Chewy, crispy cookies that taste like a birthday cake covered in sprinkles! A delicious treat for a birthday lunch or party dessert table.
Classic Cookies like Chocolate Chip Cookies, Snickerdoodles, or Oatmeal Cookies certainly have their place in your hearts, but birthdays call for a little extra something special that these Birthday Cake Cookies deliver!
Full of sprinkles and white chocolate chips (which add the flavor of “frosting” to the cookie) these cookies are tender and chewy and taste like you’re taking a giant bite out of a yellow birthday cake covered in sprinkles. The best part of it is no cake mix is involved so you can be sure of the ingredients going into your cookies. You can substitute natural sprinkles if you would like as well if you would like to go all organic or eliminate anything with artificial colors.
For many, birthday celebrations are as much fun to plan and bake as they are to see the joy of opening presents. These cookies are perfect for kids’ parties because they are compact, portable, there’s little mess since there’s no frosting, and they look beautiful presented on a platter as the main dessert or as part of a dessert display alongside cupcakes, candies, and chocolate covered pretzels.
Once you try these, you’ll want to make them as an annual birthday tradition every year. And they are the perfect celebratory treat that can go in a lunchbox as easily as they can be part of a party. They are everything birthdays should be.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Add milk or semisweet chocolate chips and sub out ¼ cup of the flour for cocoa powder for a chocolate cake twist. Or add ¼ teaspoon mint extract, swap in milk chocolate chips and some green food coloring to the mix to make these into mint chocolate cake cookies.
Color code them to your party with just a couple drops of food coloring of your choice. Pink and purple work particularly well. Color code your sprinkles to your favorite sports team for a fun game day treat.
Yes! Sandwich these cookies around some delicious Sprinkles Cake Batter Ice Cream or your favorite flavor for a colorful cool treat.
How to Make Birthday Cake Cookies
Beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy for 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until fully combined. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and powdered milk. Add to the stand mixer and combine on low speed. Add in the white chocolate chips and sprinkles. Mix gently. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes (at least 30 minutes, but up to 2 days is even better). When you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a 1 tablespoon measure, scoop rounded tablespoons and roll into balls. Bake for 10-12 minutes. You aren’t looking for them to brown. The bottoms should look only slightly more golden than the tops. If you want some help with it cooking more evenly and not browning, try using a Silpat.
How to Store Birthday Cake Cookies
- Serve: Freshly baked cookies can stay good at room temperature for up to 5 days. After a few hours, you’ll want to transfer them to an airtight container so they stay fresh.
- Store: Birthday Cake Cookies can also keep well sealed in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.
- Freeze: For long-term storage, put them in a freezer bag or another airtight container. They’ll stay good frozen for 3 months.
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar , packed
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons powdered milk
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips , (I used a blend of white and semi-sweet chocolate chips)
- 3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
- Beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy for 3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla; beat until fully combined.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and powdered milk.
- Add to the stand mixer and combine on low speed.
- Add in the white chocolate chips and sprinkles. Mix gently.
- Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes (at least 30 minutes, but up to 2 days is even better).
- When you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Using a 1 tablespoon measure, scoop rounded tablespoons and roll into balls.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Make sure not to brown the cookies.
Nutrition
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Photos used in a previous version of this post.
I made these and they turned out very flat. Do you know what I could have done wrong? Other than that they still taste amazing!
Oh no! Glad they still tasted good though. Flat cookies could be from a number of things. Make sure to accurately measure your flour because too little can cause that and remember to double check the dates on baking powder and baking soda. Hope this helps to troubleshoot for next time.
I made these, and they turned out quite well. My only request is that when people post recipes, to use weights rather than other measurements like ‘a stick’. I had to look up what a stick of butter was and how much it weighed. The batter is drier than I had expected, so my only change was i put the cookies into balls and then refrigerated for only about 15 mins for each cookie tray as I didn’t want them to dry out too much.
Can the recipe be doubled?
Certainly – if you click on the servings (it will be green bold) in the recipe card, a slider will appear. Slide to double the amount and the ingredients amounts will automatically adjust. 🙂
Do these cookies freeze well?
Yes 🙂
Why did you use powdered milk? Can we sub for regular milk? Just wondering as not sure where to get powdered milk and only for 3 tablespoons :). Thanks!
Do you have a sprouts or Winco? Or any store with bulk? I usually get it there, but powdered milk helps to add that cakey flavor.
Can you make these cookies without powdered milk?
It will adjust the flavor if you omit it.
Oh wow they look amazing! I’m pretty sure my whole family would love these and they’d be gone pretty quickly. They are super pretty cookies too!
