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
Would this recipe work for a 9 by 13 pan ?
Hi Carolyn, no, it wouldn’t fit. I recommend these M&M cookie bars and you can replace the M&Ms with more chocolate chips.
How do you think this would stack as a three layer cake? Obviously, you’d need three batches. Wondering if you could turn this into a cookie wedding cake ? Or too heavy?
You can do that! Or you might enjoy this chocolate chip cookie layer cake, too!
This was awesome! My daughter requested a cookie cake for her 16th birthday and this recipe fit the bill perfectly. She wanted to decorate it with colored frosting so I made half a batch of your vanilla buttercream frosting and she went to town with food coloring and piping tips. It was a big hit and really really delicious – thanks for the recipe!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I’d like to make a smaller portion in a 6 inch cake pan, if I were to halve the recipe should I just use 1 egg?
Hi Vivi, you could, but the dough will have a slightly cakier texture. What you could do is make the recipe as is, use some for the 6-inch pan, and then use the remaining dough for some cookies on the side. Hope you enjoy it!
I’ll try that, thank you so much!
How should I make this recipe if I want to do it a few days in advance? Should I freeze the dough or fully bake it and then freeze?
Hi Rachel! You could freeze the dough or the baked cookie cake – thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving or baking. Cookie dough could also be prepared and chilled in the fridge for up to 3 days before baking.
Hello! Great recipe, but I now need to make it bigger- like 13″ x 9″ in a cake pan. Can you please advise me on quantities that you would suggest for this modification?
Hi Kate, If you are using a 9×13 pan for this recipe you should double the recipe and we are unsure of the exact bake time. Use a toothpick to check for doneness; if it comes out clean, it’s done!
Hands down, best and cookie cake recipe. Just follow exactly and it will be awesome. So glad I went with this one. I like the accompanying buttercream recipe; so much better than the buttercream recipe I’ve used previously from Food Network. I doubled this cookie cake recipe and pressed into a 9×13 sheet pan. It did not cover completely because I wanted it to be 1-inch thick. It did spread a little during baking so I sliced the ends to make it even and neat. Baked for 12 people and every body had seconds (teenage boys had thirds and fourths lol), and there is so much leftovers. Will freeze.
How long did you bake it for?
I need a larger cookie. Can I 1 1/2 X the recipe and bake in a 14” pizza pan or 12” calphalon skillet? I want to retain the chewy aspect of the cookie.
Hi Joey! Here’s our very similar chocolate chip cookie pizza recipe.
I baked this in a disposable aluminum pan, and it has literally been baking for 55 minutes and the middle is still jiggly and raw . Any idea what’s going on? It looks yummy and VERY thick (it’s double the thickness of the recipe I previously tried).
Hi Ashley, is your pan the correct size? This recipe calls for a 9 inch round pan or pie dish. Anything smaller will yield a thicker cookie cake that takes longer to bake. Just keep baking until the cookie is baked through.
What did I do wrong? My cookie cracked on top and looks like middle sunk a little.☹️ glad I did a trial run before party on Sunday.
Hi Joey! Could the cookie be under-baked? It is normal for the middle to fall a bit. Make sure to use a toothpick to test for doneness!
It definitely could’ve used another few minutes. I also used mini chips and think I’d prefer regular sized ones.
Thanks!
I absolutely love this receipt but I’m still Marie on how to tell it’s done! Should the toothpick be clean?
Hi Lexi, yes, the toothpick should be clean. Enjoy!
Can you do both m&ms and chocolate chips?
Go for it!
I made this cookie cake, and it was fabulous. Is there a way to incorporate peanut butter into the base recipe? I was thinking of subbing half the butter for peanut butter/oil.
Hi Lauren, It would require some recipe testing to add peanut butter to this recipe. Peanut butter frosting, instead of chocolate, would be a wonderful combination! Chopped peanuts could be mixed in with the chocolate chips as well. Let us know what you try.
I make this for all my kids’ birthdays every year! We love it!!! I am making a lot of these for a graduation party. Can I make and refrigerate batches of dough ahead of time and then bake them all the day I need them?
Hi Jenny, absolutely!
I would like to bake this in a 12” springform pan. Will this affect the baking time or how evenly the cookie bakes? I worry maybe the edges might get too crispy or it won’t be fully baked in the middle.
Hi Georgia, a 12-inch pan will be quite thin. You may want to 1.5x the recipe and use any leftover dough for a few cookies on the side. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, so keep a close eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Yes, definitely planning on increasing the amounts. Just wasn’t sure if making a bigger version would prevent it from baking evenly.
Hi there! This recipe is absolutely amazing!
The whole family loved it, and it made a great birthday treat for our kiddo that requested cookie cake as opposed to traditional birthday cake!
I do have one question! Do you happen to have the nutritional info for the cookie cake? I may just be missing it! Thanks so much.
Hi Kay, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Is there an alternative to melting butter. I’m cooking 3 cakes for a party and I don’t wanna grate all that butter. My varieties are date cookie cake, snickerdoodle, and normal. For date I am swapping the chocolate chips with chopped date and for snickerdoodle I’m adding cinnamon sugar.
Hi Cori, we’re unsure what you mean by grating the butter. You can melt butter from sticks (we usually cut the into 1 tbsp portions for more even melting) using the microwave or on the stovetop.
Can’t wait to make this recipe for a family get together tonight!
Hey Sally! I need to make this for a large group. Using a half sheet pan. I assume if you suggest doubling for a 9 x 13, that I would need to quadruple for a 13 x 18?
Hi Nancy, correct, you can double it for a 9×13 pan, so it sounds like you will need 4 batches for your larger pan (or near to it—you can always use any leftover dough for a few cookies on the side). A quadruple batch may be too overwhelming for your mixer, so we would make 2 double batches instead.
I am looking to make mini heart-shaped cookie cakes. ANy ideas how many 9-oz heart-shaped pans this recipe could make? How long to bake this size?
Hi, I have 8” and 10” cake pans. Which one would be better to use? Or is a glass pie dish better in this case? I need to be able to transport it decorated.
Also is this more cakey than chewy? Looking for that good caramelized flavor. Thanks!
Hi Jamie! You can use your 10 inch pan for a thinner cookie – the bake time will be a little shorter. This is definitely chewy! Just like a big cookie.
I love this cookie! If I were making a 9 x 13 would I double it?
Hi Corinne, If you are using a 9×13 pan for this recipe you should double the recipe and we are unsure of the exact bake time. Use a toothpick to check for doneness; if it comes out clean, it’s done!
Also, is there any high altitude adjustment?
Hi Natalie, wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Can I use chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips? Cut up from bars in irregular pieces.
Hi Natalie, absolutely. Enjoy!
It’s a giant cookie! What could be better?
If I wanted to make this gluten-free, would I just swap the all purpose flour with gluten-free flour or do I need to change any other ingredients?
Hi Amanda, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you do give it a try.
This recipe is soooooo good! Our local grocery store couldn’t make me a cookie cake for my husband’s birthday so I decided to make it myself and found your recipe. I have now made it twice to RAVE reviews. He’s super picky so that’s high praise!
Can I double and use a 14″ cookie pan
Hi Melissa, you can, or you can our cookie pizza recipe instead if you’re using a pan without sturdy, taller edges.
I make this recipe every time we celebrate friends or family birthdays! Everyone always raves about it. SO delicious
Hello, mine sunk really bad. Why??
Hi Alaca! Some sinking is normal. Could the cookie cake be a little under-baked?