The BEST Birthday Cake Cookies Recipe
When the birthday cake craving hits, skip the full-sized ordeal and make these birthday cake cookies instead! My 100% from-scratch recipe is made without cake mix and consists of soft, tender cookies topped with a sweet (but not too sweet) cream cheese frosting. These are as decadent as a slice of funfetti cake (with the textures to match!) all wrapped up in a cookie! To really take these over the top, I am adding my crisp, cake batter-flavored confetti crumbs that I just shared earlier this week. Of course, you can always just use sprinkles, but I recommend trying the recipe as written at least once. With three separate components, these can be a bit of a project, but they’re also SO fun to make and well worth the effort! I almost didn’t even share this recipe because it’s really just a spin on my Lofthouse cookies, but so many people in my Facebook group wanted me to share it (if you’re not there already, join for the community of kind, talented bakers, and the occasional sneak peek!). And I’m glad I did, because I honestly like this version even more than the classic Lofthouse!
What You Need
There are quite a few ingredients in the photo above, so I’ll just highlight the most important ones:
Cake flour. I find that cake flour provides the best texture and flavor for both the cookies themselves and the cake crumbs. It creates a finer, softer crumb and I just wasn’t as thrilled with the results when all-purpose flour was substituted. Cream cheese. This keeps our icing from being too sweet and adds to the birthday cake flavor. With a sweet cookie and sweet icing, the subtle tang of the cream cheese frosting tempers the overall sweetness of the cookies. Use brick-style cream cheese (not the spreadable kind!).Vanilla. I use clear vanilla in the cookies and icing to add that classic “cake batter” flavor we all know and love. It’s absolutely an artificial flavor, but it’s what you think of when you think “birthday cake”. Of course you can always use regular vanilla extract instead.Confetti crumbs. These are optional, but I highly recommend making them! You can whip them up while your dough is chilling.
SAM’S TIP: Feel free to color your frosting! I prefer to use gel food coloring for this as it has a more vibrant color than liquid dyes. Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Birthday Cake Cookies
SAM’S TIP: I like to break up my confetti crumbs before adding them to my cookies. To do this, I simply place them in a ziploc bag and smack them with a rolling pin until they are smaller and softer. This works better than the larger clumps you typically have when they’re first baked. I think you’re really going to like these 😊 Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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