Fall Cookie Cake

This Fall Cookie Cake is classic chocolate chip cookie cake with a touch of pumpkin spice.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 20

Resting/Cooling Time 1 30

Total Time 2 50

Servings Slices

Calories 771kcal

Author Mara

Ingredients

¼ cup shortening room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
⅜ cup granulated sugar (6 tablespoons)
⅜ cup dark brown sugar packed (6 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 large egg, room temperature
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 & ⅜ cups all-purpose flour (165 grams)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground clove
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (set aside 2-3 tablespoons)

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter room temperature
2-2.5 cups powdered sugar sifted
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
food coloring

Instructions

Line and pre-heat: Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Line a 9-inch springform pan with aluminum foil. Use 4 pieces. 1 square for the bottom and then 3 rectangle pieces for the sides. Then "lock-in" the foil with the springform. Spray with non-stick spray. Use a neutral oil like regular Pam. Set aside.
Start the base: Cream together butter and shortening together with a stand mixer for roughly 1 minute. Next, add in brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat again for another 2-3 minutes. Scrap bowl the bowl as need.
Add in egg to the stand mixer. Beat it together until everything is combined for about 1-2 minutes. Then, add in vanilla and milk and beat again for another 1-2 minutes.
Dump in all the dry ingredients to the stand mixer and mix until just combined (it's okay if there's are a couple of streaks of flour).
Set aside 2-3 tablespoons of chocolate chips but then add the rest of the chocolate chips to the dough. Gently fold into the cookie cake dough with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.
Then, press the dough into the prepared 9-inch springform pan. Gently press extra chocolate chips onto the top.
Bake for 25-30 minutes in the pre-heated oven, until the edges turn a golden brown. Then, cool: in the pan on a cooling rack until completely cooled.Carefully Remove: the springform pan, then the foil from the cookie cake. Place on serving plate or platter. Make sure all foil is remove from the bottom and sides of the cookie cake. Decorate as desired OR follow the instructions below for a pumpkin design.

Frosting & Decorating

Make frosting: by beating butter with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a handheld mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes until creamed. Then, add in powdered sugar, vanilla extract and heavy cream. Beat on low speed for about 30 seconds and then increase to medium speed for another 30 seconds and them medium high for another 2 minutes until frosting is well combined and fluffy.
Divide and color frosting: I divided the frosting into small bowls. I put a little less than ⅓ cup for the different oranges. ~⅓ cup of buttercream with orange + yellow + brown, ~⅓ cup of buttercream with orange + red + brown, and ~⅓ cup of buttercream with orange + yellow. For brown frosting, I used about 2 tablespoons of buttercream with brown gel + a tiny bit of brown cocoa powder to get a rich brown color. Finally, about ¼ cup of buttercream with green + yellow food coloring for the grass and vines.
Frost the grass: by add the green frosting to a piping bag fitted with an Ateco Decorating Tip 4 or another small round tip. Pipe around the edge of the cookie cake to create grass.
Frost the pumpkins: by adding the different orange frosting to piping bags. I used 2 1M Open Star Piping Tips and a Wilton No. 2A Round Decorating Tip. I piped pumpkins using at different sizes to create a colorful rustic feel. Remember that pumpkins come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and your frosting is no different!
If you run out of a certain orange, you can mix the other orange frostings you have to get a slightly different gradient!
Frost the pumpkin stems: I used an Ateco # 48 pastry tip for the brown frosting but you could us a small round tip. I use the smooth side of the #48 tip to create the stems.
Fill in the details: I combined all the leftover orange frosting to fill in any gaps and added green vines to the pumpkins

Notes

Frosting Tips! - Gel color can be incredibly concentrated. You only need just a little bit to get your desired color. Also, color develops after waiting some time so you can make and color the frosting as the cookie cake cools and that should be enough time to allow the colors to fully develop. Note, if you use TOO MUCH food coloring that can negatively effect the texture.

Foil is our friend! - If there is too much browning on the top of your cookie cake, add foil to cover the top of the pan.

Cool it completely! - Make sure to let the cookie cake cool completely before you frost it. It takes about 90 minutes - 2 hours roughly for my cookie cake to completely cool. But you can make this cookie cake the night before serving, let it cool completely overnight, and frost it the next day.

Properly Measure Flour - If you just dip your measuring cup into a bag of flour, chances are you have way too much flour due to packing. I keep a small digital scale to accurately measure flour BUT you can also use the spoon and level method too if you don't have a scale. To do this, use a spoon to fluff up the flour within your flour bag or container. Then use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and finally use the straight edge of a knife to level the flour across the measuring cup.

Room Temp Ingredients are Key: a room temperature egg and butter form an emulsion and traps air and blend/combine together very easily since they are warmer creating a seamless dough. Cold ingredients don't incorporate together easily and can result in dense puffy baked good and also seize up the dough.

Warning! Weird Taste From Cooking Spray - I found that olive oil cookie sprays, can sometimes create a bitter taste in the cookie cake. I recommend using original pam or a neutral cooking stray.

Flatten the Edges - I sometimes find that the edges of the cookie cake are higher than the rest of the cake. After I take the cookie cake out of the oven, I carefully press down a spoon around the edges to create a flat surface. Which is ideal for frosting and is usually hidden from the frosting.

Nutritional information for this recipe is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. Please calculate your own nutritional information if you want it exact to what you make and use my calculations as a guide only.

Nutrition