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Now you can have your cake AND your cookies too! This Neapolitan Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake is made with three layers of thick chocolate chip cookie cake sandwiched between chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry buttercream.
I receive a lot of press releases in my inbox. They usually start with a chipper greeting and an assurance that “I know your readers will love this!” before seguing into a pitch about gluten-free dog biscuits, or fat-burning pumpkins from Peru, or my personal favorite, a man who invented a new form of psychological therapy that takes place on a skateboard. (I mean, it doesn’t have anything to do with dessert, but all snarking aside, how fun does that sound?)
Either those PR pros are out of touch with what my readers actually love, or I am, because if I had to estimate the number of times those pitches actually seemed relevant to SugarHero, the answer would rhyme with “shmero.”
…until now.
Recently, I received an email telling me that May 15 is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Unfortunately, I don’t actually know what the email was trying to promote, because I stopped reading after that and sprinted to my calendar to make sure that I had this important holiday marked down. (However, if other pitches are any indication, the email probably took a left turn and was about chocolate chip-flavored steak sauce or cookie-scented perfume.) **
**Update: the day after I wrote this blog, I got a press release about chocolate chip flavored salad dressing. Not joking! I think I should win some sort of Most Psychic Blogger prize.
No matter—it had accomplished its mission. I love cookies, and I love made-up food holidays, so you know that I’m going to be celebrating National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day tomorrow, and I hope you will too. Hang the cookie wreath and play the cookie carols! I’m bringing this Neapolitan Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake to celebrate.
This might look like a typical cake, but the layers are actually made from chocolate chip cookie dough, baked in 8-inch cake pans. I tweaked the dough to produce extra cakey cookies, so the layers bake up soft and fluffy—you don’t want to be sawing through chewy cookie layers when you’re trying to serve it! They still have the familiar brown sugar taste of chocolate chip cookies, though, and are still packed with (you guessed it) lots and lots of chocolate chips.
In between each giant cookie is a thick layer of frosting, because I’ve never met a cookie I didn’t want to frost, or a cake I didn’t want to embiggen. If you’re less of a frosting fan you can easily cut the recipe by a third to make a more reasonable portion, but the cookie layers were substantial enough that I found they stood up well to a big ole scoop of frosting.
Besides, this cake is as much about the frosting as it is about the cookies. The layers of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla frosting are what make it special, and Neapolitan-ish, and they elevate it from the typical giant cookie cakes you can get at the mall. I used unsweetened chocolate to give the chocolate layer a deep, rich taste, while the strawberry layer gets its light and tangy flavor from freeze-dried strawberry powder. Be sure to try this delicious Cookie Dough Frosting next!
I’m not saying you have to make this cake for National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, but I do think you should eat some sort of chocolate chip cookie to celebrate. Let not all those press releases be sent in vain. Carpe cookie!
🎂More Desserts You’ll Love
- Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Bark
- Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta
- Strawberry Crisp
- Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Cakes
- Blueberry Layer Cake
- Rocky Road Layer Cake
Strawberries and Cream Layer Cake
Cookie Monster Cupcakes
Neapolitan Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Ingredients
For the Cookie Layers:
- 13.75 oz all-purpose flour, (3 1/4 cups)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 9 oz unsalted butter
- 11.25 oz brown sugar, (1 1/2 cups), lightly packed
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 18 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, (3 cups)
For the Buttercream:
- 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
- 2 cups freeze-dried strawberries
- 12 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 36 oz powdered sugar, (9 cups)
- 1/2 cup milk, divided use
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
To Make the Cookie Layers:
- Line three 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper, and spray them with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and set aside. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat them together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla extract.
- With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix until just a few streaks of flour remain. Stop the mixer and finish mixing by hand, using a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl well. Add the chocolate chips and stir them in completely.
- Divide the dough between the 3 prepared pans—if you want to use a scale to portion them, each pan should get about 20 oz. Bake the cakes for about 22 minutes, until they’re golden brown, starting to pull away from the sides of the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cookie cakes on a wire rack until completely cool. They can be made in advance and kept, well-wrapped in plastic, for several days until ready to use.
To Make the Frosting and Assemble:
- Place the unsweetened chocolate in a small bowl and microwave it in 30-second increments until melted. Once melted and smooth, set it aside to cool to room temperature.
- Place the freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor and process them until they are a fine powder.
