Last Updated on December 17, 2021 by Chenée Lewis
This decorated Christmas cookie cake recipe is one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes because it’s SO easy! This Christmas cake is made from moist chocolate chip cookie dough and topped with fun Christmas cookie cake designs! And for more holiday goodies, try my Eggnog Bread Pudding with Brown Butter Rum Sauce, my No Spread Sugar Cookies, or put it all together with my Christmas Charcuterie Board!
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Christmas Cookie Cake Recipe
All my fellow 80s babies remember the iconic mall stores that sold those amazing chocolate chip cookie cakes! The ones with the frosting piped around the edges and "Happy Birthday" written in the middle. They were so amazing, and really take me back to childhood, especially at holiday time! Luckily, we've got this decorated Christmas cookie cake to bring back all those memories!
Best of all, it's SO easy to make -- the dough is basically the same as a classic chocolate chip cookie dough, but instead of having to scoop out dozens of cookies, you'll just need to press the dough into your springform pan! It couldn't be easier!
Why is it called a cookie cake?
It's called a cookie cake because it's a cake made with the flavors and texture of cookies! For this decorated Christmas Cookie cake recipe, we're using a version of chocolate chip cookie dough and topping it with fun Christmasy sprinkles and a ribbon of green frosting!
Cookie Christmas Cake Ingredients
- salted butter - I like to use salted butter, but if you only have unsalted that's fine too! Just add ½ teaspoon salt in with your dry ingredients later!
- brown sugar & granulated sugar - I like a combo of brown sugar and white sugar to achieve a sweetness in this Christmas Cookie cake that is rich, but balanced.
- eggs - make sure your eggs are room temperature!
- pure vanilla extract - vanilla is a major flavor in this cookie cake, so make sure you use a great-quality vanilla extract.
- all-purpose flour - I definitely recommend measuring your flour by weight using a kitchen scale. For this recipe, you'll need 288 grams of flour.
- baking soda - gives this Christmas cookie cake a bit of lift!
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips - I like the look and texture of mini chips, but you can use regular chocolate chips or chunks of semisweet chocolate if you like!
- m&ms - I like to add some holiday M&Ms to the top of the cake before baking, and also on top of the frosting after it's baked!
- sprinkles - I like to use a mix of festive sprinkles to add some fun to this Christmas Cookie cake!
- frosting - you'll need a buttercream frosting to pipe on to decorate this cookie cake! I like to keep this recipe super easy, so I grabbed a Pillsbury filled pastry bag to make decorating the cookie cake as quick and simple as possible. You could also use a store-bought decorating icing! Or if you'd like to make a great buttercream frosting from scratch, check out my mini vanilla cake recipe!
Equipment
The main tool you'll need for this Christmas Cookie cake is a 9-inch springform pan, cake pan, or a tart pan with a removable bottom, which is what I used. If you use a tart pan, be sure it's at least 1.5 inches deep to accommodate the amount of cookie dough!
Step by Step
- Start your Christmas cookie cake by creaming together your butter and sugars with an electric mixer. Once they're nice and fluffy, add in your eggs and vanilla. Mix another few minutes until everything is fluffy and smooth.
- Then you'll sift in your flour and baking soda (and salt, if using unsalted butter).
- Fold the dry ingredients in using a rubber spatula. You don't want to overmix the dough, so just fold until everything is just barely combined. Now you're almost done!
- Fold in your chocolate chips until they're evenly distributed. Then press your dough into your prepared pan. You can use your hands or coat a spoon with a little powdered sugar to keep it from sticking to the dough.
- Now you can have fun with your m&ms and sprinkles! Sprinkle them all over the top of the cake -- as many as you like!
- Bake! Check it after 20 minutes -- it should be done but slightly soft in the center, which is perfect! Let your Christmas cookie cake cool completely before decorating with frosting and more sprinkles!
Tips and F.A.Q.
Not much -- a cookie cake is essentially a very large chocolate chip cookie, but with decorations that make it more festive! So is a Cookie Cake a cake or a cookie? It's both!
This cookie cake recipe will stay fresh for up to 3 days at room temperature, or you can freeze it for up to three months. Let the cake thaw, still wrapped, and come to room temperature before serving.
You'll know the your Christmas Cookie cake is done baking when it's golden brown on the edges and the center is set. Be careful not to overbake so that it keeps that soft cookie center!
You can change the colors of the sprinkles, M&Ms, and frosting to match different celebrations! I love the idea of baking it in a heart-shaped springform pan with red and pink decorations for Valentine's Day, or orange, black and green for Halloween!
If you try this recipe, I would love it if you could leave a rating and comment below! It’s so wonderful hearing your feedback! And don’t forget to share your creations with me by tagging @chenee_today on Instagram!
