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This Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake is the ultimate birthday celebration treat. It has that iconic, buttery mall cookie flavor but with a superior, fudgy texture you can only get from scratch. It’s a giant, soft, and chewy chocolate chip cookie that requires no chilling and no mixer, making it the easiest (and most requested) cake in my recipe box!
This cake combines your two favorite treats: chocolate chip cookies and cake! I took my popular chocolate chip cookie recipe and adapted it to make this cake. It’s so easy to make because you don’t need a mixer and you don’t have to chill the dough. You don’t even have to wait for butter to soften to make it! You can customize it for any occasion with different sprinkles, mix-ins, and frosting for a birthday cake or one for Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day or any day of the year.
What makes this the best chocolate chip cookie cake recipe is the use of melted butter and a high ratio of brown sugar. Unlike some recipes that turn out dry or cakey, this one is dense and chewy, exactly like the famous Great American Cookie Company cakes we grew up with. Plus, because you don’t have to wait for butter to soften, you can have this mixed, baked, and ready for frosting in under 45 minutes!
How do you make a soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie cake? Mix 1/2 cup melted butter with 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Stir in 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp, baking soda, then fold in 1 1/2 cups flour and 1.5 cups chocolate chips. Press the dough into a 9-inch pan and bake at 350°F for 21–25 minutes until just golden. Let cool completely before piping a frosting border.
Ingredients: Why Melted Butter is the Secret
- The Melted Butter Secret: Using melted butter instead of creamed butter is the key to a dense, fudgy crumb. Creaming butter incorporates air, which leads to a “cakey” cookie; melting it prevents that air from entering the dough, resulting in the signature chewy texture of a professional cookie cake. If you want to use salted butter, reduce added salt to 1/4 tsp.
- I always use a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar. Be sure to pack your brown sugar. Brown sugar keeps the cookie cake soft!
- The frosting is similar to my chocolate buttercream recipe, but cut in half because you don’t need as much. You just need butter, powdered sugar, cocoa, salt and heavy whipping cream to make a creamy chocolate frosting for the cookie cake.
- Because we’re baking this in a pan you don’t need to chill the cookie dough. The recipe is formulated to never be oily after baking – it will bake up perfectly right away. That’s why this is the fastest birthday cake you will ever make!
Click to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions. See below the recipe card for even more information: process shots, variations, FAQ and more.
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How to Pipe a Professional Star-Tip Border
You can use any kind of frosting to decorate a cookie cake, but chocolate buttercream is the best. The frosting needs to be piping consistency, which is a little stiffer than spreadable frosting, so I do not recommend using a canned frosting for this. Use my homemade recipe and just make sure not to make it too thin.
You can use any star tip, but I love the Wilton 1M open star tip. There are two ways to decorate this cake with a star tip:
- Place the piping bag perpendicular to the cake and pipe a star, releasing the bag and pulling up quickly for that “kiss” look.
- Hold the bag at a 45 degree angle to the cake and pipe in an up then down motion (like a hill), dragging the piping bag a little after to make a short tail. Release the piping bag then repeat and continue until the cake is frosted.
Expert Tips
- You can use a mixer, but I recommend mixing the dough by hand for the best results. Mixing by hand will make it less likely that you’ll overmix the dough.
- I prefer to bake this cake in a 9” round pan, but if you don’t have one, you can use a 9” square pan. To make it even more like the Mrs. Field’s cakes of our childhood, use a 10-inch or a 12-inch pizza pan. This will require about 5 minutes less bake time than a regular cake pan.
- The Center-Done Rule: To keep your cake soft, do not overbake! The edges should be a light golden brown, but the center should still look slightly underdone and soft when you pull it from the oven. It will continue to firm up as it cools in the pan, ensuring the middle stays soft-baked for days.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cookie:
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup (67g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100g) packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups (186g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups (275g) chocolate chips
For the Frosting:
- 4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup (113g) powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons (10g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream or milk
Instructions
Cookie:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9-inch round cake pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place melted butter in a large bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment). Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix on low speed until the mixture is smooth. Mix in egg and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until combined.
