Festive Holiday Cookie Cakes
My sister in law just happened to be at my house when I still had the catalog open on the counter to the cookie cake page and she remarked how good it looked. So I thought that’s the perfect thing! I have to make this cake for her Christmas Eve dinner. But rather then buy the fancy schmancy one purpose pan that was made just for the cake, along with the $20 (!) Chocolate Sandwich Cookie Cake mix, I decided to recreate the cookie cake myself.
To make the knockoff version of the cookie cake the perfect choice is a rich chocolate devil’s food cake. I’ll use two 9-inch tart pans to create a cake with a pretty fluted edge. An alternative is to use two plain round cake pans and then if you’re handy with a pastry bag, decorate the top yourself with chocolate icing. Once the cake has baked and cooled, you can layer it with a thick layer of the filling of your choice.
Now my cake won’t say cookie across the top, but I am going to decorate it with a pretty snowfall of sifted powdered sugar. The filling will be a simple vanilla buttercream (you can also use packaged vanilla whipped frosting). Then I’ll crush some peppermints in a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin and attach them on the sides of the buttercream frosting for a Christmassy touch, just like in the picture.
I am not totally against one-time use pieces of cooking equipment. From that same catalog, I own a German Christmas cookie pan that has six gradually larger star shapes that can be stacked on skewers in order to make beautiful cookie Christmas trees (or a forest if you are so inclined). The recipe that came with the pan is for cake-like Madeleine cookies that rise in the pan and give nice dimension to the trees.
This pan does not appear to be available online (a quick Google and EBay search tells me no), so another way to recreate these unique stacked Christmas trees is to use a star shaped cookie cutter set, with gradually larger star shaped cookies. Ice the cookies in green and stack them starting with the largest one first at staggering angles in order to resemble a tree. You can decorate the points of the star with silver and gold colored dragees, red hots, or sprinkles, and pipe a gold star on the top. It’ll be a fun baking project to do with the kids – especially if some areas of the country get snowed in this Christmas like the weather reports are predicting.
Warm wishes to you and your family for a wonderful holiday!
Made with salt, baking soda, baking powder, butter, sugar, eggs, coffee, milk, confectioners' sugar
Serves/Makes: 12
***For the Cake***
- 9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup strong coffee (or water)
- 1/2 cup whole or low-fat milk
***For the Filling***
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon whipping cream (more if needed)
- 1 cup crushed peppermint candy (optional)
Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter two 9 inch tart pans or two 9 x 2 inch cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.
To make the cake layers, sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. (If using a standing electric mixer, stop the mixer as necessary to scrape down the sides)
Mix together the coffee and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.
Divide the batter into the two prepared cake pans and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before assembling.
To make the filling, in a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.
Add vanilla and cream and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.
Run a knife around the inside of each of the cakes which will help release them from the pans. Tilt one cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper from the bottom and invert it back onto a cake plate. Spread a good-sized layer of icing over the top. Top with the second cake layer and decorate the sides, if you wish, with crushed peppermint. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the top of the cake just before serving.
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