A super soft, chewy, and thick cookie cake – sweet, buttery, and rich, with a whole big mess of colorful, happy sprinkles, and a layer of creamy birthday cake-flavored buttercream frosting. This Birthday Cake Funfetti Sugar Cookie Cake doesn’t have to be for birthdays alone, it hits the spot anytime you need an infusion of joy, brightness, and a lil’ something sweet.
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You don’t need a birthday celebration to make this Birthday Cake Funfetti Sugar Cookie Cake. Sometimes you arrive in a place where you just need a boatload of sprinkles to feel a strong perk up.
Although sometimes sprinkles won’t cut it. This is possibly one of those times. I’d originally written, a month ago, that sprinkles and a cookie cake can cheer you up on a rough day, but it really depends how rough the day is.
At the time, I wanted to share this cheery cookie cake because I was having a bumpy week at work. But that is ancient history now, and also totally minuscule in the scheme of things.
I paused content for a few weeks. Posting recipes felt shallow and inconsequential, and it still does honestly. For some realities, escapism is helpful and welcome. Other realities are so serious that they don’t warrant the luxury of distractions or escapism. We have to face them.
I’m still in a strong period of introspection. What about you?
But I also feel ready to have a bit of cheering up. A slice of frosting-and-sprinkle-smattered cookie cake is a big help.
This cookie cake recipe is easy and beginner-friendly. If you’re comfortable making chocolate chip cookies, this is actually even easier, so whatever your skill level in the kitchen, a cookie cake is simple.
It’s less work than traditional drop cookies because you just press the dough in the pan, and you’re off!
This cookie cake recipe produces a supremely soft, chewy, and thick cookie. I feel the pictures don’t quite convey this well, but it’s almost an inch thick! Yet this cookie cake stays very, very soft.
It’s not a hard, crunchy cookie, not even on the edges. It’s a true hybrid of cookie + cake.
This calls for a whole egg, and then an extra yolk — a few recipes on the blog call for extra yolk/s, and the typical reason is that the fat adds richness and a “luxuriousness” to cookies. They’re more rich, tender, and chewy.
Something I love about this cookie cake is the addition of cornstarch. It’s special because it makes the cookie chewy and soft through and through. This isn’t like a typical cookie that will have a chewy interior only, and edges are crisp.
This keeps your WHOLE cookie soft, puffy, and chewy — like a cookie cake really should be.
I adapted this Birthday Cake Funfetti Cookie Cake from my Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake recipe. That recipe calls for brown sugar exclusively. Whereas a true sugar cookie would call for white granulated sugar exclusively.
For this cookie cake, I went half and half, so it uses 50% brown sugar and 50% white sugar. It’s a bit closer to a sugar cookie cake, but still retains some of the beauty and magic that is brown sugar! Aspects of extra chew and hints of caramel.
The frosting… well, it’s a new favorite thing. As an experiment, I wondered what would happen if I mixed dry cake mix into a standard batch of buttercream frosting. If I simply made buttercream the regular way, but then beat in a bit of cake mix.
What happens is probably rather obvious, but you end up with a creamy, thick frosting that tastes like a birthday cake. Cake batter frosting basically. It’s seriously irresistible, and only fitting to pair it with a funfetti, sprinkle-laden cookie cake.
This Birthday Cake Funfetti Cookie Cake produces a super soft, chewy, buttery, and rich cookie cake, with a whole big mess of colorful, happy sprinkles, and a creamy, dreamy, birthday cake-flavored frosting. If you need an infusion of joy and sugar, it may brighten your day, if ever-so-slightly.
Birthday Cake Funfetti Cookie Cake
Ingredients
For cookie cake:
- 3/4 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large whole egg + 1 egg yolk at room temperature
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. cornstarch
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2/3 cup sprinkles jimmies are preferred, but nonpareils (round balls) will work
For birthday cake frosting:
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 - 3/4 cup white, yellow, or funfetti cake mix I used white
- 1/2 cup sprinkles jimmies are preferred, but nonpareils (round balls) will work
Instructions
For cookie cake:
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and sugar until creamy.
- Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract, beating until combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, and beat until combined.
- Beat in sprinkles, only just til combined, a few turns of the beater. Do not overmix or sprinkles will bleed coloring the dough. Also, they'll get ripped apart by the mixer.
- Spray an 8-inch springform pan with non-stick spray.
- Spread and press dough evenly into the bottom of the springform.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until the edges and top are golden, and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once cool, run a knife around the edge to loosen the cookie. Release the springform pan, and transfer the cookie to a serving plate.
- Prepare frosting.
For birthday cake frosting:
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter til creamy.
- Add powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla, beating until smooth and creamy.
- Add 1/2 cup dry cake mix, beating until smooth. Frosting will be slightly sticky in consistency, and will otherwise be thick, creamy, and a bit pasty. It should be easily spreadable, but hold shape. Add up to 1/4 cup dry cake mix, if needed, to achieve desired consistency.
- In 3-4 strokes, quickly fold in sprinkles. Do not overmix or sprinkles will bleed coloring and frosting will look muddy.
- Spread frosting over the cookie cake.
- Chill in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes to help frosting set. Additional chilling is not necessary, unless desired.
- Cut and serve.
- Store in a cake or pie carrier, or in any airtight container in a cool, dry place.
Notes
- Why does the recipe call for room temperature eggs? It's not absolutely required, but I do recommend it. It allows the eggs to incorporate and distribute more easily, and reduces the need to do as much mixing, thus preventing baked goods from getting overmixed and "tough."
- Are there substitutions for heavy cream in the frosting? Yes, you can use any % milk, half-and-half, evaporated milk, or even water in a bind. I greatly prefer heavy cream because it produces a much fluffier frosting. I have played with this a lot, and it gives more lift and fluffiness than any other alternative, but you can substitute if necessary.
- What about the unbaked cake mix? I have a few recipes that call for dry cake mix or flour and they are no-bake recipes (like edible cookie dough, for example). I have had comment recently that a person is not supposed to eat raw, unbaked cake mix or flour. This is new information to me. I am personally comfortable with a small amount in recipes, but if you are not, then you should not make this recipe.
- Additional storage tips: Both the cookie and the frosting can be stored separately or assembled for up to 3 months. Wrap well or use very airtight containers.
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