Indulgent chocolate chip cookie cake is soft in the center, chewy on the edges, studded with chocolate chips, and decorated with chocolate buttercream. This fun dessert comes together quickly—no cookie dough refrigeration or dough shaping needed. This is the perfect (and easy!) cake for cookie lovers.
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and have since added new photos and a few more success tips.
One reader, Linda, commented: “Birthday cake? What’s that? This cookie cake is requested for every birthday in my family. I’m making one for my sister today. This has been my go-to recipe for years. And still today the tradition carries on. It’s the perfect cookie cake… the frosting is the perfect addition. Absolutely delicious. This recipe never fails me. ★★★★★”
Today’s chocolate chip cookie cake is adapted from 2 of my most popular cookie recipes loved by bakers around the world: soft chocolate chip cookies and chewy chocolate chip cookies. The result is soft-baked, chewy, chocolatey decadence.
I love baking “giant” cookies that serve only a couple people (looking at you, 1 giant monster cookie), and this cookie cake is no exception. It’s essentially one really big cookie that feeds a crowd!
You’ll love how quickly and easy this cookie cake comes together. We’ll bake the cookie dough in a pan, so no cookie dough chilling required (just like my soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie bars). Garnished with chocolate buttercream and your favorite toppings, it’s a festive dessert recipe perfect for any celebration.
This Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Is:
- Soft-baked and chewy, but sturdy enough to eat with a fork
- Quick to make —you don’t have to roll a bunch of individual cookies, and you don’t have to chill the dough
- Baked in a pie dish or cake pan—so it won’t overspread
- Great for small parties or gatherings (serves 8–10)
- Easy to slice and serve
- Topped with the creamiest chocolate buttercream
- Perfect for chocolate chip cookie lovers, and anyone who prefers cookies over cake! (We put together a collection of fun desserts beyond traditional birthday cake!)
Ingredients You Need & Why
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of this cookie cake.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch creates an exceptionally soft and thick cookie cake. I add it to my soft chocolate chip cookies—and to this cake, too! This soft-baked cookie cake will melt in your mouth.
- Baking Soda: Baking soda helps the cookie cake rise.
- Salt: Salt brings out all the flavors and balances the sweet.
- Butter: Use room-temperature butter (remember it’s cooler than you think). You can use this trick to soften butter quickly or take the butter out of the refrigerator about an hour before you begin.
- Brown Sugar: Skip the granulated sugar and use all brown sugar for an ultra soft and moist cookie cake.
- Eggs: Taking what I learned from my chewy chocolate chip cookies, I use 1 egg and 1 egg yolk for the chewiest cookie cake. The extra egg yolk also adds tenderness and richness.
- Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract adds flavor. Try homemade vanilla extract!
- Chocolate Chips: This cookie cake is studded with chocolate chips—1 and 1/2 cups (270g) total. Instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips, try using dark, milk, or even white chocolate chips. Or swap half of the chocolate chips for M&Ms like we do in these soft M&M cookie bars.
How to Make It
This cookie cake dough comes together quickly with an electric mixer. Start by creaming the butter and brown sugar, then add the remaining wet ingredients.
Whisk the dry ingredients together, then add them to the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Finally, add in the chocolate chips.
No Cookie Dough Chilling!
Because we’re baking the cookie dough in a cake pan or pie dish, we don’t have to chill the cookie dough or roll individual cookies. Simply make the cookie dough and spread/press it into your baking dish. It’s really that simple:
The cookie will never overspread because it’s contained in the dish—simple and easy!
By the way, you could absolutely make this cookie cake with the dough from these double chocolate chip cookies. Same bake time as below.
Toppings for Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
While this cookie cake delicious on its own, chocolate buttercream and sprinkles are always a good idea… and turns this giant cookie into a true cake worthy of a celebration!
My favorite chocolate buttercream is far from basic; it’s incredibly creamy, silky, smooth, and rich. Even though it’s wonderfully creamy, it holds its shape beautifully. So it’s perfect for piping even the most intricate designs. I used a simple Wilton 1M tip for today’s cookie cake.
Have fun and get creative with your toppings: instead of chocolate buttercream, try peanut butter frosting, chocolate peanut butter frosting, vanilla buttercream, chocolate ganache, whipped cream, or ice cream.
This is the perfect recipe to make when you’re looking for something just as festive as a birthday cake but a little more exciting than chocolate chip cookies! You could also try my sprinkle-filled sugar cookie cake instead.
Yes! You can follow the same instructions on how to freeze cakes: cool completely, wrap in a layer of plastic wrap followed by a layer of foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw completely in the wrapping, then make the frosting fresh the day you plan to serve it.
Absolutely. You can replace some or all of the chocolate chips with M&Ms or mini M&Ms, or try peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, sprinkles… you get the idea!
