Tessa's Recipe Rundown
Taste: Like the best chocolate chip cookie, with a sweet, classic birthday cake frosting on top.
Texture: The cookie itself is ultra chewy at the edges, slightly gooey in the center, and taken to a whole new level by the rich and creamy frosting.
Ease: Very easy! The cookie dough comes together in minutes without an electric mixer and can be made ahead of time.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: Super fun for celebrations! Perfect for those who don’t love birthday cake.
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Get ready to enjoy the most delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake you’ve ever had.
This homemade cookie cake is perfectly chewy, gooey, and thick, with plenty of chocolate chips in every bite. Whether you’re having a party or it’s just a regular weekday, this recipe will add a little sparkle and fun to your dessert. No one will be able to stop at just one slice.
Growing up, I never really liked birthday cake. Don’t get me wrong, I loved a good fresh, homemade cake baked with quality, flavorful ingredients. But neither of my parents baked. Store-bought birthday cakes or ones made with cake mix and packaged frosting were sickeningly sweet and artificial tasting, even for my 10-year-old taste buds. And I’ve loved sweets my entire life!
Don’t even get me started on the actual bland, dry store-bought cakes.
This Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake recipe is perfect for those who don’t like birthday cake. Or for when you just don’t have the time and patience to bake a cake! Or maybe for those times when you just want something fun and a little different.
Whatever you do, make sure you’re generous with the rainbow sprinkles for an extra festive cake!
I’ve formulated the chocolate chip cookie base recipe to be ultra-thick, chewy, and slightly gooey in the middle with tons of flavor. The melted butter, dark brown sugar, extra egg yolk, bread flour, and cornstarch all help to accomplish this.
If you’d like to know more about the science of cookie baking, check out my cookbook, The Ultimate Cookie Handbook!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Do I Have to Use Bread Flour in This Cookie Cake?
The bread flour in this recipe helps make the cookie cake ultra chewy and thick. If you don’t have any bread flour, feel free to use only all-purpose flour, though your cookie cake might lose some chewiness.
Do I Have to Use Dark Brown Sugar? What if I Only Have Light Brown Sugar?
- No need to panic! You can easily use light brown sugar in place of the dark brown sugar. Your cookie cake will be a bit lighter in color and slightly less rich in flavor.
- Dark brown sugar also brings additional moisture, thanks to its added molasses content, so using light brown sugar will slightly alter the final texture, too.
- If you’ve got white sugar or light brown sugar and molasses on hand, simply make your own dark brown sugar. You will need 1 ½ cups (300 grams) white granulated sugar + 2 tablespoons molasses. DIY Brown Sugar instructions here.
- I don’t recommend decreasing the amount of sugar in this recipe – learn about sugar’s role in baking here. For a less sweet cake, try topping with ice cream or whipped cream in place of the frosting.
Why is There Cornstarch in This Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake?
Along with bread flour, cornstarch is our magic ingredient for achieving that perfect thick, chewy, and soft texture. It can also aid in lift and height. I use cornstarch in my Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies. Don’t skip the cornstarch!
How to Decorate a Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
For this cookie cake recipe, I used a half batch of my go-to Best Buttercream. I’ve also listed other topping ideas below. If you’d like, you could also use a piping tip to pipe some beautiful buttercream swirls around the edges of your chocolate chip cookie cake.
More Topping Ideas for Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake:
- Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting
- Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- Homemade Caramel Sauce
- Chocolate Ganache
- Homemade Ice Cream (or cookie dough ice cream would be delicious)
- Whipped Cream
- Don’t forget extra sprinkles and/or chocolate chips!
The Best Pan For Baking Cookie Cake
- For this Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake, I prefer to use a 9-inch springform pan because it makes it really easy to remove the entire cookie cake from the pan and place it on a pretty cake stand or serving plate.
- If you don’t have a springform pan, use a round cake pan or deep pie pan. You may need to adjust the baking time.
- I also recommend using these pre-cut parchment paper rounds with tabs, so you’ll more easily be able to remove the chocolate chip cookie cake from the pan.
- Avoid using glass or ceramic pans – learn why in my Glass vs. Metal Baking Pans article here.
Can I Make This Cookie Cake Ahead of Time?
Yes, Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake can be made ahead of time! You have a couple of options, depending on how far in advance you need to prep the cookie cake:
- The cookie dough can be prepared in a greased pan and stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Bake straight from the fridge as directed below. You may need to add a minute or two to the bake time.
- If you need to prep the dough further in advance, check out my article on freezing cookie dough here.
- The buttercream can be prepped and stored in the fridge for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let come to room temperature and re-whip in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. If it needs to be thickened, add a tablespoon or two of sifted powdered sugar.