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
- Ginger Crinkle Cookies
- Matcha Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cranberry White Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
- Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies with Cinnamon Sugar
- Almond Lemon Cookies
- Christmas Charcuterie Board
Equipment you may need
- 9-inch tart pan
Ingredients
- baking spray
- 1 cup (227 g) salted butter - room temperature (2 sticks)
- ½ cup (110 g) light brown sugar - packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs - room temperature
- 2 teaspoon (10 ml) pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups (281 g) all-purpose flour - (288 grams)
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- 1 cup (237 g) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup (59 g) holiday m&ms
- ¼ cup (50 g) sprinkles, nonpareils, and/or sanding sugar
- frosting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a springform pan, tart pan, or cake pan with baking spray (see note).baking spray
- In a bowl, cream together butter and sugars with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy.1 cup salted butter, ½ cup light brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar
- Mix in eggs, followed by vanilla extract. Beat for another 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy.2 large eggs, 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Sift in flour and baking soda. Fold with a rubber spatula until just incorporated.2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Fold in mini chocolate chips.1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Press dough into the bottom of prepared pan using hands or a spoon dipped in powdered sugar.
- Add sprinkles and M&Ms evenly to top of dough.¼ cup sprinkles, nonpareils, and/or sanding sugar, ¼ cup holiday m&ms
- Bake 20-25 minutes in preheated oven or until browned on the edges.
- Cool in pan at least 30 minutes, then remove from pan and transfer to a cooling rack until completely cooled.
- Use a piping bag to swirl frosting around the edge of cooled cake. Top frosting with M&Ms and sprinkles.frosting
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Britney Brown
This recipe was so much fun to make! I loved that while it was in the oven, my whole house smelled like one big chocolate chip cookie! I also really enjoyed decorating this cookie, although mine was not nearly as beautiful as yours!
Chenée Lewis
Thank you so much! It's so fun to make!
Tamara
This cookie cake was so fun to make with my kiddos! In fact, we plan on making it again to leave out for Santa on Christmas eve!
Chenée Lewis
So fun! I"m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Nancy
Hi! I want to make this for my grandchildren for Christmas. Looks fun and amazing to make. I want to use the tart pan but how do you remove the cake without messing up the sides?
Thank you,
Nancy
Chenée Lewis
Hi! The tart pan I linked above has a removable bottom, so you can set the finished, cooled cake on something like a bowl and the push down on the sides of the pan, and they should slide down. Then you can just carefully slide the cookie cake off of the bottom of the pan, or just leave the bottom underneath it when serving. Hope you and your grandchildren like it!
Eric & Shanna Jones
This was so much fun to make! Our decorating skills need a little work, but it turned out great. 🙂 Now we are going to make another one for the family this week!
Chenée Lewis
Yay! I'm glad you all liked it 🙂
Jazz
So my cookie cake didn't turn out as gorgeous as yours but it was absolutely delicious! Thanks for this recipe.
Chenée Lewis
The taste is all that matters! Thank you for trying it! 🙂
CatWillMadeIt
I love a Cookie Cake and this one did not disappoint. We kicked off our Christmas festivities with this yummy baby. I loved the flavors the green and red M&Ms added.
Chenée Lewis
Thank you! I'm so glad it was part of your Christmas celebration!
Liz
Omg I LOVE this! Me and my husband LOVE chocolate chip cookies so I feel like this would be an absolute hit in our house!
Chenée Lewis
Oh yeah if you love chocolate chip, this definitely feeds that craving!
Dannii
Cookie in a cake? Sign me up! This looks amazing.
Chenée Lewis
Thank you! It's so good!
Sarah James
What a great idea , I love your Christmas Cookie Cake. Looking forward to making some with the family. Thanks for sharing.
Chenée Lewis
Thank you so much!
Toni
We love a good cookie cake and are delighted to add this to our holiday tradition! I love it because it's so easy to make. My crew loves how delicious it is.
Chenée Lewis
Yay I'm so glad it was a hit with you AND with the crew!!
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry
This is such a fun and festive cake! My kids would absolutely adore this - might try making this with them this week.
Chenée Lewis
You should! It's super fun. 🙂
Calysta Watson
Chenee! This is such a beautiful idea that I will try this Christmas with my son’s help. This seems so much more doable than making and decorating dozens of cookies!
Chenée Lewis
Thank you! It's definitely way easier than making lots of cookies!
Marta
This was an awesome recipe.! We baked two... I decorated one and the kiddos the other. We ate one and shared the other one with my husbands coworkers. Everyone thought they were cute AND delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Chenée Lewis
So fun! I'm glad everyone enjoyed them 🙂
Capri
The sprinkles, the chocolate, the m&ms! Everything about this cookie cake is just exceptional! I made this for dessert and my family couldn't get enough of it!
Chenée Lewis
Thank you! I'm so glad everyone enjoyed 🙂
Renia
You're right. This was so easy to make. It's a wonder cookie world in the mall is still open. I subd my carob chip cookie dough here and was quite pleased with the allergy-friendly version of this cult classic.
Chenée Lewis
I'm glad you were able to make an allergy-friendly swap!
Jessica
This is so easy to make and really fun and festive. I love the idea of turning a cookie into a cake! Brilliant.
Chenée Lewis
Thanks so much! It's a fun twist on cookies for Santa!
Robin Sparks
I remember these cookies fondly and am excited to have a recipe to now make them at home!
Chenée Lewis
I'm glad it brings back memories! Thanks! 🙂