This chocolate chip cookie cake is like a giant chocolate chip cookie but with the thickness and soft center of a classic cake recipe. Topped with a rich and creamy buttercream frosting and plenty of sprinkles, it’s a fun twist on two classic desserts that kids and adults will love!
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Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Recipe
I like cake just like everyone else but sometimes I’m just craving a good chocolate chip cookie – but I don’t want to have to make individual cookies!
This chocolate chip cookie cake is the perfect combination of both – a chocolate chip cookie and cake! Kind of like my chocolate chip cookie pie is a combo of a chocolate chip cookie and pie!
I made this same cake into a reindeer cake before but this time around, we’re skipping the antlers and just topping it with some chocolate frosting and sprinkles instead. It makes it much better for birthdays, baby showers, and all-year-round celebrations!
I like to decorate mine by piping chocolate buttercream around the edges and topping the entire thing with sprinkles, but there’s a ton of room for creativity. You could write on it, draw pictures on it, or really do whatever you want.
Enjoy a thick slice of indulgent, warm, and gooey chocolate chip cookie cake on its own or with a scoop of birthday cake ice cream on the side. Either way, you’ll be asking for seconds!
Why you’ll love this Recipe
- Easy to make – You’ll love the fact that it comes together quickly and the cookie dough/cake batter is a one-bowl recipe made with simple ingredients that require zero chilling, slicing, or rolling.
- The perfect texture – a little bit of cookie, a little bit of cake, and a lot of decadence. Slightly crispy on the edges, warm, gooey, and softer in the middle, and loaded with chocolate chips. The chocolate buttercream just puts it over the top!
- You can customize it – depending on the special occasion, there’s plenty of surface area to write a message, use festive sprinkles, or use a different flavor of frosting. Make this cake your own!
Ingredients in this giant cookie cake recipe
Ingredient Notes
- Butter, softened – use unsalted butter. If using salted butter, omit the added salt. You’ll be using butter in the cake and the frosting. Bring it to room temperature about 30 minutes ahead of time so it has a chance to soften enough to cream easily.
- Chocolate chips – semi-sweet is what I use, but you can swap them for milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or butterscotch chips if preferred. Then, use the leftovers to make chocolate chip muffins for breakfast.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder – natural or Dutch-processed can be used. Since we’re not using it for baking, we don’t need to worry about choosing the right one for this recipe.
- Powdered sugar – also known as confectioner’s sugar. Avoid replacing it with granulated white sugar as you’ll find it doesn’t hold as well and it may be gritty.
- Sprinkles – Use whatever colorful sprinkles you like. Use colors based on a theme or a holiday, or go for the rainbow sprinkles. Jimmies are great for this.
How to make Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Making this chocolate chip cake is similar to making a chocolate chip cookie, only we’re going to bake it just like a cake! You’ll make the cookie dough, put it in the cake pan, bake, and decorate!
Before you do anything, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then prepare a 9″ springform pan by using non stick spray to coat the bottom of the pan. Because even if you’re following the best cookie cake recipe, if your cake sticks to the pan – it’s no good!
Tip!
If you don’t have a springform pan, line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and use that instead. You can then use the parchment paper to pull the cookie cake out of the pan and slice.
1 – Make the cookie dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl if using hand mixer beat together the butter and sugar. Mix the butter and sugar until they are light and creamy.
- Add in the eggs and the vanilla. When adding the eggs, make sure to add them one at a time until each one is fully mixed in and the batter is creamy.
- Add the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, and salt – making sure to keep the mixer on low speed while you add in the flour so you don’t get a face full of flour (and lose the ingredient!).
- Once the dough is all mixed together and smooth, stir in the chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough.
2 – bake the cookie cake
- Add the cookie dough into the prepared springform pan (or prepared pan with the parchment paper). Fold the dough out into the pan then gently flatten out the dough with a rubber spatula until the dough covers the bottom of the pan. Make sure the dough is evenly distributed and not too think in some places than others.
- Place the cookie cake into the preheated oven and bake the cookie cake for 35 to 40 minutes. You know the cake is done when the edges are a golden color and the middle of the cake is just barely set. Make sure not to overcook the cake or it will be dry.
- Once the cookie cake is finished baking take the cake out of the oven and allow the cake to cool in the pan with the rim on for 15 minutes. Then remove the rim from the springform pan and gently take the cake off the sheet onto a cooling rack.
3 – make the chocolate frosting
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt together the butter and unsweetened chocolate in the microwave. Microwave for about 30 seconds, stir then continue for about another 15 seconds until fully melted. Once they are melted together whisk the butter and chocolate until fully combined.
- Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and melted chocolate and butter mixture together in a large mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer and mix the ingredients together until they are a smooth and creamy texture. I usually mix on a medium speed.
- Once the butter and powdered sugar have been mixed together, add in about 1/2 cup milk and mix again until the milk is completely combined into the mixture. Add more milk to the desired consistency if you don’t like the texture of the frosting yet. Add about 1 tsp at a time.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag with a star tip to be used to decorate the cake. Or if you don’t have a piping bag, a gallon size zipper top bag can be used as well.
