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This Milk and Cookies Layer Cake is made with layers of brown sugar vanilla cake that’s filled with vanilla frosting and crumbled up chocolate chip cookies. It tastes just like milk and cookies and was declared a new favorite cake!
Table of Contents
This post is sponsored by The American Dairy Association Mideast, but all opinions are my own.
June is Diary Month so of course it’s the perfect time to celebrate milk with a fun Milk and Cookies Cake. I grew up drinking milk every day. My dad was a stickler about it and my brother and I drank milk with dinner every night as kids. My nails have always been thick, strong and healthy and I’ve always kind of thought that all that milk as a kid must’ve had something to do with it. 🙂
Of course Diary Month isn’t only about milk. Dairy encompasses another food that I could never live without – cheese! My goodness, life couldn’t go on without my cheese. We have diary farmers to thank for all the tasty milk and cheese and in Ohio and West Virginia, about 2,500 dairy farms with roughly 275,000 diary cows produce 645 million gallons of milk a year. That is some serious milk!
And since there’s milk in this cake and milk provides protein and 9 essential nutrients, including calcium, this cake is totally healthy, right? I’m pretty sure we should just cut a nice slice and pair it with a big, tall glass of milk. 🙂
Ok, ok, so I’m kidding about the cake being healthy, but it’s totally worth every single bite! I’m not kidding when I say it was declared a new favorite by many.
The cake layers are wonderfully soft layers of vanilla cake that are made more cookie-like with the addition of mini chocolate chips and brown sugar that gives it a rich flavor.
Between the cake layers is vanilla frosting and crumbled chocolate chip cookies. I considered mixing crushed cookies right into the frosting, but I thought they might get lost a little that way. I wanted to be able to really taste the cookies in there. Not to mention that with them separate, it further produces the separate flavor of cookies and milk and it’s SO good! The cookies are also dipped in a little milk before being broken up. It helps the cookies soften up a bit and they form a really nice layer in between the cakes.
The cake is finished off with the remaining vanilla frosting, more cookies and some additional mini chocolate chips.
This is not only a super fun cake to serve, but it tastes amazing! I can’t even fully describe how much I love it other than to tell you the feeling was unanimous! This is going to be your new favorite too. I know it. And it’s the perfect cake for celebrating Dairy Month!
NOTE: The video incorrectly lists baking soda as an ingredient. It should be baking powder, as listed in the written recipe. Please follow the written recipe for ingredients.
Watch How To Make It
SHOP THE RECIPE
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 2 minutes
- Yield: 12-14 Slices
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
This Milk and Cookies Layer Cake is made with layers of brown sugar vanilla cake that’s filled with vanilla frosting and crumbled up chocolate chip cookies. It tastes just like milk and cookies and was declared a new favorite cake!
Ingredients
CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE
- 3/4 cup (168g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cups (155g) sugar
- 3/4 cup (108g) brown sugar, loosely packed
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (115g) sour cream
- 3 eggs
- 2 1/2 cups (325g) all purpose flour
- 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk
- 1/4 cup (60ml) water
- 1 1/4 cups (211g) mini chocolate chips
VANILLA FROSTING
- 1 1/4 cup (280g) butter
- 1 1/4 cups (237g) shortening*
- 9 cups (1035g) powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
- 6–7 tbsp (90-105ml) water or milk
FILLING/ADDITIONAL
- 1 package chocolate chip cookies**
- 1/2 cup (120ml) milk
- Chocolate Chip Cookies, for on top
- Mini chocolate chips
Instructions
TO MAKE THE CAKE LAYERS:
1. Prepare three 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper circles in the bottom and grease the sides. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
3. Add sour cream and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until just combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
5. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then combine the milk and water in a small measuring cup.
6. Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until well combined. Add the milk mixture and mix until well combined. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.
7. Divide the batter evenly between the cakes pans and bake for about 21-23 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.
8. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
TO MAKE THE FROSTING:
9. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and shortening together until smooth.
10. Slowly add half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
11. Add the vanilla extract and 5-6 tablespoons of water or milk and mix until smooth.
12. Slowly add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add additional water or milk, as needed.
TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE:
13. To put the cake together, use a large serrated knife to remove the domes from the top of the cakes so that they’re flat. Place the first cake on a serving plate or a cardboard cake round.
