Indulgent chocolate chip cookie cake is soft and rich in the center, chewy on the edges, studded with chocolate chips, and decorated with chocolate buttercream. This fun dessert comes together quickly—skip the cookie dough chilling and rolling into individual cookie dough balls. Everything we love about chocolate chip cookies in cookie cake form!
Meet your new favorite dessert! Today’s chocolate chip cookie cake is adapted from 2 of my most popular cookie recipes loved by bakers worldwide: soft chocolate chip cookies and chewy chocolate chip cookies. The result is soft-baked, chewy, chocolatey decadence. I’m a fan of huge cookies that serve a couple people (looking at you, 1 giant monster cookie and 1 giant snickerdoodle), 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 perfect for any celebration.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Video
This Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake Is
- Simple, straightforward, and fun to make
- Quick; you don’t have to roll a bunch of individual cookies
- Soft-baked with chewy edges
- Loaded with chocolate chips
- Baked in a pie dish or cake pan—it won’t overspread
- Super festive
- Perfect for chocolate chip cookie lovers
- Great for birthday parties (serves 8–10)
- Easy to slice and serve
- Decorated with chocolate buttercream
- Essentially a really big cookie!
Ingredients in Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
- 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 adds flavor.
- Butter: Use room temperature butter. You can use this trick to soften butter quickly or set the butter out 1–2 hours before you begin.
- Brown Sugar: We skip granulated sugar and use all brown sugar for an ultra soft and moist cookie cake. You’ll love the extra molasses flavor.
- Eggs: Taking what I learned from my chewy chocolate chip cookies, we use 1 egg and 1 egg yolk for the chewiest cookie cake. The extra egg yolk also adds tenderness and extra richness to the cake.
- 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 total. Use 1 and 1/4 cups for the batter and 1/4 cup for decorating. 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.
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 it into your dish. It will never overspread because it’s contained in the dish—simple and easy! Here are all of my no chill cookie recipes. 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 is always a good idea! And turns this giant cookie into a true cake. 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 and fancy designs. I used a simple Wilton 1M tip for today’s cake.
Have fun and get creative with your toppings: instead of chocolate buttercream, try peanut butter frosting, vanilla buttercream, chocolate ganache, salted caramel, whipped cream, ice cream, sprinkles, or extra chocolate chips.
This is the perfect recipe to make when you’re looking for something just as festive as birthday cake but a little more exciting than chocolate chip cookies! Or try my s’mores chocolate chip cookie cake in the summer.
More 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
- Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
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
My favorite way to eat a chocolate chip cookie – when it’s the size of a cake! Decorate with frosting, 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*
- 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 cup (225g) 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 for 1 minute on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Mix 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, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. On low speed, slowly mix into the wet ingredients until combined. The cookie dough will be quite thick. Add 1 and 1/4 cups chocolate chips and mix for about 5 seconds until evenly disbursed.
- Press the cookie dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cake is lightly golden brown (could be up to 30 minutes, depending on your oven). Use a toothpick to test for doneness. 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 wire rack to cool completely. 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 use can serve directly from the pan.)
- The chocolate buttercream is optional. Instead, decorate with whipped cream or top with vanilla ice cream.
- Decorate the cooled cookie cake with frosting and remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips. 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, no worries. Place them into a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes, then use.
- Cornstarch: The cornstarch 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.
Can I bake this in a disposable aluminum foil 9″ circle pan?
Yes, that should be fine. Enjoy!
these are brilliant! work very well in a 6 inch pan too 🙂 good job sally!
Once frosted, can it still remain at room temperature for three days? I would like to serve this to 10 people…Will this be enough?
Hi Monika, After decorating anything with buttercream or cream cheese frosting, it’s fine for 1 day at room temperature. After that, we would refrigerate it. This recipe could definitely serve 10 with smaller slices!
Hi! I need to make this into a rectangle, but I don’t know which size pan to use.
Hi Andrea, 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! If you have a 9″ square pan, try our Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.
Hello!
