Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake – inspired by one of my favorite Sprinkles cupcakes, this cake is filled with a chocolate cookie crust, yellow chocolate chip cake layers, brown sugar frosting and chocolate chip cookie crumbs.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
A few years ago, my friend was in Las Vegas and stopped by the Sprinkles Cupcakes store. Because we talk about food all the time (hence why we’re such close friends), she was, of course, texting me the play-by-play of what she was ordering. It wasn’t even five minutes later that I get a text that said, “The new Sprinkles Cookie Cupcake is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. YOU MUST RECREATE IT!”.
Done! Recreating amazing cupcakes or cakes, or taking flavors of some other decadent treat and turning it into a cake is my calling in life!
As soon as she was back in town, we had a detailed conversation about the cupcake. Since I hadn’t tried the cupcake, I made Lisa describe it to me in every detail. Crunchy or soft cookie crust? Tender and light, or rich and dense cake? What about the frosting? Silky like a meringue or a little more dense like a traditional American buttercream?
After I got as many details about the cupcake as I could, I got to work on my version of the cupcake… but in cake form.
Dark Chocolate Cookie Crust
The base of the cupcake has a cookie crust. It’s a bit crumbly and would be hard to eat in cake form, I think. I opted for a dark chocolate cookie crust, that’s more packed in place. We’re not cooking it too long, so it should still be easy to cut when you’re ready to serve.
The Best Cocoa Powder
It’s important to note that this recipe uses dark chocolate for a reason. Because we’re adding cream, butter, and powdered sugar to the chocolate, the flavor gets diluted just a bit. If you use milk chocolate chips instead of dark chocolate chips, you’re going to lose a lot of the chocolate flavor. Additionally, the buttercream will simply taste overly sweet. Now, don’t get me wrong – I love all things sweet, but it’s important to have balance. The dark chocolate in the layers and the buttercream help provide a balance to the sweetness because dark cocoa is bittersweet.
I use Cacao Barry Extra Brute Cocoa Powder, but you can also use Hershey’s Special Extra Dark Cocoa Powder if you’re in a pinch and can’t get Cacao Barry. Just be sure to use dark cocoa powder. It not only creates a rich, dark color in the cake, but the flavor is slightly bitter and pairs so well with sweet, American buttercream.
The Best Yellow Cake Layers
As I thought about the chocolate cookie crust, I knew I needed to contrast it with a lighter, fluffier and sweeter cake. My Classic Yellow Cake was the perfect choice.
When making the cake layers, don’t forget to follow my go-to tips for getting your cakes to rise and bake well:
- Preheat your oven for 30 minutes prior to baking.
- Use good quality pans like Fat Daddio.
- Spray your pans with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper.
- Don’t overmix your cake batter once you add the dry ingredients.
- Use room temperature wet ingredients.
- Use fresh baking powder.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs on it
Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream
For the frosting, I went with a less sweet option – Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Surprising, I know! I don’t do SMC often, but chose to use it for this cake because I wanted to add brown sugar to it. I knew if I used brown sugar in my American Buttercream, it would be too sweet (and that’s coming from someone who lives for sweet!).
Be sure to follow the instructions for SMC below. It’s super important that you allow the egg white mixture to cool COMPLETELY while it’s whisking to stiff peaks.
Other Chocolate Chip Recipes You’ll Love
Enjoy! Follow me on Instagram @cakebycourtney for more tips and the best recipes on all things cake!
P.S. If you’re looking for some baking equipment to make your life easier, here are some of my favorites!
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Inspired by the Sprinkles Cookie Cupcake, I’ve created my new Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with layers of dark chocolate cookie crust, tender yellow chocolate chip cake, silky brown sugar frosting and dusted in chocolate chip cookie crumbs.
Prep Time 1 hr
Cook Time 30 mins
Total Time 2 hrs
Ingredients
FOR THE CRUST
- 1 1/3 cups (160 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/3 cups (157.3 g) dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoons (6 g) salt
- 12 tablespoons (170 g) unsalted butter, melted
FOR THE CAKE
- 3 cups (345 g) cake flour
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup (72.6 g) canola oil
- 1 3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar
- 5 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (13 g) clear vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) butter extract
- 1 cup (240 g) full fat sour cream, room temperature
- 1 cup (150 g) mini chocolate chips, dusted in 1 tablespoon flour
FOR THE BROWN SUGAR SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
- 2 cup (400 g) brown sugar
- 7 egg whites
- 2 cups (452 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) salt
- *This buttercream recipe makes enough to fill and cover your cake. If you want to add additional piping you’ll want to make an extra ½ batch.
