These festive birthday cake cookies create the most cakey, soft, chunky cookies ever! Just like my birthday cake cheesecake, rainbow sprinkles and almond extract give the perfect taste of classic birthday cake, in cookie form!
It's always somebody's birthday somewhere, right? Which means it's totally permissible to eat birthday cake any day of the year. But baking a fancy layer cake can be time consuming. That's why we have birthday cake cookies!
This birthday cake cookie recipe is my go-to when I want to pump a little sugar into my sweet tooth. These are super soft cookies, but they're also satisfyingly chunky. And rainbow sprinkles add a festive flair to the whole mix.
Spoiler Alert: These cookies taste like that coveted lick of batter off your mixing spoon when making a birthday cake. 🙂
I was inspired to make these birthday cake cookies by New York style cookies. Similar to cruffins from San Francisco, New York City's Levain Bakery created an internet sensation with their chunky, "softball-sized" cookies.
I got to try Levain Bakery's NYC cookies on a trip to the Big Apple in 2023, and I can attest that they are as tall as the skyscrapers that line NYC's skyline. In fact, each individual cookie is made from over one third of a pound of dough!
For more cookie recipes inspired by cake, try Black Forest cookies, red velvet Oreo cookies, and German chocolate cake mix cookies.
Ingredients
- Butter - I recommend using unsalted butter that's been cut into cubes and stored in the fridge to keep it cold
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar - both light and dark brown sugar work in this recipe
- White chocolate chips - adds a little crunch in each bite along with adding to the overall birthday cake flavor
- All purpose flour
- Cake flour - creates extra soft, chewy cookies
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Eggs - use large eggs and whisk them separately in a small bowl so they incorporate evenly into the dough.
- Almond extract - adds a recognizable bday cake flavor; you can use vanilla extract if you don't have almond extract
- Rainbow sprinkles - adds a fun, festive look so you know these cookies are here to party!
How to Make This Recipe
Below are the general steps to make these delicious cookies. For the full step-by-step directions and ingredient measurements, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Break up the butter: Add the cold cubed butter into a bowl and break it up for 30 seconds with an electric hand mixer or with the paddle attachment in a stand mixer.
- Add the sugars: Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Mix for another minute until the sugar is distributed and coating the butter.
- Add the chocolate chips: Add the white chocolate chips. Mix just for 10 seconds to distribute.
- Add the dry ingredients: Add the all purpose flour, cake flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix for one to two minutes, until it forms fine crumbs.
- Add the eggs and almond extract: Add the whisked eggs and almond extract. Mix just until the dough comes together, for about one minute.
- Add the sprinkles: Add the rainbow sprinkles and mix the dough again just until the sprinkles are distributed, after about 10 seconds.
- Roll the dough into balls and freeze: Gently press the dough into 12 evenly-shaped balls in the palms of your hands and spread them out on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Freeze for at least one hour.
- Prepare the oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Take the baking tray out of the freezer and let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.
- Bake, cool and enjoy: Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, just until the bottom edges become golden. Let cool for 5 minutes, then enjoy!!
Recipe Tips
- Don't skip chilling the dough, otherwise your cookies could spread too much in the oven and become thing and crispy.
- Use jimmies sprinkles (long rod shapes) and not nonpareil sprinkles (small round shapes) to prevent the color from bleeding out of the rainbow sprinkles.
- I recommend to slightly underbake the cookies so they're still a little gooey inside. Take them out of the oven when just the bottom edges are golden.
Recipe Variations
- Spread ice cream in between two cookies to make birthday cake cookie ice cream sandwiches!
- Crumble up the cookies and use them as a crunchy cookie topping on a classic birthday cake.
- If you don't like white chocolate, you can mix semisweet chocolate chips or chopped cashews into the dough instead.
- If you do like white chocolate, melt some extra and drizzle it on top of each cookie.
Storing
Raw Cookie Dough
Fridge: Store unbaked cookie dough in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Freezer: Place the cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet and place in the freezer for at least 2 hours, until they're frozen solid. Then you can transfer them to an airtight container or freezer safe bag for up to 3 months.
Baked Cookies
Room temperature: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Freezer: Store cooled cookies in an airtight container or freezer safe bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
What Makes Cookies Cakey?
Cake Flour
Cake flour has a lower percentage of protein and gluten compared to all purpose flour. Cake flour also is ground much finer. These attributes result in a lighter, more tender cookie.
Brown Sugar
More brown sugar helps create a cakey cookie since it adds moisture to the dough. That's why I use a ratio of 2:1 brown sugar to granulated sugar in these birthday cake cookies.
Chilling Dough
Chilling cookie dough in the freezer prevents the cookies from spreading out too much while they bake. The more cookies spread, the thinner they'll be, edging towards a crispier cookie. By chilling the dough, the cookies don't bake as quickly, keep them really soft and cakey on the inside.
More Delicious Cookie Recipes
Hungry for more festive holiday cookie recipes? Try these:
Birthday Cake Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cubed and cold in the fridge (2 sticks)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1¾ cups all purpose flour
- 1¼ cup cake flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 large eggs (whisked separately in a small bowl)
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- ⅓ cup rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Add the cold cubed butter into a bowl and break it up just for 30 seconds with an electric hand mixer or with the paddle attachment in a stand mixer.
- Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Mix until the sugar is distributed and coating the butter, after about one minute. Add the white chocolate chips. Mix just for 10 seconds to distribute.
- Add the all-purpose flour, cake flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix until it forms fine crumbs, after one to two minutes. It's okay if there are some larger chunks as well.
- Add the whisked eggs and almond extract. Mix just until the dough comes together, for about one minute. It should still be chunky and not entirely smooth. Add the rainbow sprinkles and mix the dough again just until the sprinkles are distributed, after about 10 seconds.
- Gently press the dough into 12 evenly-shaped balls in the palms of your hands and spread them out on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.The dough balls should be big, about 2 inches in diameter. Freeze for at least one hour, or until you're ready to bake your cookies.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Take the baking tray out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter at room temperature for 5 minutes. The cookie dough will remain frozen, but the baking tray can warm up a bit so the temperature difference isn't too drastic.
- Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, just until the bottom edges become golden. Let cool for 5 minutes, then enjoy!!
Notes
- Don't skip chilling the dough, otherwise your cookies could spread too much in the oven and become thing and crispy.
- Use jimmies sprinkles (rod shapes) and not nonpareil sprinkles (small round shapes) to prevent the color from bleeding out of the rainbow sprinkles.
- Store unbaked cookie dough in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Markus + Micah
OMG, these look so fun!
Humbly Homemade
Thank you!! They were even more fun to eat! ðŸ˜
Annie S.
The photography is absolutely STUNNING! Way to go! 🙂
Humbly Homemade
Aww thank you, Annie! That means so much!! 😊