These cake batter chocolate chip cookies are a cross between soft-baked chocolate chip cookies and sprinkle filled cake. This is the most popular cookie recipe on Sally’s Baking Addiction and after baking a batch, you’ll taste why. If you like chocolate chip cookies and you like sneaking a taste of cake batter, you will love these fun cookies!
Today’s recipe for cake batter chocolate chip cookies is the most popular cookie recipe on my website. I’ve made them more times than any other cookie and even have the recipe memorized by now. They’re so well loved that they’re on the cover of my first cookbook, Sally’s Baking Addiction, and were featured on Good Morning America and in People magazine. They’re like chocolate chip cookies and vanilla cake in one!
Why You’ll Love These Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Soft-baked and chewy texture
- Crispy edges
- Colorful with lots of sprinkles
- Loaded with chocolate and white chocolate chips
- Sweet cake batter flavor
- Freezer-friendly
- A party in cookie form!
Overview: How to Make Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies
The first few times I made this recipe, the cookies kept overspreading. They were thin, delicate, and tasted greasy. I worked to develop an even better, thicker version—and absolutely loved the result. Let’s review the process:
- Sift the dry ingredients together.
- Cream the wet ingredients together.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Then add the chocolate chips and sprinkles.
- Chill the cookie dough. This step is imperative. By skipping it, your cookies will spread into a greasy mess. Chilling the dough for at least 2 hours firms up the butter, allows the flour to absorb the wet ingredients, and helps prevent the cookies from overspreading. If interested, I wrote a post all about how to prevent cookies from spreading. Helpful to read before making ANY batch of cookies.
- Roll the cookie dough into balls. Use about 1.5 Tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie. Shape your cookie dough balls to be taller than they are wide—see my tall cookie trick below.
- Bake. Bake the cookies until the edges are lightly browned. The centers will still appear very soft, but they’ll continue to set as the cookies cool. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops. This is just for looks!
Add Ins
- Cake Mix: These cookies are chocolate chip cookies and birthday cake in one. That’s why, for the dry ingredients, we’ll use *some* all-purpose flour and *some* cake mix. I usually reach for vanilla cake mix, but any flavor you love works. It’s important to only use some of the box. Some readers have had trouble with this recipe because they’ve used the entire box of cake mix. You only want to use 1 and 1/4 cup of dry cake mix.
- Chocolate Chips: The first few times I made this recipe, I used 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate chips but that weighed down the cookie dough. I recommend using 1 total cup of chocolate chips, which is the perfect amount to keep the cookies thick. I love to use a mix of white chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Semi-sweet chocolate chips make them taste like regular chocolate chip cookies, while white chocolate chips taste like frosting—a true mix of cookies and cake.
- Sprinkles: Use your favorite sprinkles here! I used rainbow sprinkles today, but love switching them up for different holidays. You can customize these cookies with a mix of specific colors or holiday sprinkles. Have fun with them! 🙂
My Tall Cookie Trick
Before I leave you with the recipe, here’s one final tip. Use my favorite tall cookie trick to reduce excess spreading. Roll your dough balls to be taller rather than wider. This doesn’t necessarily mean using more dough per cookie– we’ll simply shape the cookie dough ball to be nice and tall, with a firm solid bottom to ensure the cookie doesn’t topple over as it bakes. This one trick gives us perfectly thick and chewy cookies every time.
You can even sandwich ice cream between them for a birthday cake-style cookie ice cream sandwich. Enjoy right away or wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and freeze until ready to eat.
By the way, if you can’t get enough cake batter flavor, you’ll want to try my birthday cake cinnamon rolls next!