Aww thanks Jeanine!
Its not even my birthday and I would still bake and eat these cookies! Yum and so pretty!
Heck yes, sprinkles 365 days a year!
This is so adorable. Sprinkles make everything more fun and happy
Yes! Sprinkles make everything better!
I love sprinkles and I love cookies! Mixing the two together is an awesome idea!
Thanks Jennifer 🙂
We have a huge sprinkle collection here. We love them! I love the look of these cookies!
Thanks Crystal! I have an unhealthy love for sprinkles 🙂
YUM! Those look so good and fun to make! Pinning them to make later with my kiddos!!!
Awesome! Thanks for the pin Kristin!
Oh these do look so good. I would love to make these for my son. He just his birthday but anytime is a good time for birthday cake cookies, right? 🙂
Yup anytime!
We are going to a BBQ this weekend and these cookies would be fantastic to bring. I will have to make some up this afternoon.
Awesome! I hope you love them!
I love trying new cookie recipes. These would be great for the cookie exchange we do a few times a year.
Wonderful! I love cookie exchanges too 🙂
The Birthday table looks amazing with all the sprinkles. My Daughter would love it. The cookies look good and easy to make.
Thanks Ann! It was a really fun party 🙂
These look so good. My girls would love them. I am doing a bunch of baking tomorrow. I will have to try these.
Hope you and the girls love them!
These are so pretty and I’m sure they are delicious. I can’t wait to try this.
Thanks!
These are just the kind of cookies I wish I always had in the house. So fun and flavorful! Milk powder is such a great secret ingredient.
Yup! I love it too! I also used it in my strawberry shortcake bars!
Those look yummy! Im sure my kids would love them.
Thanks Autumn!
Those are so adorable! And I bet they taste as delicious as they look!
They did not last long in our house!
Those look like fun! Its my grand son’s birthday this weekend.
Happy birthday to him!
These look and sound delicious! I’ll have to make these at home for my family!
Hope you love them 🙂
I have a thing for sprinkled or funfetti items so I’m totally making these tonight! After all, it’s someone’s birthday somewhere right?
Always! And let’s celebrate that birthday with a cocktail too! 😉
These look so fun to make. Such a great idea for kids’ birthday party! They look really tasty! Want to run to the kitchen and a batch of these 🙂
Thanks Neli 🙂
Those cookies will be perfect for my daughter’s birthday! She isn’t a fan of cake, but loves sprinkles!
Same with my oldest!! Loves sprinkles, won’t eat cake. It is nuts!
I like adding sprinkles. Really adds to them.
That sprinkle treat display is amazing! I love birthday cake cookies, I make a similar version 🙂
Haha that was 1/4 of the sweets at the party. I can’t help it, the chef in me goes overboard!
This is a recipe my kids would ask me to make all the time. They look delicious.
At least they are super easy to make!
My kids are going to be extra happy campers this weekend. This recipe is awesome.
Kiddo is a sprinkles fanatic. She would go bonkers if she saw this post today!
Mine pointed at the sprinkles in the picture and said “mommy, I have that?” and smiled at me.
SPRINKLES!!!!! Oh my gosh, that is going to be the theme of my daughter’s 4th birthday, it has to be! Those cookies look amazing!
Oh I should totally show you the pictures from the sprinkles party. I used 10 pounds of sprinkles for it!
Party in a cookie! These are every kid’s dream, I love the white chocolate chip addition!
Thanks Emily!
These look so good! I love birthday cake flavored things!
Best cookie recipe ever! I absolutely love those. There’s nothing more fun that sprinkles.
These are really cute! And I bet they taste amazing, too! Thanks for the recipe!
Sprinkles make everything more fun. Those cookies look delicious!
I usually do make these with cake batter. i need to try this recipe.
My kids would put sprinkles on just about everything if I let them! They would love this cookie recipe.
For sure it’s always a happy birthday when you have these cookies on the dessert table! Love it – looks delightfully delish!
These cookies look and sound yummy. My son doesn’t like cake so I always make cookies for his birthday. I think he will love these. Thanks for the recipe.
My pleasure Catherine!
SO fun! I just LOVE that sprinkles party and of course these cookies
Thanks Heather! I used over 10 pounds of sprinkles putting that party together!
My kiddo’s birthday is this weekend, these would be the perfect for his party! They look SO yummy!
Aww happy birthday to your little one!
These look so good. Sprinkles in cookies make them even more special for birthdays.
Those sound very yummy! My kids would love them.
Oh yes, they are a huge hit with kids!