FOR THE GARNISH
- Chips Ahoy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Instructions
For the Crust
- Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. Spray three 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray, line the bottoms with parchment paper and spray again. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and paddle on low speed until mixed.
- Add the butter and mix on low speed until the mixture starts to come together in small clusters.
- Spread 8 ounces of the chocolate crumbs on the parchment in each the three 8-inch cake pans. Using the back of a spoon, push the crumbs together to form a crust. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes.
- Let the crust cool a bit while you make the yellow cake.
For the Cake
- While the chocolate cookie crust is cooling, turn your oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the butter, oil, and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Turn the mixer to medium-low and add the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl in between each addition. Add the extracts. Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and mix for an addition 2 to 3 minutes, until the texture is smooth and the color is light.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the sour cream, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Stir just until the flour is combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- In a small bowl, combine the mini chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of flour. This helps to coat the chocolate chips so they don’t sink to the bottom of the cake.
- Fold the chocolate chips into the cake batter.
- Evenly distribute the cake batter in the pans on top of cookie crust.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out with only just a few crumbs on it.
- Cool the cakes on wire racks for about 10 minutes. Carefully invert the cakes onto cooking racks to cool completely. If you don’t plan to stack and decorate the cake right away, wrap each layer in plastic wrap or tin foil and freeze.
For the Buttercream
- In a medium sauce pan, heat 2 to 3 inches of water over medium-high heat until simmering.
- Using a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip sugar and egg whites on medium-high until foamy.
- Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and place over the saucepan to create a double boiler. Do not let the bowl touch the water. Pour out some water, if necessary.
- Heat the mixture to 160-170 degrees F, stirring occasionally.
- Carefully transfer the bowl back to the stand mixer. Whip the mixture on high speed for 8 to 10 minutes, until stiff peaks form and the bottom of the bowl is no longer warm to the touch.
- Change the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the butter, a couple tablespoons at a time. Once incorporated, add the vanilla.
- With the mixer on medium-high speed, beat the btutercream for 3 to 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl at least twice during the process. The texture should be silky-smooth
Assembly
- Spread a small dollop of buttercream on your cake board. Place the first cake layer on the board, with the chocolate cookie crust on the bottom.
- Spread about ¾ cup of the brown sugar buttercream on top of the cake layer. Make sure to get eye level with the cake to ensure it is level.
- Sprinkle three crushed chocolate chip cookies (big chunks of cookie are ok!) on the frosting and tap them with your fingers to gently set them into the frosting.
- Place the second cake layer, chocolate cookie crust on the bottom, on top of the buttercream and cookie crumbs. Repeat step 2 and 3.
- Place the final cake layer, chocolate cookie crust on the bottom, on top of the second layer of buttercream and cookie crumbs.
- Spread a thin layer of buttercream around the entire cake to lock in any crumbs. This is called the crumb coat. Freeze the cake for 10 minutes to ensure the crumbs get locked into this coat of buttercream. After the buttercream is set, continue to frost the cake. I used about 16 cookies to pulse in my blender to get find crumbs for the outside of my cake.
Hi Courtney! I got some cake decorating supplies for Christmas and just busted them out. Super excited to try this cake this weekend- do you think I could frost it and have it completely done a day in advance? Or does it work better to do it the day of. My plan is to bake the cake layers tomorrow (Friday) and then frost and decorate on Saturday- and then eat on Sunday? Any tips?
With this one, I would assemble on Sunday. You could make everything ahead of time, but the oreos won’t have a crunch in the filling if you do it the day before and refrigerate it overnight.
You can definitely make it ahead of time and freeze it right away. If you freeze it, the Oreos will keep their crunch. If you refrigerate it, they’ll lose the crunch. I make everything separately ahead of time and then assemble day of when possible.
