The best of both worlds with these Birthday Cake Cookies! Vanilla cake flavored cookies speckled with rainbow sprinkles and white chocolate chips.
I can’t believe it’s been almost 6 months since I posted a cookie recipe. Craziness. Admittedly, cookies aren’t my favorite thing to make. This is Liv for Cake, after all. But in an effort to add a little variety (and for something a little less time consuming), I bring you these bright and cheery Birthday Cake Cookies!
In typical Olivia fashion, I totally screwed up the measurements. Even when I double check, I often still make mistakes no matter how thorough I think I’m being. But, really, it’s probably because I’m rushing through it.
I wanted to use my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie as a base for this, but I only wanted to make half the recipe. Easy enough, right? Except that I also needed to add cake mix into the equation, and that’s where things got all messed up.
In my changing and adding and halving, I measured out twice as much flour and cake mix as I needed. Naturally, I didn’t realize this until after I dumped the whole flour mixture into the mixer bowl that contained my butter and sugars. SIGH.
I am not a fan of doing things twice. Especially things that are supposed to work the first time. Having to redo because of a stupid error is the worst thing ever.
Note to self: sanity check measurements 3x.
Thankfully, cookies are easy to make and it takes no time to whip up a batch, so things worked out much better the second time around. These Birthday Cake Cookies taste just like a vanilla birthday cake without all the effort. Perfect for birthday parties, and easy to give as gifts!
If you are a cookie fanatic, be sure to check out my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownie Cookies. They are some of my most popular recipes!
Birthday Cake Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup +2 Tbsp vanilla cake mix
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sprinkles
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cake mix, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Beat butter and sugars on medium until pale and fluffy (2-3mins). Add egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- Add flour mixture all at once and mix until just incorporated. Fold in sprinkles and white chocolate chips.
- Chill dough at least 1 hour up to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
- Portion dough using a medium cookie scoop (1 1/2 Tbsp) and place 10 cookies per sheet.
- Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are golden on the edges but still soft in the middle (approx. 10-15mins).
- Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Barbara S says
Cookies were absolutely delicious, however, completely flat. I chilled the dough overnight, took out to thaw a bit, then scooped with a medium cookie scoop. Cookies totally flat. Next batch I made with the small cookie scoop and put the tray of cookies into the freezer for a few minutes before baking. Took out of the oven when they looked good and just about done, left on tray for a minute and again they went completely flat. Last I took the rest of the dough (I had doubled the recipe) and put it into an 8”x8” pan and figured I would just make bar cookies. Cooked until middle didn’t looked set, took out if the oven and within minutes, again went flat. Loved the taste and we ate them but I would never serve them to guests. I’ll have to play around with the recipe.
Vanessa Huezo says
Hello,
So if I didn’t want to use cake box mix, could I just use regular flour in lieu of?
Thank you!
Olivia says
Hi Vanessa! I haven’t tried that so can’t say for sure, but it would probably work ok. The texture might be different though.
Vanessa Huezo says
So what would you recommend I use instead?
Olivia says
If you want them to taste like birthday cake I recommend following the recipe as written. Otherwise they’re just vanilla cookies with sprinkles.
Rosanna Tsang says
Hi Olivia,
Ive tried this recipe twice and absolutely love the flavor of the cookie. However both attempts yielded flat cookies that resembled disks. First attempt my butter was too soft /liquidy when I began creaming it so I figured that was why my cookie ended up spreading too much. Second attempt, I made sure the butter was a thicker consistency but still allowed for creaming in the sugar. I also added an extra 30g of flour. The end product was better but as much thinner than whats shown in your pictures. Any guesses what I did wrong? Thanks in advance!
Olivia says
Hi Rosanna! Are you chilling your cookie dough? These ones definitely bake up thinner than normal cookies due to the cake mix. It’s possible that your oven runs hot too (a lot of ovens do), which would cause the cookies to spread more too. If all else fails, you can mess with the ratio of cake mix and flour — take away some cake mix and replace it with flour. Are you using the measurements in grams or cups? I just took at look at the grams and I think the ratio was off there! I’ve updated it to reflect the correct amounts. Let me know if that was it?? If not you can mess around with the proportion of flour to cake mix.
Lauren says
Stumbled upon your blog by accident by clicking frantically on buttons on Pinterest. I’m officially obsessed!!!!
Wanted to ask if you used box mix, or did you make your own vanilla cake mix?
Olivia says
Hi Lauren! I used a box mix to help ensure the cookies had that perfect birthday cake taste 😊
Olga says
I think that this cookies are awesome!!!!!!!!!! so original.
A big kiss for you and send me some of them to Spain, no? with cookies is possible!!!!!!!!!!
Olivia says
Haha very true! Cookies do ship easier than cake 😉 Thanks Olga! xo
barbg says
They look delicious I love birthday cake flavor of anything I can get. I would love to see more cookie recipes. Going to check out the 2 above you mentioned too.
Olivia says
Hi Barb! I hope you try them! 🙂
Megan @ Meg is Well says
Cake cookies are so addicting! Can’t wait to try these. I read recipes over and over again because of my ability to completely miss ingredients and instructions-I feel your pain.
Olivia says
Haha, glad I’m not alone! Thanks Megan 🙂 xo
jacquee | i sugar coat it! says
Cake in cookies – how FUN!!! Also loving the bright, festive pics.
Olivia says
Ahh thank you!! <3 xoxox 🙂