Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8 inch round pans with baker's floured spray (or grease and line with parchment rounds).

Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle until fully combined. Mix chunks of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture becomes crumbly. Add in cookie butter and mix until combined.

Divide batter evenly evenly between the prepared cake pans (I find a kitchen scale helpful for this part). This guarantees your layers will bake to be the same height.

Once the layers have fully cooled, they can be leveled and any caramelized bits can be trimmed from the sides / top of the cake using a serrated knife if desired. (Be sure the layers are completely cooled or chilled before trimming. If you try to trim the layers while they’re still warm, they will crumble and break.)

Now you're ready to crumb-coat . If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake to keep crumbs out of your final layer. I usually do this with my large offset spatula.

Once your crumb coat has set (this takes about 5-10 minutes in the fridge), add your final layer of frosting and smooth. I like to use an offset spatula and bench scraper for this part. Once your cake is covered, place it into the fridge or freezer to set the frosting and chill the cake before adding the drip.

I melted my cookie butter for about 20 seconds on 30% power in my microwave – you may need more or less time depending on your microwave. The cookie butter should look like a thick liquid and be very slightly warm – not hot or it could melt your frosting! Let it cool a bit if needed.

Once the cookie butter is ready, transfer it to a squeeze bottle or piping bag. I recommend a ‘test drip’ so you can adjust your cookie butter temperature accordingly – if it won’t ‘drip’ right you probably need to heat it a bit more, but if it’s too thin/runny or melting your frosting, let it cool before continuing.

When you’ve reached a good temperature/consistency, slowly drizzle cookie butter around the upper edge of your cake, pausing every inch or so to let more cookie butter fall in a drip down the side of the cake. Return cake to the fridge or freezer to set the drips.