Classic Black and White Cookie vs Frankfurter Kranz (Frankfurt Crown Cake)

Both desserts begin with butter and sugar creamed together, enriched with egg and loosened with milk, but they spend those shared ingredients very differently. The black and white cookie bakes into a soft, cake-like round whose flat side is split between a smooth vanilla glaze and a cocoa-darkened one, both made simply from powdered sugar and milk. The Frankfurter Kranz whips powdered sugar into plenty of butter for a silky vanilla buttercream layered with jam, then caramelizes butter, sugar and flaked almonds into a crunchy brittle coating, finished with glacé cherries.