Make Ahead

Holiday Gingerbread Cookie Cake

Prep Time: 1 Hour Start to Finish: 3 Hours 25 Minutes 14 servings

• Layer Cake
• 1 box (15.25 oz) devil’s food cake mix with pudding
• 1¼ cups water
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 containers (12 oz each) fluffy white or vanilla whipped ready-to-spread frosting
• 1 oz vanilla-flavored candy coating (almond bark), shaved
• Gingerbread People
• 1 pouch (17.5 oz) gingerbread cookie mix
• Butter, water and egg called for on cookie mix pouch
• 1 pouch (7 oz) white cookie icing
• 1 pouch (7 oz) red cookie icing

1 Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Grease bottoms and sides of 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with shortening or cooking spray.

2 In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs, ginger and cinnamon with electric mixer on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly between pans (2 cups each). Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

3 Heat oven to 375°F (350°F for dark or nonstick cookie sheets). In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, water and egg until soft dough forms. (If dough is too sticky to roll out, cover and refrigerate 15 minutes.)

4 On lightly floured surface, roll dough until ¼ inch thick. Cut with 1-inch gingerbread boy or girl cookie cutter. On ungreased cookie sheets, place cutouts 2 inches apart. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges are set. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely. Decorate 18 cookies with white and red cookie icing. Reserve remaining cookies for another use.

5 On serving plate, place one cake layer, top side down. Spread with about ½ cup frosting; top with second cake layer, top side up. Using metal spatula, frost side and top of cake with thin layer of frosting to make a crumb coat; refrigerate 30 minutes. Remove from refrigerator; frost side and top of cake with second layer of frosting.

6 Sprinkle top of cake with shaved almond bark; insert decorated cookies in top of cake and around side.

1 Serving (1 Cake Slice and 1 Cookie): Calories 570; Total Fat 26g (Saturated Fat 9g, Trans Fat 2g); Cholesterol 65mg; Sodium 520mg; Total Carbohydrate 80g (Dietary Fiber 0g); Protein 3g Exchanges: 1 Starch, 4½ Other Carbohydrate, 5 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 5

Make-Ahead Magic Bake, cool and decorate the gingerbread cookies the day before you make the cake, and serve the cake on the same day you make it for the best texture of the cookies.

Kitchen Secrets Use a vegetable peeler to shave the almond bark.