You can double this recipe, but the layers will be quite thick. Instead, I recommend my chocolate chip cookie layer cake recipe. That recipe uses 6-inch cake pans, but see the recipe Notes if you’d like to use 9-inch pans.
More Favorite Chocolate Chip Recipes
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer Cake
- Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Pizza
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cake with Ganache Drip
- Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: one 9-inch cake
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
One of the best ways to eat a chocolate chip cookie: when it’s the size of a cake! Use this quick and easy homemade cookie dough and bake it in a cake pan or pie dish. No dough refrigeration required! Decorate with optional frosting and sprinkles, and then slice and serve.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (aka cornflour)*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 cups (270g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- optional: chocolate buttercream for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray a 9-inch pie dish or 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Beat in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. The cookie dough will be quite thick. Add the chocolate chips and mix for about 5 seconds or until evenly dispersed.
- Press the cookie dough evenly into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 22–26 minutes or until the cookie cake is lightly golden brown all over the surface (could be up to 30 minutes, depending on your oven). Use a toothpick to test for doneness; if it comes out mostly clean with just a few moist crumbs, it’s done. You may want to cover the cake loosely with aluminum foil after 15 minutes to avoid heavy browning around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and set the pan on a cooling rack to cool completely. While the cookie cake is still warm, you can press a few more chocolate chips into the surface of the cake. This is optional and only for looks!
- Once cooled, use a sharp knife or metal spatula to loosen the sides of the cookie cake from the pan and transfer to a serving dish. (Or serve directly from the pan.)
- Make the chocolate buttercream, if using.
- Decorate the cooled cookie cake with frosting. Depending how much frosting you use, you may have some leftover. I used a Wilton 1M tip.
- Cookie cake remains fresh covered tightly at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9-inch Pie Dish or 9-inch Round Cake Pan | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Wilton 1M Tip
- Eggs: Make sure you don’t use 2 full eggs, which will result in a cakey texture—think more of a cake than a cookie. 1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk is best. Room-temperature eggs incorporate evenly into your cookie dough, which guarantees a uniform texture in each bite of the cookie cake. Simply set out the eggs when you set out the butter to come to room temperature. If you forget to set out your eggs ahead of time, place them into a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes, then use.
- Cornstarch: The cornstarch (aka cornflour) helps thicken the cookie dough and promises a softer cookie cake. If you don’t have cornstarch, you can leave it out. No need to replace with anything.
- The chocolate buttercream topping is optional. You could also decorate with whipped cream or top with vanilla ice cream.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Thanks for the recipe:) My brother loved this cookie cake.
Mine turned out pretty hard, but maybe I overcooked.
I adapted this recipe with my love of mint chocolate chip cookies, with an added bonus of covering it in chocolate ganache. Yum!
Within two bites my son asked me to make this another time! It was delicious and easy to make
Hi Sally!
Thanks so much for the recipe. I made it for my husband and his brothers and they loved it! I will be making this again in the future!
Happy Baking,
Hannah
I didn’t have all-purpose flour like I thought, so used self-rising, omitting the baking powder and salt. I was nervous because it took about an hour to bake, but it got really big and was DELISH! Perfect for my sweet toothed husband and his preggo wife on Valentine’s.
I made this gluten free using my own all purpose gluten free flour mix, and it turned out delicious! I would add a bit more butter or another egg maybe next time to make it slightly less crumbly, but the taste was delicious! I love finding recipes that are so easy to make gluten free. 🙂 Thanks!
Made this tonight for a friend’s birthday party and everyone kept raving that it was the most incredible cookie cake they had ever eaten. I baked mine for about 22 minutes and let it sit in the cooling oven for an additional 4 minutes. Even the frosting got rave reviews, though I had to add another tablespoon of cream to thin it out enough to pipe.
Made this for my bf’s birthday-came out wonderful! Everyone loved it and remarked what a clever idea it is. Thanks for a super recipe!
This recipe delivered! My husband’s birthday is tomorrow and the kids and I made him a non-traditional cake. He’s not a fan of store bought or boring birthday cakes. We couldn’t wait and ate it with some vanilla ice cream minutes after it came out of the oven. So yummy! The icing was great too but the cookie cake is also perfect on it’s own. Thank you!
Thanks so much for this recipe – I baked the giant cookie for my son’s 10th Birthday party this weekend and it was a hit with all the boys who have never seen a cookie that size in their life before. My son is not a fan of cake so this was the first time he’s actually eaten his own birthday “cake”.
Loved how crispy the edges where and then how soft and chewy the inside was. The icing was also fantastic. It set really well and once “dry” it didn’t melt or get mushed!
Hello there! I only a have 9.5 inch pie dish. Will that make much of a difference in thickness or baking time? Thanks!
9.5 inches is just fine. The baking time won’t be different for that small of a difference in size.