Print
Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 24-30 cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These cake batter chocolate chip cookies are a cross between delicious, soft-baked chocolate chip cookies and sprinkle filled funfetti cake. If you like chocolate chip cookies and you like cake batter, you will love these soft & chewy cookies!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/4 cup (156g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/4 cup (190g) yellow or vanilla boxed cake mix (not the whole box and you just need the DRY mix)*
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (180g) chocolate chips (I used 1/2 cup of white and 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips)
- 1/2 cup (80g) sprinkles
Instructions
- In a large bowl, sift flour, cake mix, salt, and baking soda together. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the softened butter and both sugars together on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 1 minute. Add the egg and mix on high until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and beat on high until combined. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low-medium speed until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and sprinkles. Mix on low until the add-ins are evenly combined.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours, or up to 3-4 days. This step is imperative. The dough is fairly sticky, so chilling the dough is required in order to avoid the cookies from spreading too much. If you chill longer than 2 hours, make sure you roll the cookie dough into balls after the 2 hour mark. Place dough balls on a plate, cover tightly, and store in the refrigerator until ready to bake. You may also freeze the balls at this point for up to 3 months. (Then bake as directed adding 1 minute to the bake time without thawing.)
- Once dough has been chilled, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats (always recommended for cookies).
- Scoop rounded balls of the cold dough onto an ungreased baking sheet, use about 1.5 Tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie. A medium cookie scoop is helpful for this. Shape your cookie dough balls to be “taller” than they are wide, as pictured above. Make sure to keep dough chilled when working in batches.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until edges are lightly browned. The centers will still appear very soft, but the cookies will continue to set as they cool. You can press a few more chips into the tops of the cookies at this point (the chips will stick because the cookies are still warm).
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. Allow to come to room temperature and continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well—up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well—up to three months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Cake Mix: You can use funfetti cake mix and leave out the sprinkles called for in this recipe. I usually use vanilla cake mix. Remember, you only need 1 and 1/4 cups of dry mix. Not the whole box. Gluten free cake mix is not recommended.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
PS: Making Christmas cookies? Try them with red and green sprinkles!
Could i just make my recipe for chocolate chip cookies and use the cake mix instead of flour? Have you ever tried that? THANKS
Easier if use melted butter- made them before and were good, this time followed recipe using softened butter- what a nightmare, all stuck to beaters in big clump, pried it off e spoon and when mixed with flour mix it was all flaky pieces dry not dough like at all, tried to form in ball with hands, very dry not sticky like it says, will see how these turn out
Looks yummy! I would really like to make this recipe. But, I have a question for you. Would it be possible to use 1 1/4 C from mixing up the dry ingredients from a vanilla cake recipe instead? I have rosacea and processed foods trigger a reaction. Thanks!
Hi Faith, Unfortunately homemade cake mix won’t provide the same exact flavor. Try these regular chocolate chip cookies and replace half of the chips/chunks with white chocolate chips add some sprinkles.
Quick question, I didn’t read the directions carefully about chilling the dough. If I didn’t roll the batter cookie dough into balls after that 2 hour mark, how long should I let the dough sit out before baking?
Hi Carrie! Let the dough sit out until it’s pliable enough to roll, maybe about half an hour.
Good at first, made at Xmas but disappointed embarrassed hard as a rock day or 2 later even in Tupperware
Made this cookie to make ice cream sandwiches and it turned out great. Divided the recipe yield by weight and got 20 perfectly sized cookies. Recommend freezing the baked cookies before assembling the ice cream sandwiches. You can squish them together without worrying about breaking the cookie.
I made these cookies yesterday and OMG are they good. So fun and easy to make. Customizable too, with different holiday sprinkles! I formed the cookies as directed, into a cone shape. This really results in cookies with chewy middles and crispy edges! I made the recipe exactly as directed. Will be making these often!
Still one of my favorite recipes after over a decade! I love experimenting with different types of cake mix. And I finally tried this in cookie bar/cake form the other day — I used a 9 inch pan, which is definitely a little small in my opinion. The bars were thick and took about 27 mins to bake (my oven also runs hot, so your mileage may vary). But they were a huge hit and I can honestly admit I ate about 6 myself lol. For the 4th of July I plan to make a red velvet version with white chocolate chips and blue buttercream frosting (another gem of a recipe from Sally’s). And I’ll use a 11×7 pan this time around!
