How to Make a Giant Cookie Cake: The Ultimate Easy Birthday Dessert
September marks the beginning of birthday season in our family, and the first celebration this year was for Em’s Husband Mitch. Instead of a traditional birthday cake, Em requested something a little different.
A giant cookie cake.
I had never made one before, but after years of baking chocolate chip cookies, I figured surely it couldn’t be too different. Thankfully, I was right because this giant cookie cake turned out even better than I expected.
If you’ve ever wondered how to make a giant cookie cake, the good news is that it’s surprisingly simple and incredibly delicious.
Why You’ll Love This Giant Cookie Cake
This recipe has everything you love about classic cookies, just in oversized cake form.
It has:
- Crisp golden edges
- A soft and chewy centre
- Rich chocolate flavour
- Buttercream frosting for a celebration feel
- Easy preparation with simple ingredients
Honestly, it’s the perfect combination of cookie and cake.
How to Make a Giant Cookie Cake
The process is almost exactly the same as making regular chocolate chip cookies.
You begin by creaming together butter and sugar before adding the remaining ingredients to create a soft cookie dough. The dough is then pressed into a large cake tin and baked until golden around the edges while staying soft in the centre.
At first, I worried it might look a little plain once baked, but adding buttercream around the edges completely transformed it.
The frosting instantly made it feel more festive and gave it that proper birthday cake look while still keeping the fun and relaxed cookie feel.
The Texture Is What Makes It So Good
The best part of this giant cookie cake was definitely the texture.
The outside baked up beautifully crisp while the centre stayed soft, chewy, and slightly gooey, exactly how a good cookie should be.
Adding buttercream frosting elevated it even more and made the whole dessert feel extra special without adding much extra work.
Chocolate Chip Variations
For this version, I used a combination of milk chocolate and white chocolate chips which worked perfectly together.
One of the great things about giant cookie cakes is how easy they are to customise. You could easily switch things up by adding:
- M&M’s
- Caramel chips
- Dark chocolate chunks
- Sprinkles
- Nuts
- Peanut butter chips
It’s one of those recipes you can adapt for birthdays, celebrations, or simply using whatever you already have in the pantry.
A Fun Alternative to Traditional Birthday Cake
If you’re looking for an easy birthday dessert that feels a little different from a traditional layered cake, this giant cookie cake is such a fun option.
It’s simple to make, easy to decorate, and guaranteed to disappear quickly.
I already know this will become one of those recipes I make again and again because honestly, who doesn’t love a giant cookie?
If you make your own giant cookie cake, don’t forget to share it with me. I’d love to see your creations and flavour combinations.
And if you’re looking for even more celebration dessert ideas, you might also love my Money Cake, Lollies and Chocolate Cake, or Tropical Cake for something completely different.
Giant Cookie Cake
Ingredients
- 170 grams butter (softened)
- 1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
- ¼ cup caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teasp vanilla
- 1 ¾ cup plain flour
- 1 teasp Cornflour (corn starch)
- 1 teasp Baking powder3/4
- 1 ½ cups chocolate chips I used a mix of white and milk (see notes)
Chocolate Buttercream Ingredients
- 113 grams butter (softened)
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 1 ¾ cup Icing Sugar Mixture (Powdered Sugar)
- 1 -2 tblsp Milk or cream See Notes
- 100's and 1000's to decorate
Instructions
Cookie instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F).
- Line and spray a 20cm (8 inch) springform tin.
- In a large bowl for your stand mixer cream together the butter, brown sugar and caster sugar for 3-4 minutes. You should scrape the side of the bowl often. You want a light and creamy texture. (see note)
- Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and mix for 1 minute.
- In a separate bowl combine the flour, cornflour and baking powder and give it a whisk together.
- Add flour mix to your stand mixer and mix for 1 minute on low until just combined.
- Remove bowl from your stand mixer and stir through your add ins like chocolate chips.
- Spread cookie dough in to the prepared can tin.
- Bake for 25 minutes but start checking at 20 minutes with a skewer. Different ovens will affect the total cooking time. Mine took 25 minutes for the skewer to come out clean. (see notes)
- Set aside to cool for 10 minutes then run a flat knife around the outside to loosen the cookie. Leave it in the tin to cool completely.
- Remove from tin and place on serving plate ready to decorate.
Chocolate Buttercream
- Cream butter for two minutes in a stand mixer.
- Add cocoa powder and icing sugar and beat for 1 minute.
- At this stage you will need to start adding your cream (or milk). Start with one tablespoon and mix until combined. If you feel that the icing is too think add some more and mix again. Continue to do this until you reach the desired consistency. I used 2 tablespoons for mine.
- Decorate as desired.
Notes
- If you don’t have a stand mixer you can use a hand mixer, it might just take you extra time to get the mixture creamed.
- I used white and milk chocolate chips but you could use anything here. I think it would be nice with roasted macadamia nuts and white chocolate. Or you could replace the chocolate chips with M & Ms.
- I prefer to use cream in the icing but milk will work fine. The cream just makes the icing more delicious I think.
- If you feel that the cookie is getting too dark you can cover with foil until its finished cooking. I didn’t need to do this however.
