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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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Could I use buttermilk in this recipe instead of 2%?
I haven’t tried it in this cake, but I imagine it will be okay.
Hi Lindsey! I can’t wait to try this cake! In the video it says baking soda and the directions say baking powder. Do you know which one I use? Also, does it matter which type of milk? Whole, skim, ect? Thank you!!!!!
Definitely follow the written recipe. Sometimes the video editing isn’t perfect. 🙂 And I usually recommend 2% milk, but you could use another. I hope you enjoy it!
I just made this cake this weekend. I followed the recipe as is (except I used break n’ bake Nestle chocolate chip cookies as I’m not a fan of chips ahoy). And I have to say it was utterly delicious! My family was overjoyed with the results. I would recommend it to anyone. I love your recipes. This isn’t the first one I’ve followed. Thanks for always sharing!
Wonderful! I’m so glad to hear it was a hit! Thanks Rebecca!
A lot of people seem to say they had trouble with this cake, but it was a total success for me! I followed the recipe exactly as it was written, and it turned out beautifully. The cake was perfectly baked at 21 minutes in my oven. The frosting got rave reviews! The cookies for the filling, although dunked in milk beforehand, were not soggy when the cake was served, and the cookies on the outside were not stale even after sitting in the fridge overnight before serving. (I did wrap the whole cake in cling wrap for the night though.) Lindsay, this cake was wonderful, and I’m sure it will be requested that I make it again in the future! You made me look like a baking genius!
Awesome! I’m so glad to hear that Kasi!
I am baking this cake right now and will do it all over again to make sure I didn’t do it wrong, but not only did my cake come out overly moist and dense, the chocolate chips all sunk to the bottom. I use the wet level-baking wraps from Wilton to prevent the traditional cake dome, so I cannot say that they didn’t rise, but it definitely does not look right. I followed to a tee, weighed all the ingredients, and will give it one more shot. Fingers crossed.
I’m sorry to hear that was your experience. I’m not sure what happened.
I made this cake twice. The first time did it not rise or bake. The second it did not bake in the middle at all. I do no recommend this recipe unless you like raw cakes. Did not make this recipe.
How do you get your frosting so white ?
I’m not sure that there’s a secret. I made it just as shown in the recipe and it’s pretty white. 🙂
Tembra if you aren’t already, try using clear vanilla.
Agree with whoever else commented on this that it does not rise the same as in the photos. I creamed for 4+ minutes and used baking powder I had just bought a few days earlier and used fresh eggs and I followed the directions to a T (which I usually don’t do). I’m not sure how you got it to look that tall in the photos. Those cookies you used must’ve been itty bitty because if I put mini cookies around mine they would go halfway up the cake. I haven’t tried it yet so I can’t speak for how it tastes (I’m sure it’s fine) but I’m very disappointed in the looks of it.
Hi Jennifer, I promise I did nothing to distort the look of the height of the cake in these photos. The cakes do rise. It’s very difficult to say without being there what would cause the issue. The only other thing I could think of would be over mixing the batter once the dry ingredients having been added, which can over work the gluten. I’m sorry you were disappointed.
Does this need to be refrigerated?
It wouldn’t be a bad idea with the milk in the cookies between the layers, just to be safe.
Wouldn’t the cookies be soggy if i soak the cake layers and do frosting?
I didn’t find them to be soggy. They just get soft so they blend in well with the frosting.
I made this for my nephew’s birthday – it was a HIT ! I plan to make the white choc raspberry this weekend, looks delicious !
Awesome! Glad you enjoyed it! I hope you enjoy the White Chocolate Raspberry Cake as well!
Made it this weekend. Turned out perfect and everyone loved it. Thanks.
Wonderful! Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi! I’m thinking of making your great-looking cake for my son’s birthday party on Saturday. How many people does your cake serve? I will have between 28-32 people so think I probably need nine-inch-rounds instead of eight? Is there a way to convert the directions for this larger cake size?
Thank you!
A 9 inch cake would probably be good. You’d probably want to do two cake layers instead of 3 and would possibly need to adjust the baking time a bit. Maybe a few more minutes baking time.
Just made this cake last weekend and it was amazing!! The cake is super moist and tastes just like a chocolate chip cookie. I will definitely make this cake again!
Awesome! I’m so glad you were happy with it! 🙂
Hi! In the description water is listed as an ingredient but it’s not used in the video. Is water optional (for consistency etc)? Thanks in advance. Your recipes look delicious! ????
It is there in the video, just not quite labeled correctly. I combine the milk and water and then add them, so when the milk is added, it’s actually the milk and water together. 🙂
hi can u pls add the recipe for mini chocolate chip cookies
I didn’t bake them, I purchased them. They were Chips Ahoy.