Yum 🙂 I’d like to make this and my Wilton pan is 14″ do you think it will be enough to double the recipe? Thank you!
Kelly
Hi Kelly, We haven’t tested this recipe in a pan that large. If you double the recipe it may still be on the thinner side. Let us know what you try!
Can this be made ahead and frozen in decorated?
We’d recommend wrapping the baked cake (without buttercream) similar to how we wrap cakes and freezing for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before decorating. Enjoy!
How far In Advance can you make this! Also how to store it?
Thank you for your help!
Jacquelyn
Hi Jacquelyn, This cookie cake remains fresh covered tightly at room temperature for up to 3 days. Or you can wrap the baked cookie cake similar to how we wrap cakes and freeze for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
I’ve made this recipe dozens of times and I love it. I do not have baking soda on hand can I use baking powder instead? I read you use threee times as much baking powder when substituting, but I’m at a loss.
Hi Dollie! You can read more about the differences between baking powder and baking soda in this post! It’s really best to stick with the recipe – see the section titled “How to Substitute” for more information 🙂
This is by far THE BEST cookie DOUGH AND CAKE/PIE. We couldn’t stop eating it raw and then baked, my absolute new favorite dessert!
Yuck. Super dry.
Hi, my son requested a cookie cake for his birthday. Your blog is now my go-to for cake recipes, so I was thinking I’d bake your Funfetti sugar cookie cake and this cookie cake stacked on top of each other. Do you think that would be too rich? Thanks!
Hi Sarah, what a fun combination! Sounds perfect for a birthday. Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes!
Hello,
Thanks! I will stick with all purpose. One more thing….if I want to make this into a sheet cake, how do I go about it? Should I just double the recipe and add additional cooking time?
Hi Sheila, for a cookie “sheet cake” we would use our chocolate chip cookie bars recipe instead!
Hello,
I want to make this for my son’s birthday. Can I use cake flour (Swans Down) instead of all purpose?
Hi Sheila, cake flour will be too light for this cookie cake, we recommend sticking with all purpose.
I am also wanting it on a pizza pan, but am afraid to double recipe, can you encourage me?
Hi Lucille, for a cookie cake made on a pizza pan, we’d recommend following this cookie pizza recipe instead. Hope you enjoy it!
I made this cookie cake for my son’s birthday and he LOVED it. He’s picky, so I was shocked when he ate a piece then asked for more! It was the perfect consistency and sweet but not too sweet. Everyone asked for the recipe and I directed them here!
Hi Heather, we’re so thrilled that your son loved this cookie cake! Thank you so much for making and sharing our recipe.
Has anyone tried to make this ahead and chill overnight? I want them to be freshly baked but would like to save some time by mixing the night before.
Thanks!
Hi Sandra, you can chill this dough overnight, no problem!
Hi .. I tried this recipe and it’s so yummy. Thanks for sharing. Just a query. Can I make a smaller version of the same recipe with half the portion of all ingredients? If yes then what should be the cake pan size? Thank you
Hi Mon, you can try halving the recipe and using a 6 inch round pan. If you have a bit too much dough, you can use the leftovers for a few cookies. Enjoy!
Thank you for this recipe. I doubled it and baked it in a Wilton 12 x 3 inch round aluminum pan and it was perfect. I did add a little baking time and just kept checking. It was about an 1 1/4 inches high. My son loved it.
Hello! Your cookie cake looks super yummy!!! I’m planning to make this tomorrow for a friend’s birthday. Just a question on exactly when to put the foil, did I understand correctly that I wait for 15 mins baking before putting the foil on top of the cake pan? And do you use up and down heat with fan?
Thank you so much in advance Sally 🙂 I’m a big fan!
Hi sally, I was wondering how the cake would be with just a single egg, great recipe by the way
Hi Ash! The cookie cake would lack some tenderness and chewiness without the extra yolk, we recommend sticking with the recipe if at all possible!
Can I use a springform pan for this? It’s the only 9 inch cake pan I have and I want the sides to be straight and not curved like a pie dish. Thanks!