Thanks again Sally, you’re the best in the biz
I love these cookies! I’ve made them with soccer sprinkles, school colors, and Valentine sprinkles. I like to mix up the dough when I have time and leave it in the fridge for a few days until I am ready to bake them. After I roll the dough balls I dip the tops in sprinkles so that when they cook the fancy sprinkles show on top. And they are delicious!
I just made these and they are so yummy. Tastes like cake/cupcake batter for sure. I actually modified just a tiny bit out of necessity and they came out perfect. I didn’t have brown sugar on hand so I used 1/2 c sugar and 1 1/2 t molasses for the brown sugar. I also didn’t have a cake mix, since I mainly stick with scratch baking, but for whatever reason I had an “older” Pillsbury sugar free cake mix in the back of the pantry and used that.
Ok, also, my husband was in a hurry for cooking so I chilled the dough in the freezer for 40 minutes then moved it to the fridge while I baked and shaped. I also used a setting on my 3 yr old oven that I never knew I had, “baked goods”.
So with all those factors to consider , they still came out delish!!
I had a typo. My husband was in a hurry for “cookies”.
These are some of my very favorite cookies!!! They have so much flavor and are just fun to look at!
You posted to a couple people that asked about what you do with the rest of the cake mix and said that they can make the recipe twice. Can I just double this recipe and get it done all at once?
Hi! I’ve made many of your other cookies and loved them but haven’t tried these yet! I can’t wait to try them! Do you have any advice/recommendations of what to do with the leftover cake mix, since the recipe only calls for 1 and 1/4 cup and not the whole box? Thanks!
Hi Summer, you could make these cookies twice and it will use almost all of the cake mix. Or check out our other recipes that use cake mix!
Going to try now. Can I skip
brown sugar
What do you do with the leftover cake mix?
Hi Michele, you could make these cookies twice and it will use almost all of the cake mix. Or check out our other recipes that use cake mix!
Adore these cookies! I use white cake mix because the yellow tastes like fake butter, to me. They really are outstanding, as are most of your recipes!
Can you use any flavor cake mix for these cookies? I have made cake mix cookies but I wasn’t pleased with them, so I’ll be interested to try this recipe!
Hi Linda, You can use any vanilla or yellow mix. You can also try funfetti cake mix and leave out the sprinkles called for in this recipe.
Love making this recipe for birthdays and holidays with themed sprinkles!! Always a hit. People are always surprised how AMAZING they are, much more than a basic chocolate chip cookie!! What is best to substitute the egg?
Hi Katie, We have not tested this recipe with an egg substitute but let us know if you try anything.
I have been using aquafaba in place of eggs on Sally’s recipes for months with great results. Soy milk also is a good substitute.
Delicious! I made these the other night and followed the directions to a T but ran into one issue. I used your trick to make them taller vs wider, they fell and shaped nicely but came out SO flat. What would have caused this?
Hi Lauren, cookies over-spreading is certainly a common problem. If you ever need help, here are our 10 tips to prevent cookies from over-spreading. For this particular recipe, make sure the butter isn’t too warm. You want room temperature butter to be cool to the touch. Additionally, a little extra flour can help too– even 2 extra Tbsp or about 15-20g.
Not for me. Way too sweet. Kids enjoyed. Literally tastes like cake batter.
Guess my rating was a bit opinionated by my dislike. The instructions are clear and the cookie texture is great. Does taste like cake batter as stated. Great recipe for those that enjoy licking batter from a spoon.
isn’t that the point, nancy?
Where does Sally get her sprinkles? The ones I use are hard and don’t taste real good. Thanks
Hi Suzie, if you see this sprinkle cake post, we have a section titled “Best Sprinkles to Use.” Different brands can definitely have different tastes and textures, but jimmies are what you’re looking for!