14. Pipe a dam of frosting around the edge of the cake.
15. Put the milk for filling into a small bowl. Dip several chocolate chip cookies into the milk, then crumble them up and spread them evenly over the cake layer, inside the dam. You want a full layer of cookie crumbles.
16. Add a thin layer of frosting over top of the cookies. I used a piping bag and tip to make it easier to add the frosting and spread it evenly.
17. Add the second layer of cake, then repeat another dam of frosting with the cookie filling and vanilla frosting on top.
18. Top the cake with the remaining layer and frost the outside of the cake. Refer to my tutorial for frosting a smooth cake, if needed.
19. Press more mini chocolate chips into the outside of the cake around the bottom. You might need to put a little frosting on the back of the cookies to help them stick.
20. Use the remaining buttercream to pipe swirls around the top of the cake. I used Ateco tip 829.
21. Top the swirls with chocolate chip cookies and add some additional mini chocolate chips, if desired. Store cake in the fridge, but serve at room temperature. Cake is best for 2-3 days.
*The shortening can be replaced with additional butter, if you prefer.
**I used Mini Chips Ahoy cookies
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice
- Calories: 907
- Sugar: 94.4 g
- Sodium: 312.2 mg
- Fat: 46.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 119 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Cholesterol: 72.2 mg
Enjoy!
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I made this today. I’m not sure what I didn’t wrong but the cake itself didn’t rise and I thought the frosting was too sweet. Maybe I’m just use to store bought. I followed the direction to a T.
Did you make sure to cream the butter and sugar together for a full 3-4 minutes? I find it’s a common mistake people make that they don’t do that.
This looks incredible! Wish I had a slice in front of me right now!
Yum, I know you own a bakery, if not, girl get rocking, because you are so missing out on another calling you have.
Who has actually made this cake? How did you like it?
I did. My cakes didn’t rise for some reason. I bake all the time so my ingredients are always fresh. I used them anyways and it was still a hit. I did add some heavy whipping cream to the frosting to help with that gritty texture I always find these types of frostings to have with so much powdered sugar.
I. Made this today and waiting to frost it but for some reason my cake did not rise as much. This has happened to me the second time in her recipe eventho it tasted amazing. Just not as tall as hers.
I can never get over your beautiful cakes! They are always so pretty and delicious looking! You have used so many different and fun combinations.
Thanks so much Hannah! 🙂
Hi LIndsay! I love your recipes ans I have already made a few! The problem is that there is no sour cream here in Greece! Could you please tell me with what I could replace it? Thanks a lot!!
I’ve had some people say they used yogurt. Another option you could try would be using some additional milk.
Thank you Lindsay!
What is the flavor difference between using the shortening or butter in the frosting? Which tastes better?
You can find the answers to that question here. In that post, there’s also a link to just the vanilla buttercream and it talks quite a bit that as well. Definitely a preference thing though.
Hi Lindsay, which chocolate chip cookies do you use? Also, do you have a recipe for a favorite cookie to bake for this cake?
Thanks!
The mini ones inside the cake and around the bottom are mini chips ahoy and the big ones on top are regular chips ahoy. I didn’t bake the cookies, but used ones that were a little more crunchy that I usually bake.
This cake looks too good to be true Lindsay! I love love how you slice cakes. Is that a weird compliment? No one does it quite like you. I can spot your photos a hundred miles away. 🙂
Haha! In any other scenario, it might be weird, but not blogging. 😉 Thanks Karen!
This looks so so good!
Thanks friend! 🙂
I am also interested in the answer to Thelma’s question, how much mini chocolate chips are in the cake filling?
The recipe has been updated – thank you!
In reading your tutorial, I find reference to mini chocolate chips added to the cake batter and I see them in the pictures but the amount used is not listed in the ingredients. Adding them to the batter is also not mentioned in the directions.
Thank you for pointing that out! It has been updated!
I made this at my cafe. It is incredible! One of the best cakes I’ve ever had.
So glad to hear that! Thanks Cassandra!
This looks like a cross between luxurious and comfort food. Pretty sure my mouth needs this.
Wow! This looks amazing! My kids daughter would love it! Who am I kidding. I would LOVE it!!!!
hey girl- this looks so yummy! right up my alley!
Thank you very much dear for teaching and your kindness