Cake Mix Cookies (4 Ingredients!)

24 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Cake Mix Cookies made with just 4 ingredients in one bowl are sweet, bakery soft, and incredibly EASY to make in under 20 minutes!

Cookies are becoming a huge part of our dessert section on the blog and our top three most popular right now are Easy Snickerdoodle CookiesCowboy Cookies and No Bake Cookies.

Cake Mix CookiesCAKE MIX COOKIES

Cake Mix Cookies are soft and chewy, made with ONLY three ingredients in one bowl, so you can easily make these any day of the week! Plus cleanup is an absolute breeze. All you need is cake mix, oil, eggs, a spatula, bowl, and a cookie sheet. One of my favorite parts about this recipe is that it uses oil instead of butter, so you don’t have to worry about bringing it to room temperature or your cookies spreading too much while baking. All of your dry ingredients are already measured for you in your cake mix, so you only have to measure one ingredient total.

You can throw a handful of chocolate chips into the dough, or anything that comes with the cake mix line funfetti or sprinkles. You can also make this recipe with chocolate cake mix if that’s what you have on hand (coming tomorrow!). It’s honestly the easiest dessert you will ever make, which makes it my go-to when I don’t have a lot of time!

HOW TO MAKE CAKE MIX COOKIES SOFT?

The cake mix is already doing most of the work here for you, and these cake mix cookies will turn out soft already. Make sure you don’t over bake them, which can dry out your cookie. I would be really surprised if these cake mix cookies didn’t turn out soft and chewy as is.

If your cookies still aren’t coming out right, try lowering your baking time or temperature. This is one of my tried-and-true recipes, so if you’re not getting good results try to make sure you are using a good quality baking sheet. Your cookies may burn too quickly if the metal doesn’t conduct heat well.

Stack of Cake Mix Cookies

HOW TO MAKE CAKE MIX COOKIES WITHOUT OIL

A healthier alternative to the oil in this cake mix cookies recipe is to use the same amount of mashed banana. You can also use butter in the same amount that your cake mix calls for. Some recipes also call for a one to one substitution with sour cream instead of oil.

The cookies will not have the same amount of moisture or texture if you choose to make this substitution so please know that when you remove oil you are removing flavor and texture from what you are baking.

HOW TO MAKE CAKE MIX COOKIES WITHOUT EGGS

You can make cake mix cookies without eggs by substituting the same amount of applesauce in the recipe. You can also substitute one egg with one teaspoon of baking powder plus 1 tablespoon of water to the cake mix.

Sugar Cake Mix Cookies

TRY ADDING THESE MIX-INS TO YOUR CAKE MIX COOKIES

  • Semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • Crushed peppermint candy
  • Butterscotch or white chocolate chips
  • Crushed peanuts
  • Caramels (these will make your cookies gooey!)
  • Coconut flakes
  • Roll them in Sugar! This is what we did with these cookies to give them an extra special touch, roll your cookie dough in sugar before baking.

MORE DESSERT COOKIE RECIPES

TIPS FOR MAKING CAKE MIX COOKIES

  • You can make these cookies with any cake mix that you have. Try carrot cake mix, strawberry cake mix, red velvet cake mix, or chocolate cake mix to change up the recipe!
  • You can add some vanilla extract to your dough for extra flavor if you think your cookies need it, but usually the cake mix will have enough flavor.
  • Line your baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent your cookies from sticking and make cleanup easier.
  • You’ll get 12-24 servings out of one box of cake mix for this recipe, depending on how big your cookies are. I often make a double batch if I know I’ll be having people over, or have some box mix leftover from another cake recipe.
  • If your cake cookies are turning out too dry, try to bake them at a lower temperature or decrease the baking time.
  • You can dust these cookies with powdered sugar, frosting, or a sprinkle of cinnamon depending on your own taste!

Vanilla Cake Mix Cookie

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Cake Mix Cookies (3 Ingredients!)

Cake Mix Cookies made with just 3 ingredients in one bowl are sweet, soft, and incredibly EASY to make in under 20 minutes!
Yield 24 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 18.25 ounce white cake mix
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup sugar (optional)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and in a large bowl whisk the cake mix, eggs and oil together.
  • Roll two tablespoon sized cookie dough balls in sugar then add to the baking sheet.
  • Bake them for 8-10 minutes on ungreased cookie sheets.

Notes

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

Nutrition

Calories: 124kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 154mg | Potassium: 18mg | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 20IU | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 0.5mg

Easy 4 Ingredient Cake Mix Cookies Collage Photographs

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. We ended up using a French vanilla cake mix we had on hand and because our cake mix was about 3 ounces lighter than the recommended size, we adjusted for the difference by using some smaller eggs from our neighbor’s chickens and slightly less oil. Because our cake mix was a plain flavor, we jazzed them up by rolling the dough in some cinnamon sugar before baking which also gave them a great texture. They turned out great and my son is asking to take some to his friends at school tomorrow! Excited to try with other mixes. Thanks for the recipe!

  2. I wasn’t paying attention to the cake mix ounces. I thought they were all the same. Nope! Mine was 15.5 oz. I added a little flour, hopefully, they will turn out ok.

  3. Scrumptious cookies!! I made dough from white cake mix and another from chocolate — scooped some of each for each cookie and rolled in sugar — two-tone cookies!! My grandkids loved them.

    Patty J

  4. Husband and grandkids enjoyed. Husband said remind him of teacakes. I would have liked a bit more favor. Next time may add a drop or two of vanilla or lemon extract. Site says it all, it’s a great end of dinner dessert.

  5. My cake mix calls for three eggs normally, do I still only add two? Id be omittng the water they call for but i dont know than the extra egg would do any harm.

  6. I made them with pecans n cherries,hubby likes them plain,but I also use flavorings to have a more tastier cookie!!!

  7. I just made this recipe and I must say ! AMAZING, I separated the dough into four bowls and make choc chip, matcha, sugar cookie and raspberry

    1. I’ve not tested it using a sugar free mix before. If you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!

  8. Cake mix is now 15.25 oz. Do I have to make adjustments, such as adding more flour to equal the old 18.25 oz size? Add more sugar, etc?
    Thanks

    1. You’ll substitute each egg for 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce so for this recipe you’ll need 1/2 cup since it calls for 2 eggs. Hope this helps!

  9. Hi Sabrina
    I was wondering how you think this would work with real butter? I know that with some recipes it just doesn’t work.
    I’m one of those people who use butter in almost everything.

  10. These cookies were so easy and I couldn’t believe how yummy they were! This could be a dangerous recipe for me, haha!