I’ve got birthdays on the brain this month because where there is a birthday, there is a party, and there is bound to be an epic cake. That’s my great hope for your birthday celebrations, at least. Cake is casually my life’s work… so, no pressure. I’ve decided that this start to the new year is also a fresh start to new birthday cake inspiration here. We’re starting mellow (and yellow) with a cookie cake recipe that’s as delicious as Dad’s famous (around these parts) chocolate chip cookies.
This cake is just a giant cookie. Let me try that again. THIS CAKE IS A GIANT COOKIE! I see stacks of these store-bought cookie cakes housed in plastic containers next to the bakery department at my grocery store. I’m always tempted to pile at least a few in my shopping cart but I know I can do better (and eat this cookie warm out of the oven). The secret, which isn’t even a secret anymore, is browned butter. You know what’s good, let’s get cake baking.
Here’s what you’ll need for this easy cookie cake recipe:
• unsalted butter, divided. We’ll brown a few tablespoons of the unsalted butter just for extra credit (and deliciousness)
• all-purpose flour or a gluten-free flour blend
• brown sugar and granulated sugar (here’s how to make your own brown sugar if you’re out!)
• large eggs
• baking soda
• kosher salt
• pure vanilla extract
• semi-sweet chocolate chips or any sweetness of chocolate chip you prefer
• powdered sugar and more unsalted butter for a quick buttercream frosting
• You’ll also need a 9-inch cake pan, parchment paper, nonstick cooking spray, sprinkles, a piping bag and tip, and a candle if it’s that kind of party.
We’ll start this cookie cake recipe by whipping together room temperature butter, browned butter, and sugars in a large bowl. I used electric hand beaters though a stand mixer is always an option. You can also cream the ingredients together by hand. There’s no rule that chocolate chip cookies must be made with beaters.
Add two large eggs to the butter and sugar mixture, beating the eggs in one at a time until the batter is pale and fluffy.
Add the dry ingredients on top of the butter, sugar, and egg mixture. On low speed, whip flour, baking soda, and salt into a soft dough.
Stir chocolate chips into the dough, reserving a small handful to top the cookie dough once it’s in the pan.
Set the beaters aside at this point. Use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to fold the chocolate chips into the cookie dough.
Can you freeze this cookie cake recipe?
Sure thing! Scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and freeze. Thaw dough in the refrigerator before you’re ready to bake. Press in the pan and continue on as the recipe indicates.
Prepare a 9-inch round cake pan by greasing it lightly with cooking spray (or a smear of butter), then line the bottom with a 9-inch round cut out of parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment too. The paper will ensure that the cookie cake comes out of the pan easily after it’s baked. Don’t skip this step.
Press the cookie dough and the remaining chocolate chips to the edges of the prepared pan and bake in the oven until it’s golden brown and your kitchen smells like fresh baked cookies (because yea… it’s happening).
While the cookie cake bakes, whip together a quick buttercream. In a medium bowl on medium speed, combine softened butter, powdered sugar and a splash of milk. Add any food coloring you’d like to tint the frosting.
Cool the baked cookie on a wire rack before transferring to serving platter to decorate.
Use either a piping bag or freezer ziplock bag along with piping tips and sprinkles to decorate.
I used Wilton piping tip 4B.
Slice into wedges and serve up sweetly.
I like this cookie best the day it’s made, but the plain cookie can be double wrapped and left at room temperature overnight. Wrap any leftover for late night snacking.
Here’s to a year full of birthdays, friends! Happy Baking!
Print
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 1 9-inch cake Serves 6-8 1x
- Category: dessert, cookies
Description
A classic chocolate chip cookie baked into a 9-inch cake, lined with yellow buttercream and rainbow sprinkles.
Ingredients
For the Cookie Cake:
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and divided
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 heaping cup chocolate chips
For the Frosting:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (130 grams) powdered sugar
- About 1 tablespoon milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Yellow food coloring
- Rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper and lightly grease the parchment paper too.
- Melt and brown 2 of the 8 tablespoons of butter from the cookie cake ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Melt until foamy and brown bits emerge. Remove from the pan and place in a small bowl.
- In a medium bowl combine softened butter from the cookie cake ingredients, with the sugars, and browned butter. Beat with electric hand beaters until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat one at a time, until each is well incorporated. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Add the flour, salt, and baking soda to the bowl and beat until well combined. Remove the beaters and stir in the chocolate chips, reserving few tablespoons for the top of the cookie cake.
- Press the dough into the prepared pan into an even layer. Top with the remaining chocolate chips.
- Bake for 20 to 24 minutes until cooked through and golden across the top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- While the cake cools, make the frosting. In a medium bowl with electric hand beaters cream together butter, powdered sugar, and milk. Add vanilla and a few drops of yellow food coloring and beat until smooth.
- To assemble the cake, remove the cooled cookie from the pan and place on a serving plate. Spoon the frosting into a piping bag or freezer ziplock bag with a small star tip (Wilton 4B) attached to the end. Pipe stars across the top border of the cake. Sprinkle with rainbow sprinkles and serve.
- Cake is best served the day it is made but leftovers can be wrapped and stored at room temperature for a few days.
41 Responses
In general, what do you use to “grease” pans?