4 – decorate the cookie cake
- Cut the cookie cake into eight even slices but don’t remove them from the pan yet to make it easier to decorate. If you want smaller pieces of cake to feed more people you can divide the cake however you wish.
Tip!
If you’re using a piece of parchment paper in a regular round cake pan, I do recommend removing it from the pan prior to serving. Just grab the sides of the parchment paper and lift carefully, removing it from the pan. Then decorate and slice like normal!
- Pipe out little dollops of frosting all around the edge of the cake. You can get as creative as you want here! I just used the star tip because it was easy! Once it’s frosted, you can add sprinkles to the frosting if you want!
- Carefully remove the spring rim from around the cake then serve while still warm. Or if you want to get really festive, you could transfer to a serving plate add more frosting and sprinkles around the sides of the cake to give it a fun and festive look! More sprinkles makes for a great time, every single time!
Look at those giant slices! There’s a reason I think this is the best chocolate chip cookie cake – it has the soft and chewy cookie center with the a little bit of a crisp outside. It’s absolutely delicious!
It’s even better when served with a scoop of this birthday cake ice cream (or vanilla works too).
How to Store cookie cake
If you have leftovers, you’ll want to store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days (assuming it’s frosted). If it’s not frosted yet, you can just store on your counter in an airtight container.
If you want to make this ahead of time, make the cake and remove it from the pan to store, unfrosted. Then frost and add sprinkles right before you’re going to serve.
How to freeze
If you want to freeze this chocolate chip cookie cake, I recommend freezing before you frost the cake. But if you’ve already sliced and frosted the cake, that’s okay too. Wrap each individual piece tightly in plastic wrap then place all of the pieces into an airtight freezer safe container or a gallon size zipper top bag. Freeze for up to three months.
Tips & tricks
Increase the number of slices. This recipe for a chocolate chip cookie cake is enough to serve eight people a very generous slice of cake. It can be too big for some people. My recommendation is to slice as you’re serving, not before, so people can let you know if it’s too much. You may find you’ve got more leftovers than you thought!
For clean slices you can either use a plastic knife, with a back-and-forth sawing motion, or a bigger sharp knife, making sure to wipe the blade between each cut. Because it is soft, you’re less inclined to ruin it by using a plastic knife!
A different frosting – instead of the chocolate buttercream frosting, try vanilla buttercream instead. Or strawberry. You can get creative with any frosting you’d like!
Recipe FAQs
Why is my cookie cake dry?
The culprit is usually using too much flour or over mixing the dough. You also need to make sure there is enough fat in there, in this case, butter and eggs, to maintain moisture. It could also be too try if you baked it too long so make sure to watch it carefully when it gets close to time to take it out!
More Easy Cakes
If you’re a big cake person like I am, make sure to try out one of these delicious cake recipes after you enjoy this cookie cake!
- Chocolate raspberry cake – a moist chocolate cake layered with fresh raspberries and whipped cream frosting. There’s a bit of every layer in each bite.
- Dr pepper cake – a simple chocolate cake with frosting with the bonus of a little Dr. Pepper Flavor. It’s such an easy and fun cake to make.
- Beach cake – a fun summer, beach-themed cake perfect for pool parties, barbecues, and summer birthday parties!
- Chocolate chip bundt cake – where vanilla cake meets chocolate chip cookie using a boxed cake mix, sour cream, and plenty of chocolate chips.
- Snickers cake – moist chocolatey poke cake soaked with gooey caramel and topped with crumbled Snickers. It’s so good!
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Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Ingredients
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 Large Eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups all-pupose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cups chocolate chips
Chocolate Frosting
- 1 cup butter
- 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- 2 lbs powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup milk
Instructions
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Then prepare a 9″ springform pan by using non stick spray to coat the bottom of the pan.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl if using hand mixer beat together the butter and sugars.1 cup unsalted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup sugar
- Add in the eggs and the vanilla.2 Large Eggs, 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Add the dry ingredients flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix on low speed.2 3/4 cups all-pupose flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt
- Once the dough is all mixed together and smooth, stir in the chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough.2 cups chocolate chips
- Add the cookie dough into the prepared springform pan. Gently flatten out the dough with a rubber spatula until the dough covers the bottom of the pan.
- Place the cookie cake into the preheated oven and bake the cookie cake for 35 to 40 minutes. The cake is done when the edges are a golden color and the middle of the cake is just barely set.
- Once the cookie cake is finished baking take the cake out of the oven and allow the cake to cool in the pan with the rim on for 15 minutes. Then put onto a cooling rack.
- Cut the cake it into 8 even slices but don’t remove them from the pan yet.
- Pipe out little dollops of frosting all around the edge of the cake using a star tip. Then add sprinkles on top of the frosting.
- Carefully remove the outside of the pan from around the cake then serve while still warm.
Frosting
- In a microwave safe bowl, melt together the butter and unsweetened chocolate in the microwave. Stir to combine.1 cup butter, 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and melted chocolate and butter mixture together in a large mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer and mix the ingredients together until they are a smooth and creamy texture.2 lbs powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Add in about 1/2 cup milk and mix again until the milk is completely combined into the mixture. Add more milk to desired consistency.3/4 cup milk
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag with a star tip to be used to decorate the cake.
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