat this recipe. So delcious, thanks for sharing.
Simon
Love this! How many servings would you say this has?
Same as a cake … 8-10 slices. Depends how big you slice them.