Hello! There are many ways to grease a pan, you can use butter, a lot of the times I’ll use shortening and powder coat it in flour. Or you can butter the bottom, line it with parchment so it’s easier to remove. Alternatively, there’s sprays you can buy. Moral of the story is, there is no one way or WRONG way to grease a pan – just depends on what you have! Happy baking, xo
Can I make the cookie dough in advance the day before and then bake it the next day?
You can, G! Just let the cookie dough come to room temp before baking!
How long do you let the cookie cake cool before attempt t to remove from the cake pan?? Thank you.
hello Robin! I am the question answer-er for Joy, but rest assured the information comes from Joy! For cooling I would say anywhere from 15-40 minutes should be okay. The cookie should be set and the pan able to be handled without burning yourself. I hope this helps! Happy baking :)
In step 2 of the recipe melt 2 Tablespoons of butter over medium heat until brown and foamy and place in a small bowl. I don’t see on the recipe where this is added? It is not mentioned again.
Hi there! It is mentioned in step three, combine the softened butter and browned butter. Happy baking :)
My favorite cookie cake recipe! I’ve used it several times and always come back to it!
This was good… a bit thick of a cookie cake so it was almost more of a bread like texture instead of a moist and rich cookie. Easy recipe and very pretty though. The taste was just ok for me.
I agree! I was disappointed when it was cakey (although i guess it’s technically called a cookie cake I was expecting it to be like store bought cookie cakes which are dense and not cakey) the cakiness also kind of diluted the flavor for me
Made this last night and it was amazing! The butter confused me but I eventually figured it out. I didn’t make the frosting since I just wanted to make a quick cookie recipe. So good!
I made this tonight for my husband’s 41st birthday. It was easy to make and sooooooo yummy. I will definitely be adding this to my recipe book. Thanks for sharing!
Made this for husband’s birthday! Everyone loved it. Thanks
My icing border doesn’t look as good tho?
Can you explain what happen to step 2? The melted butter, where does it come into play again. I may have missed it?
Hi Trang! You’re gonna melt 2 tablespoons of butter and brown it. Then you’re combining the 2 tablespoons of melted brown butter with the other 6 tablespoons of softened butter and creaming it with the sugars. Does that make sense? Hope this helps!
Can you update the instructions to include when the browned butter is used, please? Trying this for the first time.
Yes, I can update this to make it more clear!
I’m making this for my daughter’s birthday at school tomorrow. Double batch to serve 20 kids. I already made the dough yesterday but couldn’t taking some of the dough aside to bake a couple of cookies for myself (hey, if I’m sending my girl to school with something new, I want a taste). I LOVED them. I will definitely keep this recipe. Hopefully, the kids find this a cool idea too. Thank you very much for the idea
Excellent recipe! My whole family loved it??
So good! Will be making again.
Love this Joy, thanks! For my first time around I was short on eggs, and it still turned out. Looking forward to making it again with mis en place :).
Checking on my calandar the first chance to make this cake for a birthday!
I literally made this cookie cake for a co-worker’s birthday this week! It was a delicious hit and now everyone at work wants me to bake one for their birthdays. On a side note, can we talk about the amazing smell of browning butter??? So good!
When does the brown butter get added?
With the softened butter!
Made this for my son’s birthday and everyone loved it!
Love love LOVE cookie cakes! This looks perfect, will be making with kids for our family film later, thanks for the recipe! ?
thank you for this fun giant cookie, good to know too about browned butter as a key ingredient or process, and I’ll bet that those giant cookies that you saw on a store shelf weren’t made with it!
Just made for our homeschool public speaking group… umm it is bringing so much Joy in January in Minnesota
Made this today, and oh my goodness I have a house full of tiny people with big smiles. This recipe is fantastic! My only issue was that I have an 8 in pan, so I believe the cookie was a bit thicker – I baked it a little longer but it was still a touch under baked. It fell a bit in the middle after it cooled, but overall this was INCREDIBLE. My husband loves cookie cakes and he was really excited! Thank you!
Could you use browned butter in this recipe? Similar to your dad’s browned butter chocolate chip cookies. Not sure if it would throw off the taste or consistently for a cookie cake!
Yes the browned butter is great!
I’ve been making a similar (incredibly easy) version of this recipe since it was requested by my son for his birthday 2 years ago. We skip the icing though. This recipe looks even EASIER since it doesn’t involve splitting an egg and luckily that kid’s birthday is in a few days to give this a try. We make it for all occasions now, I even stuck 7 candles in one and sang “happy first day of school” on his first day of 7th grade.
What kind of GF flour blend do you recommend?
I like Cup4Cup or King Arthur’s GF Baking Blend.
Ive been looking for the perfect cookie cake recipe for sooo long! I finally found it, my dessert came out amazing! thank you!
I cannot WAIT to try this. This is absolutely one of my favorite cakes ever and they are never quite as good as an 80’s childhood memory…but something tells me your recipe is going to be BETTER.
I ask for a cookie cake for my birthday every year and usually my husband and kids get one from the store. Perhaps I’ll start celebrating my half birthday and make my own! Thank you for this!
I made this at 6400′ elevation and it turned out perfectly. EVERYONE loved this cookie cake. This will become a regular recipe even without a birthday to celebrate!
Total 1990s/Mrs. Fields vibes, but so much better. Loving this!