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Author: Sally
Published: 03/18/2014Updated: 07/08/2022
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: Useroom temperature butter. You can use this trick tosoften butter quicklyor 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.
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! You could also try my sugar cookie cake or s’mores chocolate chip cookie cake instead.
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
4.7 from 79 reviews
- Author: Sally
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: one 9-inch cake
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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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 ()
- 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 buttercreamis 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.