Hi Abbie, a 9 inch springform pan should work just fine here.
Is it ok to freeze this cake for later?
Absolutely. We’d recommend wrapping the baked cake similar to how we wrap cakes and freezing for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Hi, I want to make this cake for my daughter’s birthday. I’m just wondering how to best store this and if I can make it the night before or not? Also my oven tends to brown the top of cakes quite quickly, if this happened with the cookie but it’s not cooked in the middle would you recommend covering in foil whilst baking?
Thanks
Hi Navreet, you can make this cookie cake the night before and leave it tightly covered at room temperature until serving the next day, or you can store in the refrigerator if you prefer and bring back to room temperature before serving. It’s normal for the edges of a cookie cake to brown a bit more than the middle, but you can tent the edges if it seems to happen too quickly. Hope the cookie cake is a hit for your daughter’s birthday!
Hi Sally! I am trying to find the best chocolate chip cookie cake recipe for my father’s upcoming birthday, and I think this one is it. But I do have one question, how can I prevent the edges of the cookie cake burning, or the texture of the center being much different than the edges? Thank you.
Hi Kailey! A slight texture difference between the edges and center is normal, but the edges are just a bit chewier and not burnt. Just be sure to keep a close eye on it! It’s also normal for the middle to sink a bit more than the edges, but that’s an easy fix with some frosting along the edges. Hope the cookie cake is a hit for your father’s birthday!
Thank you for responding and answering my question!
I am making this for my friend’s birthday party. She is gluten free and I was wondering if I could substitute gluten free flour for all purpose flour.
Hi Zoe! We’ve never tested this cookie cake with gluten free flour, but please let us know if you do!
Can this be frozen undecorated or would you recommend baking right before serving?
Hi Ann! The baked and cooled cookie cake can be covered tightly and frozen for up to 3 months before decorating. Enjoy!
I made this today after trying a super expensive store bought one. I didn’t have the highest of expectations because a cookie cake is such a new concept to me but OMG THIS CAKE BLEW MY MIND!!! Sooooo much better than the store bought!! I can’t tell you how impressed I am with this recipe. It was perfect in everyway. I made mine with chopped up milk and caramilk chocolate and decorated with your choc buttercream and it was just absolute heaven. Will make it again as soon as this one gets eaten! I can’t wait to try the funfetti version
How tall is the cake? Using a 9in pan
Hi Maria! We’re unsure of the exact thickness, maybe about an inch thick?
Awesome ! Thank you!!
A friend asked for a chocolate chip cookie cake for her birthday. I had never heard of one, so I looked it up online. I was surprised to find there were lots of recipes to choose from, but I chose this one because I liked your suggestion for softening butter. These little tips make the difference between good results and perfect ones, and this recipe came out perfectly! Everyone loved it, and it looked exactly like a huge chocolate chip coookie! Thank you!
We’re thrilled to hear that this recipe was a hit for you and your friend, Susan! Thank you so much for giving it a try.
I had some cookie cake at a party last night and I couldn’t wait to look up your version first thing this morning because I knew it would be 100 times better than the traditional cookie cake. Let me tell you, it sure is. Thick, rich, delicious in taste and in looks. Easy to customize, fun to decorate, looks super impressive. this will be my new go-to dessert to bring places for sure. Thanks Sally!
Always love trying your recipes, especially this one! One question though: is there a way to freeze the dough before baking? Like, form into the pan then freeze before baking?
Hi Mayi, you can definitely do that. Form into the pan, then cover tightly (if you can get the wrapping to touch the cookie dough, even better to prevent moisture from getting in). It should freeze well for up to three months.
Hi! I’m trying to make this for my fiancé’s birthday, but I’m wanting to use a 12” pizza pan, should I double it? Or adjust bake time for a thinner cake?
Hi Caity, you can try doubling this recipe for a 12 inch pan. If it seems like there is too much dough, you can make a few extra cookies. We’re unsure of the exact bake time. Hope it’s a hit!