One of my favorite go-to things to bake are actually the simplest things ever: chocolate chip cookies. I don’t have a fancy recipe (I literally just use the one on the back of the Hershey’s chocolate chip package), but in my opinion, a warm chocolate chip cookie dipped in milk at the end of a long day is like heaven. So as I was whipping up a batch the other day, I had an epiphany: why not translate the deliciousness of chocolate chip cookies and milk into cake form? It didn’t take me long after that to start testing recipes for the best milk & cookies cake ever. Here’s what happened:
It’s a chocolate chip cookie flavored cake with vanilla buttercream, chocolate ganache, and plenty of homemade chocolate chip cookies on top! I’m calling it a Milk & Cookies Cake as a nod to its inspiration.
Let’s talk about this cake. I based the ingredients off of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, so there are both brown and white sugars involved in the creaming process. The brown sugar gives such a deep, rich flavor and adds a little bit of moisture. I wanted it to be extra moist though, so I added a some sour cream to the batter as well.
You can use regular sized chocolate chips in this recipe, but I opted for mini chocolate chips instead! Either way, be sure to coat them in a few Tbsp of flour before folding them into your batter at the end. That will make it less likely for them to sink to the bottom of your cake layers in the baking process.
Vanilla buttercream is the milk to this chocolate chip cookie cake, and it provides a nice subtle flavor to wrap it all up in. Just like milk to a cookie, it’s a great complementary flavor that doesn’t try to steal the spotlight. Not too sweet, just right.
I used Wilton Tip 1M to pipe a buttercream rope border on top, then topped it with some homemade chocolate chip cookies to really go the extra mile! Here’s a quick video to show you the entire decorating process, from filling and frosting the cake layers to garnishing with cookies and chocolate ganache:
Like I said before, I’m all about the basic recipe on the back of the Hershey’s chocolate chip bag (although sometimes I get a little crazy and substitute the vanilla extract for almond extract – so tasty!), but if you’ve got a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and want to make them your cake toppers, my hat’s off to you. If you want to use store bought cookies like Chips Ahoy instead, you totally have my blessing. However you decorate it, you can be sure that this cake will satisfy all the cookies and milk loving people in your life!
Milk & Cookie Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- 3 3/4 Cups (400g) cake flour, sifted before measuring
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 1/8 Cup (254g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 Cup (220g) granulated white sugar
- 3/4 Cup (140g) packed brown sugar
- 5 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 Cup (112g) sour cream, room temperature
- 1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 Cups (355ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 1 1/2 Cups (283g) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, coated in 1.5 Tbsp flour
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 2 Cups (452g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 7 Cups (840g) powdered sugar
- 3 Tbsp (45ml) whole milk, room temperature
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
For Garnish (optional)
- chocolate chip cookies
- chocolate ganache drip (see link below)
Instructions
Make The Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8-inch or four 6-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with a cooking spray (Baker's Joy is my favorite) and a wax paper circle fitted to the bottom of the pan. Alternatively, you can grease and lightly flour the pans.
- Sift the cake flour and then measure by spooning and leveling it in your measuring cup. Add the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer (a handheld mixer works fine too!), cream the butter for on high for two minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Add in white and brown sugars and continue to mix on medium-high for another two minutes, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed. Turn the mixer to low and add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and sour cream, turn the mixer to high, and mix for one minute, scraping down the bowl and paddle once more.
- With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the whole milk and mix until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give it a few stirs to make sure there are no lumps, then fold in the flour-coated chocolate chips. Batter will be slightly thick, but pourable.
- Pour batter evenly into prepared cake pans (about 2/3 of the way full) and bake for 35-40 minutes. The cakes are done when they spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for five minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack for an additional few hours of cooling. Make sure they’re entirely room temperature before applying any frosting.
Make The Vanilla Buttercream
- With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the butter on medium-high until it’s creamy and light (almost white) in color. About 7 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, scraping down after each addition and making sure each cup is fully incorporated before adding the next one. Add vanilla, milk, and salt and mix on medium-low for another two minutes until fully incorporated.
Assembly
- Fill and frost the cake layers with vanilla buttercream. Crumble the chocolate chip cookies (either homemade or store-bought) and garnish the cake by adding them to the bottom third of the frosted cake, pressing the crumbles in to the sides.
- If garnishing with a chocolate ganache drip, chill the cake for 30 minutes before dripping with ganache. Finish by piping a border on top with vanilla buttercream (I used Wilton Tip 1M) and placing whole chocolate chip cookies on top.
Hi Whitney, I was wondering if I should adjust the cooking time for dark colored pans, as things tend to cook faster in them.
Hi Mikah! I’ve never baked these cakes in a dark pan before, so I’m not sure how to adjust the time.
Hi! Really wanna try this recipe! Can it be halved? I’m planning to make a 6″ cake. Its only for a small group of people. Do let me know. Thank you!
Hi Dakshy! You can certainly halve this recipe and it’ll make two 6 inch layers. Enjoy!
hiiii so this cake tasted soooo good…. one thing though… my choc chips all sank to the bottom … i did dust them with flour… they were regular sized chips… i also tapped tge pan a little to get out bubbles before i baked… could this be why?… also my cake flour came pre sifted so i measured it out then sifted again and measured from the sifted set and it was way less than what i measured initially, i saw u said the batter wud be somehwat thick but not sure mine was as thick but they baked lovely.. could this be another reason the chips sank?
