High Altitude Sugar Cookie Layer Cake
A sugar cookie layer cake, made with layers of dense and chewy cookies instead of cake, frosted with fluffy chocolate buttercream.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- 8-inch round cake pans (x2)
Ingredients
Cookie Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ⅓ cups granulated sugar (see note)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Chocolate Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp meringue powder
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
Cookie Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line the bottoms of two 8-inch round cake pans with circles of parchment paper.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla, and mix in the eggs, one at a time, just until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients and mix the dough on low, just until moistened. The dough will be very thick.
- Divide the dough evenly between the two pans. Since the dough is so thick and sticky, it can be a little tricky to spread it out. The best way is to butter your hands or a spatula and just push the dough out to the edges of the pan as evenly as you can.
- Bake the cookies on the center oven rack for about 22-25 minutes, just until the edges are set and ever so slightly browned, but the center still looks a little underdone. Be careful not to over-bake the cookies, or they will end up dry.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.
Chocolate Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter for one minute, until smooth.
- Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, meringue powder, salt and vanilla. Beat for 4-5 minutes on medium speed until very light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 minute.
- Run a sharp knife around the edges of the cookies to loosen them from the pan, then turn them out of the pan.
- Assemble the cookies like a cake, with a layer of frosting between them, then frost the cake all over. Before the frosting crusts over, decorate with sprinkles.
Notes
The leftover cookie cake should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or wrapped well and frozen for 3-6 months.
You can substitute half light brown sugar for the granulated sugar in the cookies, for more of a blondie flavor.
https://curlygirlkitchen.com/