- The baked cookie cake can also be stored for a few days – more on that below.
How to Store Cookie Cake
You can store this Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake covered at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More Amazing Birthday Cake Recipes:
- Best Birthday Cake (yellow cake with chocolate frosting! YUM!)
- Red Velvet Cake
- Best Chocolate Cake
- Funfetti Sheet Cake
- Chocolate Brownie Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
- Find all my best Birthday Cake Recipes here!
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Ingredients
For the chocolate chip cookie base:
- 1 1/4 cups (247 grams) lightly packed dark brown sugar*
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (191 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups (159 grams) bread flour**
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 cups (340 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
For the buttercream:
- 1 1/2 cups (153 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- Pinch fine salt
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoons cream or milk
- Sprinkles, for garnishing
Instructions
For the cookie base:
- Place sugars in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Add the butter to a small saucepan set over medium-low heat, swirling occasionally until melted. Alternatively, place the butter in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between bursts, until melted. Add hot butter to the sugars and stir to combine. Set aside to cool until just warm.
- Stir in the eggs, egg yolk, milk, and vanilla until well combined. Using a spatula, gradually mix in the flours, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips. Bake now or cover the dough and refrigerate until ready to bake, up to 72 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch spring-form pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Press the cookie dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes for a gooey center or 35 to 40 minutes to cook completely. Place the pan on a cooling rack and allow the cookie cake to cool completely before removing from the pan and frosting.
For the buttercream:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase the speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the salt, vanilla, and cream and beat on medium for 1 minute, adding more cream if needed.
- Spread all over the cooled cookie cake then garnish with sprinkles. Serve or cover and let stand at room temperature for up to 1 day, or refrigerated for up to 3 days. Let come to room temperature before serving.
Notes
This post was originally published in 2016 and has been updated with recipe improvements and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
I was considering this recipe baked in a shot glass mold. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions about cooking/temperature? Thanks
We haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure! How fun, let us know how it goes if you give it a try 🙂
This is such a tasty cookie cake ! I’ve made it twice now for my nieces and nephews birthday and they were super pleased. I was wondering though how much longer am i able to cook it for before it starts to brown/burn as it was extremely goey in the middle and i even did the full 40 minutes with a half inch larger tin?
Hi Elli! So happy to hear everyone loves this recipe, thanks for choosing it to celebrate with 🙂 As for the timing, that’s honestly personal preference. You want to make sure you’re using a light-colored metal pan to bake in first though as dark-colored pans brown way more quickly and aggressively. If the middle is still too gooey for your liking, try covering the top with aluminum foil if it starts to brown, then bake to your desired cookie texture. I hope that helps!
Hi! If I didn’t want this as thick, what size pan would you recommend?
Also I was thinking of trying it in a muffin top pan to get smaller individual cookie cakes, do you think that would work or would one of your other chocolate chip cookie recipes work better?
Hi Holly, we haven’t tried either of those ideas, so I can’t say for sure! Please let us know how it goes if you give them a try 🙂 Love the idea of individual cookie cakes!
Hi Tessa,
Is it OK to chill the cookie dough for 24-48 hours before i bake it?
Hi Shirin! We actually haven’t tried that, but it should be fine! If anything, it should enhance the texture and flavor! Please let us know how it goes 🙂
Brought this to a little family gathering and it was a huge hit!
Hooray! So happy everyone loved your cake!
This is such a a amazing recipe cookie cake!! A perfect alternate to box cakes and always a hit! My fav roots recipe to eat! My oven took much much longer for the dough to cook through (almost twice as long – the center kept coming out jiggly when I pulled the pan out the oven) but still the best ever!
I’m so glad you enjoyed your cookie cake! Do you have an oven thermometer? I’m wondering if perhaps your oven’s temp is slightly off (it’s common!) as to why yours took so long to bake?
Like your chocolate chip cookies, would you say it’s better to “marinate” this cookie dough cake batter for 24 hrs in the fridge? Or, does it not matter and you should just bake it after you made the dough? I’m excited to try this for my husband’s birthday!
Thanks!
I actually haven’t tried that, Courtney, but it’s definitely doable! I’d imagine it’d go exactly the same as regular sized cookies in added flavor/texture wise, but the best part would be you don’t have to scoop it after it’s been in the fridge! 🙂 Let me know how it goes!
Can the bread flour be replaced with all purpose flour???
Made this for my 1st anniversary cookie business!
How did you indent the center so you could fill it with icing?
I just made this with the kids. Delicious! We baked it for 35 minutes and the center is the perfect amount of gooey for us. It’s already been requested in place of a bday cake. 🙂
This makes me so happy to hear!
So delicious and so easy to make
Love it
Yay!