Hi Shabana! The regular chips were probably too heavy for the batter, which is why I specify using mini chocolate chips. I don’t think any of those other things would cause the chips to sink. Next time give the mini chocolate chips a try!
Made this cake yesterday. Hoping you can help me troubleshoot a couple things. When adding the eggs one at a time to the butter/sugar, The mixture curdled. Ingredients were out at room temp for a little over an hour so not sure why that happened. Maybe everything was still too cold? Also most recipes call for alternating adding dry ingredients with the milk. Just wondering if there was a specific reason it is done differently in this recipe. And i did coat the mini chips in flour but sadly they still sank to the bottom and the layers came out slightly dense/ crumbly. I baked in three 8 inch pans for about 25 minutes. Even with my minor mess ups the cake was still delicious and everyone at my work devoured it. I will definitely be making this again. Hoping to perfect it next time. Thank u!!
Hi Maria! I’m so sorry to hear that the cake turned out slightly dense/crumbly. Did you make any substitutions or leave out any ingredients? If not, then it sounds like the cake may have been slightly overmixed (that would make it dense). I wonder if this happened when you saw that the batter looked curdled after adding the eggs. It’s actually totally normal for the batter to look curdled at that point in the recipe and doesn’t really start to look like cake batter until the very end. And about alternating the wet/dry ingredients, I found that it made no difference in the outcome of the cake, which is why I just tend to add the dry all at once and add the wet all at once right after. Hope that helps for next time! And happy to hear that the cake was still a hit!
Thanks so much for answering my questions! I didnt make any substitutions. The only thing i did differently was alternated the milk and dry gently stirring with a spatula. Im going to try it again using your exact instructions. Cant wait to try more of your cake recipes
Just putting this out there in case anyone else tries the same thing. I used 3 – 6″ pans that are 3″ high, baking them a lot longer. It was a total fail. Although the pans were only filled 2/3rds full, the cakes all sunk in the middle and crumbled around the edges when removed from the pan. My son asked me why I was making giant chocolate chip cookies, lol. What did I do wrong? I used cake flour but didn’t notice that it was SELF RISING cake flour. Dumb rookie move on my part as too much leavening agent will cause your cake to sink. It tasted great, albeit a little saltier because of the salt content already in the flour. Time to start over again, lol.
To crumb coat, fill and frost with piping is this recipe for the buttercream or should I increase the amount? I’ve made it before but can’t remember.
This recipe makes enough to fill, crumb coat, frost, and pipe the three layer 6-inch cake pictured. Hope that helps!
Should we use light or dark brown sugar?
Either will work! I used light brown sugar but using dark brown sugar will make the flavor a little more rich since it contains extra molasses.
I made this today… it made 4 6” layers…delicious… thank you for your delicious recipes and tutorials.
Yay, Kathy! So happy to hear that the recipe is a hit!
If you were to recommend a food scale which one?
This is the one I use: https://amzn.to/3vdKcxy Excited for you to make this cake!
This looks like another awesome cake. Is it 3 or 4 6” inch layers? Will be making this for my son’s 29th bday next month. THANK YOU!
Yay, Kathy! Excited for you to make this cake! The cake pictured is three 6-inch layers but the recipe yields enough batter for a fourth layer.
Thank you. After you do the ganache drip and cover top with the ganache do you refrigerate before piping on the buttercream?
I do refrigerate the cake after the ganache drip for 5-10 minutes just so that it sets before adding the piping to the top.
Thank you… making it tomorrow;really excited
Hi, can I use apple sauce instead of sour cream? Or will that change the consistency and taste too much?
Also what’s the conversion ratio for kosher salt and table salt? Thank you!
Hi Ara! I’ve never tried subbing in applesauce for the sour cream, so I can’t say for sure what the results will be. You are welcome to try it! And you can use an equal amount of table salt (or any salt) for the kosher salt.
Hi, just finished baking this, used 3-6” and the left over batter for some cupcake. It’s still cooling right now but omg this cake is soooo good! Not to sweet and so light. It’s kinda dangerous because we might it all the cupcakes before frosting it lol. Thank you!
Yay, Ara! I’m so happy to hear that! Enjoy!
What an over the top incredible cake! I’ve this twice for birthday celebrations!
Hooray, Jessica! I’m so happy to hear that you love this recipe as much as I do!
Hi! Quick question. I have class and need to make and assemble ahead of time. After making the cake, frosting it and topping with ganache and everything, will it be okay to store it in the fridge for one night/day until we eat it, or should it be stored at room temp? Thanks!
Hi Jesselyn! You can certainly store the decorated cake in the refrigerator one day ahead. That is my preferred method of storing a cake before serving. Just make sure to bring it to room temp by the time you serve the cake because it tastes much better at room temp!
Hello! I tried you cake two times, but sad to say tje chocolate chips sank in the bottom. I follow your recipe correctly. Can i prevent this to happen again? Btw your cake is delicious my family really loves your cake, that’s why i want to remake it again and again. ❤️ your no.1
Hi Pauline! Sorry to hear the chocolate chips sank. My only advice is to coat them in more flour next time, as this helps keep them suspended. You could also try chopping them even smaller so that they weigh less.