Ideally, day of is best, but you can totally do it ahead of time. I have a blog post on here about freezing and thawing cakes. It may help.
hello! sorry for the dumb questions but…would this recipe for the cake batter be enough for all three rounds? or am i making this times three? also would it affect too much if i have 9 inch rounds?
Not a dumb question at all. The recipe is for all three cake rounds. No need to triple it. If you want to use 9-inch rounds, just use two of them and increase the bake time by a couple mintues.
hey! I’m in the process of making this right now. cakes are done (super moist and delicious) but that crumb crust is a little bitter for me personally, I dont know if it’s supposed to be though. I’m going to leave it cause I figured it’ll contract nicely with the sweetness of the cake and frosting. Next time though I’m going to add more sugar and use salted butter and no kosher salt. just a thought 🙂
Yes, it’s supposed to be bitter chocolate to compliment the sweetness of the cake and frosting. Love your ideas for sweetening it if you still think it’s bitter with the other elements.
How thick should the brown sugar mixture be?
Not thick
Hi there! Thanks for sharing your delicious recipes, can’t wait to try this one😋. Question: I know you had mentioned that you moved to UT so are these recipes already modified for higher altitude or should I modify? I live in CO and have trouble adjusting for the altitude but if this one is already tested, then awesome!:)
You should be good to go!
This looks amazing. I do have some questions: Can regular vanilla be used, instead of clear? Is the butter extract absolutely necessary or can it be omitted.? If you used regular cocoa powder would it just be a little sweeter?
Thanks!
You can use regular vanilla, butter extract will give it more of a yellow cake taste so I wouldn’t skip it. And you can use regular cocoa powder without any issues.
Do we have to use a stand mixer if we aren’t able to get one soon or when we want to make the cake. Also during the assembly did you have to carve the cakes at all before staking and frosting.
No I didn’t carve the cakes. You can use a hand mixer
Hi Courtney! This cake is absolutely delicious and my son’s favorite cake so far! My challenge though has been getting the cake layers to bake evenly without over baking the bottom cookie crust. I’ve baked this cake twice and both times have had to throw out most of the third layer as it’s just a gooey mess. When testing the cake layers for doneness, they seem ready to come out of the oven. How can I be sure my layers are completely baked on my third try? Please help! Thank you! 🙂
Making this right now and my cakes have been in the oven for over 30 minutes and they’re still not done! I have an oven thermometer so I know my oven is spot on temperature wise. What am I missing?
Could be your pans. Which ones are you using?
Excited to try this for my daughter’s birthday next week! Two questions:
-Is the Wilton no color butter flavor the same thing as butter extract? If not, where do you find butter extract?
-If I don’t have dark cocoa powder can I use regular cocoa powder instead?
Sorry, this is my first cake attempt, so a lot of this is foreign to me! Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes 🙂
It is the same thing as butter extract. You can find that at most grocery stores near the vanilla. And yes you can use regular cocoa powder!
Made this cake yesterday and it was a huge hit. Thank you for the recipe! I have Celiac so I needed to make a few adjustments to make it gluten free. I followed the rest of the recipe pretty much as written and everyone loved it. People eating it loved the different cookie flavors and couldn’t tell it was gluten free!
Hi. These are the oven right now! I tasted the raw batter and OH YUMMMMY. I didn’t have the butter extract but that’s ok. Can’t wait to frost it tomorrow for my honey for Valentine’s day.
Hi. working on the frosting now. If you leave the brown sugar/water liquid to cool for 15-20 minutes, it turns granulated again and you have to start all over. So I’m doing in again now. I hope it works this time and doesn’t make the rest of the buttercream get granular.Oy.
If it’s hardening too much for you, put it into the buttercream when it’s still a little warm. If the buttercream gets soft, then refrigerate it for a bit.
Can the chocolate cookie crumb be made ahead and frozen like you can do with the cake?
Its baked with the cake layers so it can all be frozen together.
Do you use store bought cookies for the outside of the cake? I was planning on using my homemade cookies, but they’re pretty soft and chewy- would that work?
You are going to want crunchy cookies for the crumbs!
Hi! I am confused on the amount of butter for the yellow cake part, could you please verify it for me?
