Cake Batter Cookies

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Cake Batter Cookies blend familiar cake flavors into a delicious cookie, featuring soft, chewy centers, crisp edges, tons of sprinkles, and rich chocolate.

A stack of cake batter cookies, with one cookie broken open to reveal its delicious interior, and all of them topped with colorful sprinkles for a delightful treat.

The Best Cake Batter Cookies

These cookies are pretty simple to make and packed with flavor. They are like a cookie + cake flavor hybrid. The texture is still completely cookie-like — crisp edges with a chewy, soft interior. So while they don’t have a cake-like texture, they do taste reminiscent of cake batter (Funfetti® cake batter)!

Creaming butter and sugars together in a bowl, capturing the initial step in preparing the dough.Ingredients

  • Butter: Creates a rich, fluffy base in your cookies.
  • Brown and White Sugar: Adds moisture, flavor, and crispness.
  • Egg: Binds and structures the cake batter cookies.
  • Vanilla Extract: Enhances overall flavor.
  • Baking Soda: Aids in rising and lightening the cookies.
  • Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix: Contributes to moisture and taste.
  • Cake Mix: Imparts a unique flavor and texture.
  • All-purpose Flour: Forms the cookie structure.
  • Sprinkles: Add color and texture to the cookies.
  • White Chocolate Chips: Provide sweetness and creamy texture.

A bowl containing all the dry ingredients for the cake batter cookies recipe expertly mixed together, highlighting the essential step in the preparation.

How To Make Cake Batter Cookies

  1. Cream butter and sugars until ultra creamy, light, and fluffy.
  2. Whisk dry ingredients in a separate bowl until combined.
  3. Mix dry and wet ingredients just until combined to avoid tough cookies.
  4. Gently fold in baking chips and sprinkles with a spatula.
  5. Form tall dough balls, cover, and refrigerate.
  6. Bake on a lined sheet until edges are lightly browned, and centers are soft and chewy.

Dough being shaped into tall balls, with white chocolate chips and sprinkles scattered throughout, ready for baking.

Cake Batter Cookie Tips

  • Use Jimmies Sprinkles: Best for texture and flavor, no color bleed.
  • Chill Dough: Solidifies butter, absorbs pudding mix; don’t exceed 3-4 hours.
  • Quality Cake Mix: Prefer Betty Crocker® Super Moist; Rainbow chip, yellow, white, or Funfetti recommended.
  • Correct Pudding Mix: Choose instant, avoid sugar-free/low-sugar for best results.
  • Measure Accurately: Use spoon and level or grams for precision, prevent cakey cookies.

A batch of cake batter cookies in a festive holiday variation, adorned with red and green sprinkles and white chocolate chips, ready to spread holiday cheer through delightful treats.

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Cake Batter Cookies

5 from 3 votes
Soft-baked Cake Batter Cookies are easily decorated up for any holiday (or birthday) celebration!
A stack of cake batter cookies, with one cookie broken open to reveal its delicious interior, and all of them topped with colorful sprinkles for a delightful treat.
Print Recipe

Cake Batter Cookies

A stack of cake batter cookies, with one cookie broken open to reveal its delicious interior, and all of them topped with colorful sprinkles for a delightful treat.
5 from 3 votes
Soft-baked Cake Batter Cookies are easily decorated up for any holiday (or birthday) celebration!
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword cake batter cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chilling Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 20 cookies
Chelsea Lords
Calories 289kcal
Cost $3.52

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature (not melted at all)
  • 3/4 cup dark brown sugar lightly packed
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • scant 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt (reduce if using table salt)
  • 1/3 cup instant vanilla pudding mix (dry, not prepared, NOT sugar/fat free)
  • 1 cup funfetti (or yellow) cake mix dry (I recommend Betty Crocker's Super Moist Party Rainbow Chip)
  • 1 and 1/4 cups white all-purpose flour measured by spooning and leveling
  • 1/2 cup jimmies sprinkles
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. (TIP: The butter should not be melted AT all.) Beat until ingredients are completely smooth and combined, and light and creamy.
  • Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking soda, salt, unprepared pudding mix, unprepared cake mix, and flour. Stir until combined.
  • Add the dry ingredients to wet. Beat to JUST combine (do not overmix). The cookie dough gets very thick. Add in the sprinkles and chips and gently fold into the dough with a spatula.
  • Form tall cookie dough balls that are about 1.6 ounces in size. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking liner.
  • Place no more than 6 cookie dough balls per cookie sheet to give ample room for the dough to spread while baking.
  • Bake for 9-13 minutes or until lightly browned at the edges and still soft (slightly under-baked in the center; we bake for about 11 minutes).
  • Remove from the oven and allow to continue to "cook" on the cookie sheet for another 3-4 minutes. While they are on the cookie sheet I add in a few more chocolate chips and sprinkles to make them look pretty. This is optional. Remove with a metal spatula to a cooling rack until fully cooled. Cookies are best enjoyed the same day they're made.
  • Store any leftover (completely cooled) cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 289kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 215mg | Potassium: 73mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 239IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 1mg

We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed.

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Recipe Rating




19 Comments

  1. We cant stop making cookies over here! These look incredibly delicious and I love your story about elf on the shelf! Our first night introducing ours was a total mommy fail… Chase threw it accross the room crying because it scared him…lol!

  2. With my son grown, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading about your Elf on the Shelf adventures! Nutella, your husband is adorable! And, so are these cookies. Can’t wait to try them.

  3. 5 stars
    Just wanted to say that these cookies are the reason new yeaar’s resolutions never stood a chance. Added different things like cranberries and peanut butter pieces, along with nuts, and an hour after baking, the only trace of the cookies is the smell in the kitchen.

  4. Can you make these with homemade cake batter that’s wet and has all the ingredients in the batter already. Like can I add the wet cake batter to this cookie mix and make them into cake batter cookies? I am trying to make bulk so making a lot isn’t a issue.

  5. Out of curiosity, why dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar? Is it a taste/texture thing? Most often I see light brown sugar in cookie recipes so I’m curious! Would it make much of a difference if I used light brown sugar instead? Really looking forward to giving these a try! I tried a previous cake batter cookie recipe (Sally’s Baking Addiction) but found that once baked, the cake batter flavor didn’t really come through very much. That recipe didn’t have pudding mix in it though so I’m interested to see the texture and flavor differences. Thanks for the recipe!

    1. Both light and dark brown sugar contain molasses, but dark brown sugar has more. Because of the increased amount of molasses, dark brown sugar has a darker and deeper color with a stronger flavor. Dark brown sugar is slightly more acidic with more moisture. I find dark brown sugar has a more pronounced caramel flavor and a richer sweetness with a slightly chewier texture. Light brown sugar is also great and will work fine in the cookies. Hope you love these cookies!

  6. These look yummy and I haven’t made them yet. I love anything and everything cake batter. I plan to add cake batter extract to these cookies and almond extract (be added almond to almost all my cookies and dessert for the last 25 years). The cake batter extract just makes it taste even more like cake batter. Thank you for the recipe, I plan to make them soon

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