- Combine the butter, powdered sugar, 1/3 cup milk, vanilla extract, and salt in the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on low speed until the sugar is moistened, then raise the speed to medium and beat for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Divide the frosting into three approximately equal portions, making one slightly larger than the other two. (This will be the top layer, which requires more frosting for piping decorations.) Add the melted chocolate and a tablespoon of milk to the second portion, and stir until well-mixed. Add the strawberry powder and the remaining milk to the third portion and stir until well-mixed.
- Place one cookie layer on your serving plate, and spread the chocolate frosting on top of the cookie. Add a second cookie on top, and spread the strawberry frosting on the second cookie. Finally, top the stack with the third cookie. Spread some vanilla frosting on top, and use the rest to pipe rosettes or other decorations around the edge. Top with chocolate chips, sprinkles, or mini cookies.
Recipe Notes
This recipe provides a very generous amount of frosting. If you like thinner layers of frosting, or don’t want to do decorative piping on top of the cake, you can reduce it by a third.
MEASURING TIPS
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Click here to learn more about baking measurements and conversion.Nutrition
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WOW! That is one cookie cake! I love all the frosting 🙂
Thanks Chloe! I am such a frosting fanatic. I know there are anti-frosting folks out there, but I so don’t get it–the more the merrier, that’s what I say!
This cake is a bit of work.. but I am sure this cake is very very good!
Haha, everything I do is a bit of work…I’m allergic to sleep, I guess. 🙂 But in comparison to most layer cakes, I think it’s actually pretty low key, so…winner? 😉
This is my kind of cake. Man I wish I could scoff a slice of this right now!
If I could send you a slice I would! Thanks Rochelle.
GOOD LORD. That is the cake of my cookie coloured dreams.
I need all of my dreams to be cookie-colored from now on. Right? Right.
You are a cookie genius, my friend. May 15 is now my favorite day.
Thanks Heather! I love that you celebrated it too. 🙂
Oh my gosh. This is even better than I imagined when I saw those cookies on Instagram!
And I have to admit I never saw the appeal of cookie cakes, because I imagine they’d be rock-hard, but I love how you made these layers soft and fluffy! Best of both worlds. It looks amazing.
P.S. “Embiggen”–nicely done.
It’s a perfectly cromulent word! 😉
This is HANDS DOWN my favorite recipe you have ever posted. Ever. I’m pretty sure it is the pink frosting … seriously, three layers of cookie dough, Neapolitan frosting, AND adorable cookies?? Heck yes! If anything, food blogging has taught me that if there is a dessert, there is a holiday. Thank you food blogging, my life has been bettered (and sugar overloaded) thanks to you!
Fave recipe?! That’s a huge compliment, thanks Mary Frances! Pink frosting makes everything the best. 🙂
I was wondering where you got the pink chocolate chips for the cookie
Hi Tasha,
They were part of a “Spring Mix” from Nestle a few years ago! I’m not sure whether this is something they bring back every spring, or not.
This has to be the most amazing cake ever created. I’ve never been a fan of those cookie cakes you see in the mall, but a layered version with frosting and cookies on top? Sign me up, please!
Thanks Natasha! The mall ones are always a little sad to me too–too thin and not enough frosting! Somehow the ones I make at home never have that problem… 😉
hmmm….i want to know what happens to that cake the day AFTER national chocolate chip cookie day? you need me, right? say you need me.
Always and forever! Now if only we could figure out a time to actually meet up… #foodbloggerproblems
Oh you’re dangerous, maverick! Haha I love it! Pure decadence at it’s best! I can feel the sugar coma through the screen =)
I am so going to try to make maverick catch on as a nickname! Yessss!
The last photo had me drooling.. it is beyong amazing.. that´s all I´m going to say cause sometimes you just have to say it like it is! Happy week friend! xoxo
Thanks Johlene!
That cake looks amazing! It’s my first time on your blog, and I can’t wait to explore 🙂
Thanks so much, Jordan! So glad you found me, and I look forward to checking yours out as well. 🙂
it is so cute! i love the colors and the cookies on top.
Thanks Dina! Nothing like topping cookies with more cookies, right? 😉
Holy moly! This is amazing!
Haha, thanks Norma!
I so did not know there was such a national food holiday. I’m in love with this cake. It looks so delicious, yet so . . . coma-inducing as well. You know, I taught my teenage guy how to make chocolate chip cookies as a way to win the ladies’ hearts. Does that work? I’m not even sure. A man that bakes, though? Be still MY heart. . . .
