4th of July Layered Cookie Cake

I saw this recipe in my Google Reader and knew instantly that I would be making it soon. Since my family was going to be in town for the holiday and we all love cookie cakes, I had the perfect opportunity. And I would have the opportunity to use my flag plate which only comes out once a year.

My little sister and I made the cake and everyone LOVED it! The filling between layers was a perfect compliment to the chewy chocolatey cookie layers. We halved the recipe and it made about 12 servings. We made it with half chocolate chips and half M&Ms so that it was festive for the 4th of July. We had my little brother sort out a bag of M&Ms and just pull out the red and blue ones. What a great guy!
Below, I am listing the halved recipe that I used. Please see original post for original recipe and her story about the cookie cake. We used a small flag and some festive cupcake decorations so spice up the look of the cake. The cookies were very moist and easy to cut through. I ended up only using about 3/4 of the filling and it worked out to be a good ratio of cookie to filling.

Layered Cookie Cake – from Dozen Flours – originally from Martha Stewart Online
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
6 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
6 Tbsp heavy cream
3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cups red and blue M&Ms

If you have a Silpat mat: Trace an 6 1/2 inch circle on a piece of parchment paper using a marker. Place it face up on a cookie sheet. Place your Silpat mat face up on top of the parchment. You should be able to see the circle you drew peeking beneath the Silpat. If you don’t have a Silpat mat, flip the parchment paper face down on the cookie sheet.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Put butter and brown and granulated sugars into mixer bowl and mix on medium until well combined (it will look very dry and not fluffy at all). Mix in vanilla, eggs, and yolks. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the cream. Stir in chocolate chips and M&Ms.

Divide the batter evenly into 3 bowls. Drop batter onto center of baking sheet. Keep unbaked dough refrigerated while the other dough is baking. Using a small offset spatula, spread into a circle, using the drawing on the parchment paper, or as close as you can get it.

Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate cookie and reshape if necessary (mine did not need to be reshapen). Bake for 8-10 more minutes untile edges are golden brown. DO NOT OVER COOK! Remember you’re going to have to cut through all 3 cookies. Slightly under-cooked cookies is what you want. Transfer to wire rack; let cool. Can be stored airtight up to 1 day.

Cream Cheese Filling2 8oz packages of full fat cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cups confectioners’ sugar

Mix cream cheese, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar in clean mixer bowl on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Divide in half spread onto 2 cookies. Stack cookies onto a cake board or platter, placing unfrosted cookie on top. Refrigerate until frosting is set, at least 20 minutes or overnight. Serve at room temperature.

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19 Responses to “Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting”

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    Megan — January 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    I’ll take any leftovers! They sound amazing. I keep saying dessert recipes with bacon and bookmarking them, but I haven’t tried any yet. Adding this one to the list now too. 🙂

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    ann — January 13, 2011 at 5:07 pm

    These look so terrific. I love the flavor combinations!

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    Blog is the New Black — January 13, 2011 at 5:08 pm

    I’m intrigued!

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    KV — January 13, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    interesting! I have a recipe for chocolate bacon fudge or maybe pb bacon fudge but I’m afraid to try it

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    Rachel @ Baked by Rachel — January 13, 2011 at 6:01 pm

    The frosting sounds amazing. I honestly still can’t bring myself to get behind bacon in desserts. Maybe someday I’ll try a bacon cupcake if I’m given one though. 🙂 I can only resist so long.

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    Jennifer — January 13, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    YUM! These look so good! I haven’t tried the bacon / sweet combo yet, but I’m sure I would love it!

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    Fun and Fearless in Beantown — January 13, 2011 at 6:13 pm

    This looks delicious but I’ve got to ask….what is a pirate party?

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    Jen — January 13, 2011 at 6:21 pm

    Fun and Fearless – It’s exactly like it sounds… Everyone dresses up as a pirate (or something related – Hubby and I went as Treasure maps last year). They even hire this guy who looks like Captain Jack Sparrow to come and there’s a prize for best costume. One of the best parties of the year!

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    Cupcake Activist — January 13, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    Sounds great! The problem I’ve seen with bacon is that sometimes it is chewy in cupcakes. That’s not good. I like that this recipe says to cook until crispy. Extra crispy for me!

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    Laura and Alex — January 13, 2011 at 9:11 pm

    My favorite candy bar is bacon chocolate!!! I can’t wait to try this 🙂

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    Carrie — January 13, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    Wow, those look and sound amazing!

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    Shannon — January 13, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    oh yum. after putting bacon in last years cookies this might need to be next 🙂

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    Corrine — January 13, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    I’m so curious to try bacon in baked goods, but do you think turkey bacon would work?

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    Jen — January 13, 2011 at 10:08 pm

    Corrine – I’m sure turkey bacon would work if you could get it nice and crispy. I’ve heard that if the bacon isn’t super crispy, it has a really weird chewy texture in baked goods.

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    Corrine — January 14, 2011 at 2:11 am

    Thanks Jen! I’m going to give it a try!

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    Evan Thomas — January 14, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    This has just about everything that I would want to go together. Awesome recipe!

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    Medifast Coupons — January 14, 2011 at 4:10 pm

    This is certianly a unqiue mixture of tastes and textures, but it comes together nicely. Definatly a must try!

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    darcyeats — January 14, 2011 at 6:22 pm

    Chocolate..caramel…bacon…PERFECTION.
    I am infatuated with the perfect smoky/salty addition of bacon into sweet baked goods. So delicious. Of course, I’m kind of a fan of adding bacon into just about anything.
    Great pics, def wanna try these out!

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    kitchenmisfit — January 16, 2011 at 1:01 am

    Sorry the cupcakes didn’t turn out like you wanted. Have you ever tried the bacon/chocolate cupcake at Cherry Bomb Bakery in Brighton? They are fantastic!

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