How I made my cookie cake

Thanks for all the great feedback on the cookie cake, everyone! Lots of people asked, so I'll post what I did.

Here's the recipe I used:

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini)


DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, cream together butter, shortening, both sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in egg.

Gradually add flour mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. (At this point you can drop by spoonfuls onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, for regular cookies)

I made a double batch because I have enough pans. If you don't, just do one batch at a time. I greased four 8" round cake pans with cake release, and measured about 1 1/2 cups dough into each. (I had a little dough left over, which I dropped onto parchment, froze til they were solid, put in a freezer bag and put back in the freezer so I can bake them later). I patted them down so they were level, then popped them all in the oven. I really couldn't tell you how long they took to bake, as I never set a timer. Maybe 20 minutes, but I'm not sure.

Just bake them until the edges start to brown slightly. I took mine out while the centers were still very soft, they even jiggled when I shook the pan. It's okay, they will set. You don't want to overbake them because they will be too dry and crumbly to cut later. The edges baked higher than the centers, so I just took the back of a spoon and smooshed them down right after I took them out of the oven, so they were level.

I left them in the pans until they were set, then ran knife around the sides and flipped them onto cooling racks. I inverted them so they were right-side-up again, because the tops were still a bit soft and I didn't want to leave them in case they weren't quite stable yet.

Once they were completely cooled, I started stacking just like cake layers, with my usual crusting buttercream. Use whatever BC you like. Use just enough BC between layers to give a level surface - remember, cookies are much richer than cake. Once it's assembled, do a crumb coat, even if you don't usually. The cookies are very crummy, so a crumb coat is neccessary.

Once the crumb coat is set, ice and decorate as you normally would. When it comes time to cut, use a very sharp knife, stick it straight down in the middle and lower the handle slowly to slice the cake. Making the cake a day in advance will also make it easier to slice, as the buttercream will have a chance to soften the cookies slightly.

I had lots of fun with this one, I'm going to start experimenting with different cookie flavors and fillings!