- Mix in salt and baking soda, then slowly mix in flour and mix just until the batter is smooth and comes together. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl during mixing. Slowly mix in chocolate chips.
- Press batter into prepared pan. Bake for about 21-25 minutes or until the cookie is just slightly golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Let cool before frosting.
Frosting:
- Add butter to a large bowl and beat until smooth with a hand mixer. Add powdered sugar, cocoa and salt and mix until crumbly, them mix in vanilla extract.
- Add 1 tablespoon milk or heavy cream and mix until smooth, adding more cream as needed for piping consistency.
- To assemble the cookie cake: place frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe swirls around the edges. Add sprinkles and serve.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze unfrosted cake for up to a month.
Recipe Notes
Recipe Nutrition
How to Make a Cookie Cake
- Place melted butter in a large bowl (or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment). Add granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix on low speed until the mixture is smooth. Mix in egg and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until combined.
- Mix in salt and baking soda, then slowly mix in flour and mix just until the batter is smooth and comes together. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl during mixing. Slowly mix in chocolate chips.
- Line a 9-inch round cake pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Press batter into prepared pan. Bake until the cookie is just slightly golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Let cool before frosting.
Cookie Cake Recipe Variations
- Frosting: you can use any frosting you like with this cake – vanilla buttercream frosting, cream cheese frosting or use your favorite store-bought frosting to make it even easier.
- Mix-Ins: You can also add other mix-ins to the dough before you bake the cookie – chopped peanut butter cups, Reese’s pieces, toffee baking chips, and nuts are just a few ideas. Or switch the chocolate chips for dark chocolate, white chocolate, or butterscotch chips.
- Sprinkles: Don’t forget the sprinkles for decorations! Match them to the occasion to make it extra special.
FAQs
You can double it and bake the cake in a 9×13” baking pan.
You can tell a cookie cake is done when the top is no longer glossy and it’s light golden brown around the edges.
You can use a 9-inch or 10-inch round cake pan for a thicker cake, or a 12-inch pizza pan for a classic mall-style thin cake.
Absolutely! While my chocolate buttercream is classic, a vanilla sprinkle frosting or even peanut butter frosting is delicious on this base.
This is usually from overbaking or storing it uncovered. Always store in an airtight container at room temperature to keep it soft.
Yes! You can bake the cookie up to 24 hours in advance. Wait to frost it until the day of your event to keep the edges crisp and the center soft.
Hello! I have this cake in the oven now and am so excited to taste it. I doubled the recipie and cooked it in a bigger rectangle pan like you wrote in the notes… but how long is it supposed to cook for. It’s going on 35min now. The top is golden but it’s not cooked inside… should I have lowered the temp of the oven??
Lowering the oven temp to 325 and/or tenting with foil will help it finish cooking in the center and not brown too much on top.
This is a huge hit! So much so one of my children has requested it for their birthday dessert for 3 years running!!
I’m wondering if there’s a way to make it dairy-free for a family members allergy, would I be able to sub the butter for Oil?
If so do you know the conversion for that?
Thanks so much!
I haven’t done it in this cake, but I’ve used oil or Earth’s Balance Vegan Butter Sticks in place of regular butter in other cakes just fine. You can also use nondairy milk (and you can use the earth’s balance sticks in the frosting too!)
I wanted to see if this will work in little whooping pie sheets.. and if you knew how many minutes to cook them? I’m interested in making mini cookie cakes for my daughter’s birthday.
I haven’t ever done that but it should work just fine. I’d assume 12-18 minutes
Excellent recipe turns out perfect each time so good I need to make more. Huge hit here.
Can I double the recipe and put into a 9 x 13 pan? And if so, what would be the baking time? Thanks again.
Yes you can! Probably about 18-25 minutes
Just tried your great recipe, wonderful! Thank you for sharing it!
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