I’m pretty sure there’s a national food holiday for everything! Today is probably, like, five different food holidays. It’s dumb, and also fun. As a teenager I would have swooned for a boy who made me cookies…okay, I still swoon for cookies on a regular basis. You’re a good mom!
this is so gorgeous!! I love how you fluffed up the cookie layer to make it a little more cakey 🙂 do you have a link to the actual cookie on top of the cake? Xo
Thanks Lindsey! The cookies are just a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe (I like Anna Olson’s, but even the Nestle Tollhouse one will do) with pink chips from a “Nestle spring mix” I bought a few weeks ago, plus white and dark chips. I should add a note to the recipe–sorry for the confusion!
Cut the recipe by a third to make a more reasonable portion? What? Madness. Nice work by the way, this thing is amazing. Starting your fan club.
Haha, you are a woman after my own heart! Bring on the frosting, I say!
When I first saw the picture I thought it was made with ice cream in between the cookies, which I think would be delicious if you could get the ice cream hard enough and the cookies not super duper frozen.
Ice cream WOULD be delicious! I think it would work if you froze ice cream in cake pans lined with plastic wrap, then popped them out of the pans and assembled them with the cookies (so the cookies were never actually frozen). Now I can’t stop thinking about chocolate chip cookies and strawberry ice cream!
LOL I adore your posts! I get all of those crazy press crap too, but chocolate chip salad dressing takes the cake! This is my ideal birthday cake. Can you just come on down here and make it for me 😉
Thanks Jackie! There should be a website that collects the craziest press pitches–I would totally read that sucker. 🙂
I have just discovered your blog (I googled ‘raspberry mousse cake recipes’) and I am dazzled by your photos and recipes! and your writing and wit…’schmero’ 😀 The styling of this cake, with the sassy cookies posed on top, and the theme of pink/chocolate/white is stunning! so temptingly stunning. So I am sitting here and busily remotely printing your recipes to go through. I am so lucky because I am the sole pastry baker in a private lodge, we serve 3 meals a day, and I can bake/serve whatever seems to be delicious. And I think I just found a mother lode of deliciousness! thank you!
Holly, thank you so much! I love that you have the freedom to make what you want–I hope that you give this one a try! And please let me know what you think when you do. I’ll bet you could come up with some fun variations too!
Hahaha, that’s too weird about chocolate chip flavored salad dressing. Maybe you should work in marketing? Although I’m really trying to wrap my head around that flavor idea. This cake, however, is a great idea!
I know, right?! I wish they had included the ingredients–I am dying to know what goes into that dressing! Obviously some experimentation is in order…or not!
I’m making this for my birthday it’s beautiful i think my family and friend will love it
This cake looks awesome! I promised my sister I would make this for her birthday and so far I have had two failed attempts …… I will not cry. I will not cry. I can’t work out what I’m doing wrong. The cookie cake layers themselves seem to cave in the middle and the frosting never seems to have enough stamina to hold a layer of the cake. Also the little cookies won’t stand up in the icing like on ur picture………. Please please please help me.
Hi Steph, I’m so sorry to hear that you’re having trouble with the recipe! (And please, don’t cry!) Let’s tackle the frosting first. It sounds like it’s very soft, so it can’t hold the cake layers or the cookies upright. What is the temperature of the butter you’re using? Assuming that all of your measurements are correct, my guess is that the butter is very soft and is causing the frosting to be soft as well. In the summer months, this is an especially common problem. Try using butter that is soft when you press a finger in it, but still cool to the touch. You may only need to leave it out of the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so before using, depending on the temperature of your kitchen. You can also try omitting the milk entirely, then adding it back in a spoonful at a time if the frosting seems too stiff otherwise. And adding extra powdered sugar is always an option to get a nice stiff frosting consistency. So in order, my suggestions would be: cooler butter, less milk, and then more sugar if necessary.
Now let’s talk cookie layers. There are a lot of reasons why they might be collapsing, and it’s hard to know for sure without seeing what you’re doing. Some possible culprits: an inaccurate oven temperature (I always recommend using an oven thermometer to make sure the bake temp is correct), baking soda and/or baking powder that is old and has lost its effectiveness (you can google for a simple way to test whether they’re still good), being underbaked (what’s the texture of the finished product? Gooey in the center?) or possible being overbeaten during the creaming of the butter/sugar. If you beat it forever and whip too much air into it, that could cause it to rise too much and be structurally unsound, and then collapse. Are you measuring by weight or volume? Have you double-checked all quantities? I hope some of these ideas gave you a place to start looking–I wish I could say for sure, there’s just too many variables without seeing the situation in person!
I would love some opinions or suggestions on making a fudge cookie and Andes mint cookie cake for my boyfriend. He’s going into the Navy and before he goes to Boot, I would love to make him something super special!
