This Biscoff cake – AKA cookie butter cake – has moist cake layers flavored with Biscoff, creamy Biscoff frosting and more cookie butter and crushed Lotus cookies in the middle. The buttercream isn’t overly sweet but incredibly creamy. A super decadent cake for anyone who loves cookie butter!

I love baking with Biscoff (I also love eating it with a spoon, if I’m totally honest). The caramel, cinnamon flavor lends itself perfectly to baked goods. This Biscoff cookie butter cake is has the perfect flavor without going overboard or being too sweet. You get the warm caramel, brown sugar, cinnamon flavor of Biscoff in a moist and tender layer cake.

The Biscoff buttercream is surprisingly not too sweet, and you’ll love the added cookie butter spread and crumbled cookie filling in the middle.

What Exactly is Biscoff?

Biscoff is a brand name of cookie butter. It’s a spread – similar in consistency to peanut butter – made from crushed speculoos (sometimes spelled speculaas) biscuits that come from Belgium. It has a brown sugar, caramel flavor with hints of warm spices.

You can use any brand of cookie butter for this recipe. I always use Biscoff spread and the Lotus Biscoff speculoos biscuits for the crumble in the middle and decoration on top.

Making Biscoff Cake

This cake is extremely moist and tender. However, getting the perfect consistency without the cake layers getting too dense or too dry was actually quite difficult due to the consistency of the cookie butter.

1. Start by preheating the oven to 350F (180C) – be sure to adjust the temperature down by 25 degrees F (10 degrees C) if using a convection oven. You’ll prepare the pans by lining the bottoms with a round of parchment paper and lightly greasing sides.
   • Alternatively, you could grease and flour the cake pans. I find lining the bottom and greasing the sides makes it easier for the baked cakes to slide out.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. This is to ensure that the baking soda and baking powder are evenly distributed.
   • Be sure to measure the flour carefully – otherwise the cake can get dry. Using a scale and measuring in grams will give the most accurate results. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, whisk first, then spoon into dry measuring cups and level off the top.
3. In a separate large bowl, you’ll beat together the softened butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and Biscoff. Keep beating until you no longer see clumps of brown sugar or lumps of butter.
   • Using brown sugar in this recipe really complements the Biscoff flavor.

4. Then you’ll mix in the oil and vanilla extract.
   • This cake uses a combination of butter and oil. The butter adds flavor, whereas the oil keeps the cake moist and tender for longer. In recipe tests, I found using only oil made the cake too greasy and it lacked flavor, whereas using entirely butter made the cake dry out too quickly.
5. Mix in the eggs one at a time.
   • Mixing in the eggs 1 by 1 helps to avoid overmixing – which will lead to air tunnels in the batter and a tough cake crumb.

6. You’ll then mix the dry ingredients and buttermilk into the Biscoff mixture, alternating between additions. First, whisk in about 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Then mix in about 1/2 of the buttermilk. Then whisk in another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by the rest of the buttermilk. Lastly, whisk in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
   • It’s important to do this by hand to avoid overmixing – again, which will lead to air tunnels. I always do a few stirs with a rubber spatula first, then whisk with a wire whisk.
   • Alternating between additions of dry ingredients and the buttermilk gives the most consistent, soft cake crumb.
   • Buttermilk is used in this recipe to give the cake a moist texture that’s not too dense. I’ve included substitutions if needed in the recipe Notes section.

7. Once the batter is smooth, evenly divide between your two prepared cake pans.
   • I use cake strips when making layer cakes. These can be purchased online or in specialty baking shops (mine are the Wilton brand). Cake strips are soaked in water then wrapped around the outside of the pan. They help the cake layers bake with flat cake tops so that your layer cake stacks well, without having to saw off the domed top.

8. The cake layers will bake for about 35-40 minutes in the middle of the preheated oven. When done baking, they should be pulling away from the sides of the pan and an inserted toothpick should come out clean.

The Biscoff frosting is a simple American-style buttercream made with butter, Biscoff, a tiny bit of cream cheese, cinnamon, powdered sugar, salt and cream. The cream cheese helps to cut the sweetness – but it’s not enough to call this a cream cheese frosting. Because Biscoff cookies are spiced with cinnamon, the addition of a little cinnamon to the frosting really adds to the flavor. Whenever making buttercream, I do recommend sifting the powdered sugar first to avoid lumps.

Assembling Your Layer Cake

When you’re ready to assemble the cake, make sure that the cake layers are fully cooled first. If your layers happen to be rounded, then be sure to gently saw off the domed tops so that the layers stack evenly.

You’ll place your first cake layer down on the plate that you plan to serve the cake on. Frost a thin layer of frosting on top of the cake, then pipe just around the edges with any large tip. This piping around the edges is to ensure that the cookie butter filling doesn’t ooze out. You’ll then add slightly warmed cookie butter to the cake layer (filling the middle where you outlined in frosting, and sprinkle crushed Lotus cookies on the middle.

You’ll then place the second cake layer on top. Frost the sides of the cake with a thin layer of frosting – this is called a crumb coat. The crumb coat helps to seal in the cake layers so that cake crumbs don’t make the frosting look dirty. Pop the cake in the fridge for about 20 minutes for the crumb coat to set.

Once the crumb coat has set, you’ll then frost the cake with swirls of the cookie butter frosting. You should have about 2/3 of the frosting left – so you’ll use about 1/2 of what’s left (1/3 of the total frosting) for the sides and about 1/2 of what’s left (1/3 of the total frosting) for the top. I like to add more crushed Lotus cookies around the top of the cake for decoration and so that on first glance everyone will know it’s a Biscoff flavored cake.

With moist cake layers, a delicious Biscoff flavor, cookie butter frosting, and more cookie butter in the filling – this Biscoff cake is the ultimate recipe for anyone who loves cookie butter.

And if you need more Biscoff treats, then be sure to try:

• Biscoff Blondies
• Biscoff Stuffed Cookies
• Biscoff Brownies