The Cookie Monster Cake That Wows Everybody

The (easy!), fun cake that tastes great and delights all

On the very last Tuesday of my previous job as a corporate health care researcher, I knew I needed a recipe that was double-extra-special.

For my almost two-year tenure with that company, I’d brought in a homemade baked good every single Tuesday. On top of that, I never repeated a recipe.

Why? I genuinely love to bake, and I also love to show my appreciation and gratitude for those around me through food.

So, for my last Tasty Tuesday, I wanted to really wow my coworkers with something that both looked and tasted amazing.

That’s where the Cookie Monster Cake comes in. I’m not much of a cake decorator, usually just adorning bundt cakes with a simple glaze. For this special occasion, however, I wanted to push my baking boundaries.

Don’t be intimidated by this cake — a simple box of cake mix does the heavy lifting, and while I’ve included two cookie recipes below, you can use any kind of cookie you like, storebought or homemade, gluten-free or gluten-full.

When it comes down to it, this is a simple double layer cake with cookies sandwiched in the middle and pressed into the edge, topped with some wacky frosting. The combination of chewy cookies, moist cake, and the fluffy frosting is truly irresistible, and makes this one heck of a dessert!

Viggy’s Cookie Monster Cake

Ingredients

Cake

2 boxes of your favorite cake mix (I used Simple Mills vanilla cake mix, which is gluten-free)*

Additional ingredients as listed on the cake mix box (i.e. eggs, oil)

*Note: Check the box of cake mix to see how much the recipe will make. This cake is composed of two 9" cakes, and some types of the mix will only require 1 box to produce both layers.

Soft-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 2/3 cup almond flour

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

6 Tbsp butter softened

3 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Butterscotch Pecan (BSP) Cookies

2 cups almond flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup butterscotch chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Other ingredients

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Vanilla frosting (I used Pillsbury)

Blue frosting (or extra vanilla frosting with added blue food coloring)

Blue sparkly sprinkles

Directions

Cake

Butter two 9" cake pans and preheat your oven per package instructions.
Prepare your cake mix according to the package instructions.
Let the cakes cool slightly in the pan before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Soft-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, coconut sugar, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat the butter, honey, water, and vanilla until smooth. Then, beat in the egg until everything is combined.
Using a rubber spatula, mix dry and wet ingredients together. Do not over mix.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Scoop 1 1/2 Tbsp of dough onto lined cookie sheets, and flatten gently with your palm. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the bottom and edges start to turn brown.
Let cool for 15–20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

BSP Cookies

Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine almond flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a food processor.
Pulse in butter, honey, and vanilla until dough forms.
Transfer dough to another bowl and stir in butterscotch chips and chopped pecans.
Scoop dough one tablespoon as a time (a spring-loaded disher works great) onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Press balls of dough down gently.
Bake at 350 for 6–8 minutes.
Cool for 15 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Assembly

Start by putting a small dab of frosting in the center of your cake plate.
Set one of the cake layers on top of the frosting.
Put some vanilla frosting on top of the first layer.
Press chocolate chip cookies into the frosting to make another layer.
Add a bit more frosting on top of the cookies.
Top with the second cake layer.
With the vanilla frosting, make two large white circles on the top of the cake (for the eyes).
Cover the rest of the cake with blue frosting. It doesn’t need to be perfect — in fact, the messier it looks, the more it looks like Cookie Monster!
Press BSP cookies into the frosting around the edge of the cake.
Melt chocolate chips, then drizzle two pupils into the eyes and a big smile on top.
Finally, add sparkly blue sprinkles for more pizzazz!

Variations

This cake is super versatile. You can swap in different cookie, cake, and frosting flavors to fit your tastes.

Some ideas:

Chocolate cake + peanut butter cookies
Carrot cake + ginger cookies
Blue velvet cake + sugar cookies
Spice cake + oatmeal raisin cookies

Did you try this recipe? I’d love to know how it went!