That sounds delicious! I think you could pretty easily use the frosting recipe from this post and add some mint extract to the plain vanilla version, and then use this cookie recipe and double it:
https://www.sugarhero.com/junior-mint-cookiesand-a-new-arrival/
It would also be tasty to mix some chopped Andes mints into the cookie batter, and maybe some chocolate chips too.
This is such a sweet idea for your boyfriend! When does he leave?
He leaves at the end of next month. And he’ll be gone for about 16 weeks. It’s going to be so tough, but I know it’s worth it for him!
Oh wow! He would love those Junior Mint cookies on their own!!! I’m adding that recipe to my “care package” list! And I’m definitely going to use that for the cookie cake! Thank you so much!!! I’ll try to get pictures and let you know how it turns out!!!
Awesome! Please do send me pics if you do (elizabeth @ sugarhero.com) I would love to see it! I’m not entirely sure what September holds, but if I have some time I’ll try to make and post a version for the blog before the end of the month, because I think it sounds awesome. 😉
I will do my best! I’ve got a bag of Andes mints that I’m going to cut diagonally and arrange on the top for decoration!
I did this cake this week for a special Christmas time with a dear friend. It was easy to make, looked GORGEOUS, and was sooooo delicious!! I can’t thank you enough for a cool recipe that a novice like me can do and look like a pro!
Cate, thanks so much for the comment! I’m so glad that it worked for you and that you enjoyed it! Merry (early) Christmas!
This looks AMAZING!!! This is going to be my cookie loving daughters 2nd birthday cake!!!! Can this be made a day or so in advance? If so, whats the best way to store it?
Thanks Kelley! This would be such a fun second birthday cake, I love it! It can definitely be made in advance. I would actually hold off on some of the decorating until the end. What I would do is assemble the cake and add the top layer of vanilla buttercream, but not the rosettes. Put the cake in the fridge until the buttercream is hard, then wrap it well in plastic wrap (to keep it from drying out) and store it in the fridge overnight. The next day, before the party, you can add the frosting rosettes on top and stick the cookies in. It’s best when it’s had a chance to sit at room temp a bit so it’s not so cold and the frosting isn’t rock-hard, but it will get soft if it’s out in the sun for awhile or at really warm temps–fortunately that’s probably not likely in February!
GREAT! Can I store the extra frosting for the rosettes overnight too?
Yes! Frosting can be stored in a tupperware with plastic wrap pressed directly on top to stop it from forming a crust. Keep it in the fridge overnight then beat it a bit to soften it before piping on the rosettes. Let me know how it goes!
My hubby made this for my birthday today! It was his FIRST go EVER at baking a birthday cake (in 14 years of marriage). Turned out wonderfully! He was thrown off a little at first because there wasn’t a recipe for the cookies that go on top, so he went with the tollhouse recipe on the back of the Nestle Springtime morsels package, making sure to place the colored chips on top of the mini round cookies right out of the oven, not before, for that chocolate kissed look like your photos (even I didn’t know that). He used frozen strawberries for the puree, so YUMMY. Your tip about adding extra powdered sugar to stiffen was spot on.
I’m not at all ashamed to admit my family of six enjoyed this for DINNER, complimented by my youngest son’s homemade tart frozen yogurt. Never mind waiting for dessert-this cake is easily the main course! None of us were able to finish off a whole slice, but every bite was delicious 🙂
Michelle, first of all, happy birthday! And thank you for the sweet comment! I’m so glad the cake worked out and that you enjoyed it, and major snaps to your hubby for tackling this as his first baking project!
Also, this is a completely legit dinner, and I salute you for making that choice. 🙂 Thanks also for the note about the small cookies–I should probably add a little explanation about how I made them. But I’m glad your smart husband figured it out!
Hello, this looks amazing and I can’t wait to try making it! Where did you get the pink chocolate chips on the cookies from please?
Hi Lauren,
They were part of a “Spring Mix” from Nestle a few years ago! I’m not sure whether this is something they bring back every spring, or not.
Should I be measuring the ounces by weight or volume?
Hi, measure the ounces by weight. If ever they should be by volume, I designate it as “fl oz,” or “fluid ounces,” to avoid confusion. 🙂
What are those pink chips I the small cookies ? Strawberry? White chocolate?? Do you have the recipe or links to buy them?
Hey Angie, they were actually part of a mix I bought. I think they were seasonal or limited edition because I haven’t seen them since. I’m sorry!
It looks absolutely delicious! but I was wondering, how’d you make the cookies?
Hey Nommi, I actually just used a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe and then pressed the different colors of chocolate chips into the top! Thanks so much!