Hiii sally ! So thiss cake lookss delicious and i really want to do it, but infortunately i have a problem with cookies every time i bake cookies i ruin them! I have tried to bake cookies 3 or 4 times and i failed all of them! I can cook so many things but cookie isn’t part of them! Soo do you have any advice for me so that i don’t burn or undercook or simply fail this recipe ? Thanks you so muchh !( excuse my english, its not my furst language but i try to do my best 🙂
I made this cake yesterday for my boyfriend’s birthday. My boyfriend is use to the Mrs. Fields cookie cake……. This new version is amazing!!!!!!!!!! It’s moist but not too moist. I also made a milk chocolate frosting for the top and chocolate sprinkles instead of more chocolate chips. It was a cried pleaser for sure.
My sister and I are trying out some recipes for my nephews birthday. We came across this recipe and this cookie cake is delicious and very simple to make. We thought the frosting was a little too sweet but it was still tasty!
Made this tonight for my husband’s birthday. Turned out great!! I pressed the dough into a springform pan, so I could remove it more easily & we could eat it still warm. Skipped the icing, because the calorie count on the cookie cake terrified me enough (150 calories per serving, if you slice it into 32 pcs). Was well worth the splurge though 🙂
Thanks for the recipe!
The Cake turned out AMAZING thanks for the great recipe , Keep up the good work 🙂
The most amazing cookie cake ever. I baked for 30 minutes and could not be happier. Butter cream icing on top is delicious. Thanks.
I made this for my boyfriends birthday. He absolutely loved this cake, even his family members raved at the perfection of it. I made it exactly as your steps provided, I did have to leave it about 15 mins longer in the oven to set – that threw me off as i thought maybe i was burning the cake or i accidentally forgot a step. however, turned out great. I added a few peanut butter reeses chips (found in walmart -I live in toronto, ontario CANADA, I am sure your local grocery store will also supply this) I also from Walmart, purchased already made milk chocolate frosting. The next time I do make this i will use peanut or almond M&Ms.
I made this for my boyfriend’s birthday a couple weeks ago. He isn’t much of a cake person but he LOVED this! Thanks for another great recipe!!
Hi, Sally! I just have a quick question for you.
I made this cookie cake back in April in a 9-inch round pan as in the recipe. Now I want to make it again, but maybe thinner. I was thinking of putting it in a 9×13-inch pan instead to make it thinner and larger. Would this be enough batter or should I double the recipe?
Thanks so much!
Hi Alexa. This cookie dough amount in a 9×13 pan will create a very very thin cookie cake. But it sounds like that’s what you want. Bake for much less time because it is so thin.
Made this for a co-workers birthday last night; so easy and yummy! Thanks for another great recipe! 🙂
Sally, this is my third time baking this delicious dessert. I love the concept of the cookie pie. I made it for my daughter on her 8th birthday and added yellow and white frosting flower accents. I just made it again for my son’s birthday tomorrow and added peanut butter m&m’s and milk chocolate chips. I plan to add the chocolate and peanut butter frosting on it. Can’t wait for family to try it. Thanks Sally for your baking innovations.
Hi Sally! This recipe is in the oven as I write this.
I know this will turn out GREAT because the dough tasted delicious 😉 (hehe i might’ve eaten too much that my cookie is a bit lop-sided – oh well!)
Anyways, compliments to the baker!
I cannot wait to see what else you come up with!
Sally this cookie cake is DANGEROUSLY GOOD! I love how FAST this recipe is! There is no extra time for dough chilling, and plopping it into a pie pan takes a whole two seconds. The cookie is SO thick, chewy, and soft. Your recipes never cease to amaze me!
I switched out the chocolate chips for 1/4 cup of cocoa powder and added 1/4 cup of milk and some coconut for the best brownies ever. Thanks!
I made these today with my sister! We kinda severely messed it up by dropping it on the table without letting it cool haha… But I was pleasantly surprised that it still tasted great! I added vanilla bean ice cream on top instead of chocolate frosting.
Good luck to others making it and thanks for posting this recipe Sally!
Absolutely LOVED this recipe ! I warmed it in the oven prior to serving and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce. DELICIOUS and the leftovers were still great several days later warmed up in the microwave. Thanks so much for all your wonderful recipes.
So good! This was the best cookie cake I’v e had. 🙂 Thanks Sally!
Sally, could this recipe be modifed for a larger pan? a square?
I made this last year for my son’s birthday (he hates cake, loves Choc Chip cookie!)..BUT…since we celebrated at one of our sheep shows with a bunch of other families, I ran dangerously close in not having enough! I thought a large square cake would be better..thoughts?
Yep! You may double the recipe to fit a 9×13 pan. Though it may bake more evenly if you just make two cakes instead. I’m unsure of the bake time for a larger pan.
I tried this recipe for a class party and it turned out perfect it tasted just as good as it looks..thanks soooo much