Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake! Everyone’s favorite cookie turned into a show stopping layer cake made with rum syrup, dark chocolate ganache and brown sugar buttercream.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Recipe Ingredients
- Butter
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Cake Flour
- Sour Cream
- Baking powder/soda/salt
- Mini chocolate chips
- Semi Sweet Chocolate
- Cream
- Molasses
Why people go crazy for this Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
First of all, there’s a giant cookie layer at the base of the cake. That alone would be enough to make anyone love this cake. But the best part is the brown sugar buttercream. The butterscotch/cookie dough flavor is completely irresistible.
What’s the difference between white sugar and brown sugar?
A little molasses! Granulated sugar is just sugar that’s had all the molasses removed. Dark brown sugar has a little more molasses than light brown sugar.
The easiest way to make Brown Sugar Buttercream
To make brown sugar buttercream just had to add molasses to Italian Meringue Buttercream, Swiss Meringue Buttercream or even American Buttercream.
Pastry Chef Tips for making Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake:
- This is a complicated recipe with lots of ingredients. But all the components can be made ahead of time and the cake can be assembled the day you’re ready to serve.
- Make the cake the day ahead and refrigerate it over night. It’s much easier to trim the edges and stack the cake when it’s chilled.
- The recipe specifies Italian Meringue Buttercream, but you can use your favorite buttercream recipe flavored with molasses.
- Use mini chocolate chips because they disperse better in the batter.
- Once the cake is assembled it can stay at room temperature for a couple of days. It’s best served at room temperature.
- If you don’t like to use alcohol in your cake flavor the syrup with vanilla instead.
Watch the recipe video to see how-to put together and perfectly ice a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer
- 4 ounces butter (room temperature)
- 2 ounces granulated sugar (¼ cup)
- 4 ounces brown sugar (½ cup)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 ounces all-purpose flour (1 cup, see note)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 ounces mini chocolate chips (1 cup)
Chocolate Chip Cake
- 8 ounces mini chocolate chips (1 ¼ cups)
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon all purpose flour
- 1 recipe Vanilla Cake
Brown Sugar Butterceam
- 1 recipe Italian Meringue Buttercream
- 2 tablespoons molasses
Assembly
- 1 recipe simple syrup (flavored with 2 tablespoons rum)
- 1 cup Dark Chocolate Ganache (room temperAture)
Instructions
Make the cookie layer
- Line an 8" cake pan with a parchment round. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Cream 4 ounces butter with 2 ounces granulated sugar and 4 ounces brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add 5 ounces all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon salt. Add 6 ounces mini chocolate chips all at once and mix until combined
- Spread the dough into the cake pan. The dough should be about 1/2″ thick (if you have excess dough use it to make cookies).
- Bake until the middle of the cookie puffs up a little and then collapses, about 20 minutes.
- Cool completely in the pan. Flip the pan over and bang one edge of the pan a couple of times. The cookie should loosen and fall out. Set aside at room temperature until ready to assemble the cake.
Bake the Cake
- Line two 8"x3" cake pans with parchment rounds or butter and flour the bottom of the pan only. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Toss 8 ounces mini chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon water until moistened. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon all purpose flour over the chips and toss to distribute the flour. Set the chips aside while you make the cake batter.
- Mix 1 recipe Vanilla Cake according to the recipe, folding the chocolate chips into the batter just before the whipped egg whites. Pour 1/3 of the batter into one pan and 2/3 of the batter into the other pan. Spread the batter evenly and bake until the cake springs back when lightly pressed, about 25 minutes depending on pan size.
- Cool the cakes in the pans for 10 minutes. Run a small spatula around the cakes and remove them from the pans. Cool the cakes completely. Wrap each cake in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight (see note 1).
Make the Brown Sugar Buttercream
- Make 1 recipe Italian Meringue Buttercream according to the recipe. Mix 2 tablespoons molasses into the finished buttercream. Divide the buttercream in 1/2, reserve one 1/2 for icing the cake, use the remaining for filling.
Assemble the Cake
- Make 1 recipe simple syrup (with rum) according to the recipe. Trim the sides of the cake to remove excess brown edges. Split the larger cake in two, horizontally, you will now have a total of three cake layers.
- Place the chocolate chip cookie layer on a serving platter or cardboard cake circle. Spread 1 cup Dark Chocolate Ganache evenly over the cookie. Place one of the cake layers on the cookie. Brush the layer generously with rum syrup. Spread 1/2 of the buttercream reserved for the filling onto the cake layer.
- Place another cake layer, sprinkle with syrup and spread with remaining filling. Top with the last cake layer and sprinkle that layer with syrup.
- If the cookie base is bigger than the cake layers you can trim the cookie so its even with the cake layers.
- Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of buttercream and chill until the crumb coat is set. Ice with a final coating of buttercream, reserving a little buttercream for decoration. Pipe a border around the top edge of the cake and decorate with mini chocolate chips.
- The cake will keep at room temperature for several days.
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Bonjour
Je vais tester votre recette pour l’anniversaire de ma filleule. Il a l’air vraiment délicieux. Dîtes-moi puis-je remplacer le sirop de rhum par un autre sirop, j’aimerai ne pas utiliser d’alcool? Merci pour ce partage.
Je voulais colorer en rose le glaçage extérieure il faudrait peut-être que je ne mette pas le sucre brun car j’ai peur que le rose est une drôle de couleur si je ne pars pas sur du blanc comme base? Par contre à l’intérieur je l’utilise comme dans la recette? Qu’en pensez-vous?
Ok, I ran the second part of the question through a translator. I think you are asking if you can tint the outside icing pink and use the brown sugar icing inside. Absolutely! I used to do this all the time when I made wedding cakes. Make the brown sugar buttercream for the inside. Keep the outside icing white and add the coloring for a pink finish.
Merci beaucoup pour votre réponse. C’était exactement ma question.
Les traductions ne sont pas toujours top alors pas toujours facile de se comprendre. Maintenant j’essaie de bien comprendre la recette car la traduction n’est pas toujours claire.
Un grand merci pour tout.
Bonne journée
Bonne journée.
Bonjour
Je vais tester votre recette pour l’anniversaire de ma filleul. Il a l’air vraiment délicieux. Dîtes-moi puis-je remplacer le sirop de rhum par un autre sirop, j’aimerai ne pas utiliser d’alcool? Merci pour ce partage.
My college french is very rusty, but I think you’re asking if you can replace the rum syrup since you don’t use alcohol. Yes, you can elminate the syrup all-together or you can flavor the syrup with vanilla. Hope I answered correctly. Wish the comments had a “translate” function.
This cake looks amazing, I can’t wait to try it. Is there a reason the cake should be baked in 2 pans, divided up 1/3 and 2/3, or can it just be split equally between 3 pans?
You can bake it in 3 pans. I just do it that way so I have fewer dishes to wash. 🙂
Hi- just started making the cookie layer tonight. I noticed you list vanilla in the ingredients but dont specify when to add it. I added it after eggs as in most cookie recipes, but thought you may want to update it. 🙂
Thanks for the heads up!
Hi there! I’m going to bake this master piece today! Yuumm! I have a gooey chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe I love and would love to use instead; does the cookie have to be extra crispy to hold the cake or do you suggest to stick to your cookie recipe?
Thanks!!
Hi Peba, any cookie will work. If the cookie is very soft it might be smushed a bit by the other layers. If you don’t mind that it shouldn’t be a problem.