THANK YOU!!!
One cup or 227g
Thank you!!
Can the frosting be stored in the fridge for a couple of days?
Yes you can store it in the fridge. Take it out a couple hours before you want to frost it and mix it with a wooden spoon.
Is this the same recipe as the cookie cake you’ve previously posted? It looks different.
Love this cake. There’s a mistake in the cookie crust measurements though. The weight for the 12tbs is listed as 339g but it should be 170g. I had some very sloppy mush the first time around.
I am so sorry, we will fix that.
Does it make a difference if you use dark or light brown sugar?
I prefer light.
I made this yesterday for my son’s birthday and it was fabulous! Thank you. Had one questions though. The chocolate crust was really salty. Is it really 2 tsp of salt in that chocolate crust? Does kosher vs standard table salt make a difference?
It’s more of a salty crust. You can use less next time if you want.
Well I made it… or I should say I tried. 🙂 It didn’t quite look like that cake but the taste was amazing. Very moist cake, and the icing really is so beautiful and unique. Thank you so much for sharing this!! Seriously such a lovely feeling making from scratch and comes out this good.
Oh Courtney! I love your website and your amazing cake recipes. You’re site is my go to cake recipe place! This chocolate chip cookie cake is by far one of my favorites. I printed this recipe in March but didn’t get to make it until 6 weeks ago (July). Now, I’ve made this cake 4 times in the last 6 weeks for various events and each time, I’m told this is the best tasting cake I’ve ever made – And I’ve made a lot of different cakes! Funny thing is, when I originally printed the recipe, it had 452 grams of butter for the cake, not the 227 grams as it does now. I just caught it today – after making it again. So curious now to try it with 227 grams – might have to stick to the 452! LOL! Thanks for all the inspiration!
Hahah 227g is right but I’m sure 452 is delicious 🙂
I’m curious- which amount of butter did you like more?? 😂
I would like make this cake into cupcakes, what would be the baking temps and time be so the crust and cake doesn’t dry out?
325 degrees and keep your eye on them!
Hi! I made this cake for my birthday! It’s a beautiful cake, but the cake itself was kinda dry. It had really good flavor though regardless that it was dry. I’m not sure what I could’ve done differently as I followed the recipe exactly. I did have to bake the cakes an extra 5 minutes because mine weren’t completely done at 30 minutes. :/ Ah, well.
Hi Courtney! I’ve made this cake two times and both times it’s took 36-37 minutes for the cakes to be done & the tops were pretty browned. I didn’t know it that was normal, maybe the pan I am using is affecting it or that I had my oven on Convection. Love the flavor of this cake it’s AMAZING!
Don’t do convection! It’ll dry out your cakes!
I’m going to make a truck-shaped cake for my son’s birthday, but I’m going to use yellow cake for the layers, so I was wondering about what I could do to make it more interesting. I thought I might do a cookie crumb layer and use the brown sugar icing. Can you color this icing fairly easily? I was planning on making a blue and green truck. This icing sounds yummy but I wondered if it would turn a strange color because I’m guessing the icing is a little brown to begin with?
It would be fine with some food gel!
Hello… Love your cakes and I have baked some of them as a challenge my daughters and friends love them.. Thank you… stupid question, all the eggs on the batter it won’t taste eggy?? thank you…
And thank you again for all the tips and recipes.
Eggs are essential for your cake! You will not have an egg taste.
Hi Courtney,
When I was making the crumble layer I noticed that 2 tsp cornstarch weighed 6 grams, not 16. Did you mean tablespoons?
Fixed it! Thank you!!
Hey!! I made this cake today. It was so cute and yummy. I have a few questions because I am going to make it again later this month for a birthday party. The cookie crust crumbled around the edges when I took the cake out of the pan. Not too big of a deal since ultimately covered in icing but made it difficult be messy in my kitchen so didn’t know if you had any suggestions… cooking that layer longer? More melted butter? Pressing harder into pan with back of spoon?
Second thing was the brown sugar syrup for the buttercream. I tried making it twice and both times when I took it off the heat to cool it turned to dry crumbles instead of staying as a syrup to stream into the buttercream. What am I doing wrong??😂I know you prob won’t see this but just in case!!! Thanks !!!
