This Heart Cookie Cake is super cute and perfect for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, or any special occasions.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cake, cookies, heart
Prep Time 50 minutesminutes
Cook Time 45 minutesminutes
Chilling time 2 hourshours
Total Time 3 hourshours35 minutesminutes
Servings 8people
Calories 140kcal
Author Camila Hurst
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
1cupunsalted buttersoftened (226 grams)
1cupsugar200 grams
1large egg
1large yolk
2tspvanilla extract
1/4almond extract
3cupsall-purpose flour382 grams
1/4tspbaking powder
1/4tspsalt
Buttercream
1cupunsalted buttersoftened (226 grams)
3 to 4cupspowdered sugar375 grams to 500 grams
2tbspmilkor another liquid such as water or heavy cream, as needed
2tspvanilla extract
Food coloringI used a touch of mauve
Instructions
Cookie Dough
Beat the butter over medium speed with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Add the sugar and mix for another minute until incorporated.
Add the egg and the yolk and mix until combined.
Now add the vanilla and the almond extract and mix.
Finally add the flour, the baking powder and the salt.
Mix on low for 30 seconds until almost fully incorporated. Then finish mixing with a spatula in order to not over work the dough. If you over work the dough at this point the cookies might become tough later, because the more you mix, the more gluten you develop.
Once the flour has been fully incorporated into the dough, wrap it in plastic and place it in the fridge for a couple of hours or up to 2 days.
When ready to bake the cookies, remove the dough from the fridge and divide it into 3 parts.
Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF.
Work with one part at a time, leaving the others covered meanwhile.
Sprinkle some flour on the counter, use a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it’s about 3/8 inch thick. The surface of the rolled out dough should be big enough to fit the heart template in. The template I am offering here for download is 8.8” wide and 7.8” in height.
Transfer the dough to the parchment paper or silicone mat that you will want to use to bake, because it’s easier to transfer it before cutting the heart, if you try to transfer the cut out heart, it might break.
Download the heart template on this page, cut around the heart, and also cut the middle out. And then place the heart template on top of the rolled out dough and use a knife to go around the heart trimming the excess dough off.
Bake the heart in the pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes. Start checking at the 12 minute mark, you don’t want to over-bake it, or the heart will be too tough later.
The cookie should be slightly golden around the edges.
While the heart is baking, repeat this with the remaining dough, to end up with 3 hearts.
You can also place the hearts in the fridge for about 15 minutes before baking if they’ve gotten too soft during the rolling time.
Let the hearts cool down before proceeding with the filling.
Buttercream
Beat the butter with an electric mixer for 2 minutes, until fluffy.
Add the powdered sugar and food coloring and beat for another 2 minutes. I only added one drop of mauve food coloring.
If the mixture is dry, add the milk in.
Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
If the buttercream is too stiff, add more liquid to make it thinner, and if the buttercream is too runny, add some more powdered sugar to make it thicker.
Place the buttercream in a piping bag fitted with the tip of your choice. I used a 0.25” round piping tip.
You can use a star piping tip, or whatever kind you want.
To assemble
Place one of the cookies on a cake plate. Pipe dollops of buttercream all over the surface of the cookie.
Top with another heart.
Pipe more buttercream on top.
Top with another heart.
Finish with another layer of buttercream.
You can decorate the cake with candy, sprinkles, macarons, edible flowers, chocolate hearts.
Storage
The cake can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days, but it will begin to dry out.
If you want to keep the cake at room temperature, don’t use any milk in the buttercream, use water instead.
Notes
Make ahead: You can make the cookies ahead of time, keep them covered at room temperature for up to 3 days.