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July 12, 2019 9 Comments

Cake Batter Cookies

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Soft-Baked Cake Batter Cookies are MEGA POPULAR and so delicious! Recipe via chelseasmessyapron.com
Soft-Baked Cake Batter Cookies are MEGA POPULAR and so delicious! Recipe via chelseasmessyapron.com

Cake in cookie form? Yes please! These cake batter cookies have the flavors you know and love from cake in a delicious cookie form. They’ve got soft and chewy centers with crisp edges, plenty of sprinkles, and a good amount of chocolate.

Jazz up these cookies for holidays or birthdays with seasonal sprinkle assortments and different colors or baking chips.

Image of the cake batter cookies stacked on top of each other with one broken open

Cake Batter Cookies

These cake batter 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)!

You can jazz them up with whatever you like with different sprinkles and different baking chips. We also love swapping out the regular rainbow colored sprinkles for holiday or occasion themed sprinkle blends.

Process shot-- image of the butter and sugars being creamed together How to make cake batter cookies

  • Cream butter and sugars: make sure to get the mixture ultra creamy, light, and fluffy before adding any other ingredients
  • Combine dry ingredients: in a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients until combined
  • Add dry to wet and mix: mix as little as possible — just until ingredients are combined. If you overmix flour it activates the gluten which will cause tougher cookies.
  • Gently fold in add-ins: using a spatula fold in the baking chips and sprinkles until well integrated.
  • Form balls of dough: form balls of dough that are higher rather than wider (see last picture) and then chill the balls of dough (covered) in the fridge.
  • Bake cookies on a siplat liner until edges are lightly browned and barely crispy and the centers are still soft and chewy
    Process shot-- image of all the dry ingredients in a bowl for these cake batter chocolate chip cookies

Cake batter cookie tips

  • Use sprinkle jimmies for the best texture and flavor. Jimmies also don’t bleed into the cookie like other sprinkles (nonpareils) have the tendency to. Here’s a great article about the differences between sprinkles. Other sprinkles work, but I’d recommend keeping the majority to jimmies.
  • Chill the dough: the dough needs time to chill allowing for the butter to re-solidify and the pudding mixture to be fully absorbed. This will ensure you don’t have flat (and less flavorful) cookies. I don’t recommend chilling the dough for more than 3-4 hours as it begins to dry out.
  • Good cake mix: a good cake mix makes a huge difference for these cake batter cookies. I highly recommend Betty Crocker’s Super Moist cake mixes (not sponsored). As far as the cake mix goes, I’ve used rainbow chip (funfetti), yellow, and white in these cookies. Funfetti is our favorite!

Process shot-- image of the dry ingredients being added to the wet ingredients

Tips continued

  • The right type of pudding: there are so many different pudding mixes and it’s easy to grab the wrong one since they all look so similar! Ensure you don’t get cook & serve pudding and that you don’t get a sugar free/low sugar version. Neither will work properly in these cake batter cookies.
  • Measure carefully: the most important measurement is the flour and cake mix. If you press a measuring cup into a bag of flour (or cake mix) you are likely packing in way too much which will yield cakey and less flavorful cookies. Spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level the top with the back of a butter knife. The printable recipe includes gram measurements if you prefer to measure using a scale.

Process shot-- image of the sprinkles and white chocolate chips being added to the dough

Variation ideas

  • Holiday themed: use special sprinkle blends on the holiday closest — red & green blends for Christmas, different shades of green for St. Patrick’s Day, pastels for Easter, etc. I love using Sweetapolita sprinkle blends for these cookies! (Not sponsored)
  • Vanilla flavored: use vanilla cake mix instead of funfetti/yellow for more intensely vanilla flavored cake batter cookies
  • Swap out the chocolate: use milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips in place of the white chocolate chips (or use 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of white)! You can also use speciality chips like confetti chips, pastel chips, etc. depending on the occasion you’re making these for. 

Process shot-- image of the dough being rolled into balls

More delicious cookie recipes:

  • Snickerdoodles soft & chewy
  • Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
  • Meringue Cookies
5 from 1 vote
Print
Cake Batter Cookies
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Chilling Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 25 mins
 

Soft-baked Cake Batter Cookies that are easily decorated up for any holiday (or birthday) celebration!

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cake batter cookies
Servings: 20 cookies
Calories: 190 kcal
Author: Chelsea
Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks; 170g) unsalted butter, at room temperature (not melted at all)
  • 3/4 cup (165g) dark brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1/4 cup (50g) 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 (54g) instant vanilla pudding mix, (dry, not prepared, NOT sugar/fat free)
  • 1 cup (138g) funfetti (or yellow) cake mix, dry (I recommend Betty Crocker's Super Moist Party Rainbow Chip)
  • 1 and 1/4 cups (147g) white all purpose flour, measured by spooning and leveling
  • 1/2 cup (80g) jimmies sprinkles
  • 1 cup (181g) white chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. 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 & cream.

  2. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined.

  3. In a separate bowl whisk together the baking soda, salt, unprepared pudding mix, unprepared cake mix, and flour. Stir until combined.

  4. Add the dry ingredients to wet. Beat to JUST combine (do not overmix). The cookie dough gets exceptionally thick! Add in the sprinkles and chips and gently fold into the dough with a spatula.

  5. Form cookie dough balls that are about 1.6 ounces in size. Chill in the fridge, covered, for at least 1 hour.

  6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking liner.
  7. Place no more than 6 cookie dough balls per cookie sheet to give ample room for the cookies.

  8. 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).

  9. 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 just to make them look pretty. This is, of course, optional. Remove with a metal spatula to a cooling rack until fully cooled. Cookies are best enjoyed the same day they're made.

  10. Store any leftover (completely cooled) cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

Nutrition facts in cake batter cookies

Christmas version:

Soft Cake Batter Christmas Cookies

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Filed Under: Christmas Tagged With: Quick & Easy, Stove/Oven, Vegetarian

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Medeja says

    December 12, 2015 at 2:07 pm

    Ah, these look so cute!

    Reply
  2. Danielle @ Delightful Mom Food says

    December 12, 2015 at 5:52 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • chelseamessyapron says

      December 21, 2015 at 3:17 pm

      Hahaha oh no!! Too funny!

      Reply
  3. Layla @Gimme Delicious says

    December 13, 2015 at 10:09 am

    Cake batter cookies are the best. These cookies look super soft and chewy, just the way we like them!

    Reply
  4. Susan says

    December 14, 2015 at 9:21 pm

    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.

    Reply
  5. GiGi Eats says

    December 17, 2015 at 10:42 pm

    5 stars
    I am drawn to rainbow colored foods! Seriously. I dont know what it is about rainbowwwwwww!!

    Reply
    • chelseamessyapron says

      December 18, 2015 at 11:24 am

      Hah!! They are just so fun! Thanks GiGi!

      Reply
  6. Yvonne says

    December 22, 2015 at 7:20 pm

    Just got done baking these for Christmas. They are delicious!! Thank you for the recipe!! 🙂

    Reply
    • chelseamessyapron says

      December 23, 2015 at 11:48 am

      You are so welcome! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed these!

      Reply

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