I would definitely press harder and then actually cook a little less time. You could also add a couple extra tablespoons butter if you’d like too. I’m updating that brown sugar recipe for my book, but in the meantime, you can cook the brown sugar for less time and that should help.
Hey Courtney!
Did you use semi-sweet mini chocolate chips? I HATE semi-sweet but can only find regular size milk chocolate chips— not mini size. Should I use semisweet because the size of the chip really matters or do regular size milk chocolate chips because I like the flavor more?
Thanks! Excited to try this cake for my daughters 3rd birthday!
You can use regular milk! Just toss them in flour. They still might sink a little to the bottom of the cake because they are bigger.
You mentioned the butter twice in the cake and I wanted to know if it was supposed to be split to be mixed in twice or if I’m misunderstanding
There is butter in the crust and then butter in the cake. I specify how much you need for each element.
How far ahead can I assemble this cake? I need it for a party on November 20 and would like to start making it on November 18
Totally fine!
HI Courtney, I was looking through your cake recipes as I am trying to find one for our family birthday party (7 different birthdays) We all our chocolate lovers, however, I have to pre bake the cake and pre make the frostings and then fly to Colorado with them. I watched and read your info on flying with cakes. I will assemble when we get there. I know to freeze the cake layers which will be fine, but wondering if the frosting will freeze well. If not, can you recommend what cake or frosting might be better to pre make, freeze and then fly a 3 hour flight? Looking forward to getting your cookbook.
You shouldn’t need to freeze your frosting! It will be ok room temp on travel day.
Hi!
This was my first recipe of yours I tried, and it will not be my last. This cake was fantastic. The cake was so moist and all the flavors blended so well. Everyone raved about it. My favorite part is the chocolate cookie layer, takes it to the next level! 10/10
I’m so happy you loved it!
When making the buttercream, when do you add the salt? After the butter and before the vanilla? I made the crust and cake layers last night and they turned out GREAT! Making the buttercream today and assembling tomorrow 🙂
Salt can go same time as vanilla
Hi Courtney,
I have a question. Did you recently update this recipe? I made this back in April and I’m either losing my mind, or the icing used to be ABC not Swiss meringue? I swear I don’t remember it being this way a few months ago?
Cortney, I want to try this cake, however, I am not a fan of meringue frosting. Want other frosting would you recommend for this cake?
I made this cake back in March 2022 and am going to make it again. I definitely do not remember the frosting being a Swiss meringue buttercream. Is the recipe for what it was previously available somewhere?
I don’t have the old one but you can melt like 1/4 cup of brown sugar on the stove and drizzle it into my vanilla American buttercream.
Just curious why you changed the brown sugar frosting recipe. I make this cake every year for my birthday. When I went to make it this time (my birthday is in January) I didn’t notice the different buttercream recipe until I had started making it. I followed all the instructions and it had an excellent consistency and was even pretty stiff until I added the butter. After I added the butter it because way too runny. I ended up adding some powdered sugar and sticking it in the fridge overnight so it would not fall and slide. The taste is good, but I’m not sure what I did wrong. How do you get yours to set up? I noticed the meringue set up when it didn’t have the butter.
I meant to say it became too runny not “because”
I plan to make this recipe as cupcakes later this week! About how many cupcakes would this recipe make?
Hello Courtney. I am planning on making this cake for my son’s birthday this weekend. Are the egg whites better used from the actual egg or carton of egg whites? I’ve loved making your cakes for both of my sons birthdays every year. I’m getting better every year. It’s definitely a labor of love.
With eggs being so expensive these days do you have any good subsitites or ideas do not use 14 eggs? Not sure if a different frosting would pair well or an actual egg substitute would work for the cake?
This has 7 eggs
My first cake from Cake By Courtney! Turned out super delicious. That dark chocolate cookie crust is to die for, and honestly steals the show for me. I will for sure be trying out some of your other cakes, Courtney!!
I’m trying to make this for this weekend, i was gonna do it a tier cake bottom 12 inch and top 6 2 layers each, would you triple the batches?
Hi Im trying this right now but I dont see when to add the salt to the meringue??
Add after the vanilla.
Cakes look so rich and delicious