Grab a large pizza pan and make this giant chocolate chip cookie cake with vanilla frosting! It’s easy to make and perfect for parties and celebrations galore!
Below I’ll highlight the ingredients used for this colossal cookie cake as well as tools, methods, and tips. To make your life easier, I have a “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post that will take you to the printable recipe card.
I have a printed copy of my cookie cake in my pantry at all times – we make it a LOT!
So excited for y’all to try it!
Jumbo Cookie Cake Ingredients
This crave-worthy cookie cake is double the size of my springform pan cookie cake, making it great for birthday parties!
Here’s what you’ll need to get this giant chocolate chip cookie in your face:
- three sticks unsalted butter
- one and a half cups brown sugar
- half cup granulated sugar
- two large eggs
- four teaspoons vanilla extract
- four cups all purpose flour
- four teaspoons cornstarch (for that perfect chewy texture)
- two teaspoons baking soda
- one teaspoon salt
- two cups chocolate chips – plus extra for topping
- cookie cake frosting (see recipe card)
- optional sprinkles
Use real butter for this recipe, as “buttery spreads” and margarine will not work.
Cookie Cake Frosting
For this cookie cake I like to use my go-to vanilla buttercream frosting recipe. You can use gel food coloring to dye it any color your heart desires.
- two sticks unsalted butter
- three cups powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
- two-three tablespoons heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
- one teaspoon vanilla extract
- a teeny pinch of salt
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape down sides as needed. (approx. 1-2 minutes)
Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed at first to incorporate then increase to medium speed and continue mixing for 1-2 minutes or until fully combined. Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt and continue mixing on medium speed until everything is well-combined, smooth, and easy to pipe.
Frosting can be made in advance and stored in the fridge. Bring back to room temp before frosting your cookie cake.
Keep frosting white or get fancy and dye it to fit your theme with gel food coloring. When I’m feeling fancy I like to divide my frosting into two or three bowls and dye each a different color.
You can use a star piping tip like the mall cookie cake or use a variety of tips for a custom look.
Tools Needed
To save yourself an epic arm workout and make this recipe a breeze to whip up, a stand mixer is your best friend here! After making my first ever cookie cake using a stand mixer and paddle attachment in place of my trusty electric hand mixer, my baking prep was changed forever. A hand mixer is a bit of an arm workout but *WILL* work however so don’t fret if you don’t have an extra appliance.
You’ll also want to use a 14.5 inch pizza pan that has a rim around the sides to keep your cookie cake the perfect shape.
For the frosting, a piping bag with a decorative tip comes in handy when you’re decorating but it’s not a deal breaker. In a pinch I’ve totally cut the edge of a plastic ziploc bag and used that to pipe my frosting in a little swirl pattern.
No pizza pan? No problem!
The 14.5 pizza pan I use for this recipe is only $5 at Target! Seriously – 5 dollars! It also has rave reviews which is why I picked it up in the first place. Love it so.
If you want to use a pan that you already have on hand you can make an even bigger party-sized cookie cake using an 11.38 x 16.5 (or 11 x 17 if we’re rounding) rimmed baking sheet: Sheet Pan Cookie Cake Recipe.
How to Make a Cookie Cake
The instructions couldn’t be easier! If you can make regular chocolate chip cookies, you can make this cake! Honestly even if you’re not great at baking I’m here to help!
My first suggestion would be to invest in a small, inexpensive digital kitchen scale. If you’ve had issues with baking recipes not turning out – the scale will be a lifesaver and revolutionize your baking game!
Measure out all your ingredients. If you don’t have a scale for accuracy, use the next most accurate method of fluffing the flour with a spoon then gently spooning it into a measuring cup. Use a butter knife or bowl scraper to scrape the excess so its level with the top edge of the measuring cup. Packing the four into the cup or using the measuring cup to scoop itself full of flour will make the cake dry/crumbly instead of tender and chewy.
Now all that’s left is to make the dough! You will find detailed instructions in the printable recipe card below.
Do I need to chill the cookie dough?
You can absolutely skip chilling *BUT* for the ultimate flavor and texture, I’m begging you to chill your dough.
Simply wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap (like a big edible brick) and place in the fridge overnight. This advance prep step can be done 1-3 days in advance making it great for party prep!
The day you’re ready to bake you can set the chilled dough out on the counter for 1 hour or so until soft enough to tear off chunks and press it into your pizza pan. While you wait you can make the frosting. Easy peasy!
Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake with Vanilla Frosting
This is it folks. The BEST jumbo cookie cake of my life! I’ve been making this cake for the past decade (literally!) and it always gets rave reviews from everyone who tries it!
My husband and daughter request it for every birthday celebration and I love making it to bring to parties and potlucks with friends and neighbors.
Ready to skip the mall cookie cake and make the most AMAZING (affordable!) chocolate chip cookie cake at home? Let’s do this!
Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Equipment
- 14.5-15 inch non-stick pizza pan with ¾-1 inch deep rim around the sides
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups unsalted butter, softened to room temp. 3 sticks – 330 grams
- 1.5 cup light brown sugar 300 grams
- ½ cup granulated sugar 100 grams
- 2 large eggs room temp
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 480 grams
- 4 tsp cornstarch
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups chocolate chips plus extra for decorating
VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temp. 2 sticks – 230 grams
- 3 cups powdered sugar 360 grams
- 2-3 TBSP heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt to taste
Instructions
- Before we begin, I'm begging you to take the optional advance prep or refrigerating the dough for 24 hours. It takes the flavor and texture over the top! You can chill your dough 1-3 days in advance. When ready to bake set the chilled dough out on the counter for an hour or so until soft enough to tear off chunks to press into the pizza pan.
- Let's make cookie cake! First bring butter and eggs to room temp. Butter is ready when a light imprint can be left in the stick of butter with your thumb. To soften faster, slice into chunks.
- In a medium-large bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Cream together softened butter and both sugars in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Start at the lowest speed and increase as needed for approx. 2 minutes. A large bowl with an electric hand mixer may be used if needed.
- Add in the egg and vanilla and continue to beat with the mixer to incorporate into the dough, approx. 30-45 seconds
- Add flour mixture to the larger bowl slowly while you continue to beat on low.
- If using a hand mixer it will get crumbly before coming together as a dough.
- Once dough is mixed (taking care not to over-mix), use the beater to mix or fold in chocolate chips. Place dough on a large sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper and wrap securely. Refrigerate overnight or 1-3 days for advance prep.
READY TO BAKE?
- Grab the dough from the fridge and allow to soften on the counter.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a large rimmed pizza pan (14.5-15 inch) with butter or line with parchment paper for easy removal. I've been comparing pizza pans and the best kind to use here is one with a 3/4-1 inch deep rim around the edges to keep the cookie cake in the pan. If your pan is smaller leave me a comment and I can help walk you through adjustments.
- Break off chunks of dough and arrange on pizza pan. Press together to create an even layer of cookie dough in the pan, all the way to the edges. Press some extra chocolate chips into the top of the dough before baking.
- Bake in the pan on the center rack of the oven at 350°F for 16 minutes.
- After 16 minutes, remove from oven and allow cookie cake to cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack. It should be set and cool enough to frost after one hour. While it cools, make your frosting and plan for the fun part – the decorating!
COOKIE CAKE FROSTING
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large mixing bowl using a handheld mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape down sides as needed. (approx. 1-2 minutes)
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed at first to incorporate then increase to medium speed and continue mixing for 1-2 minutes or until fully combined. Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt and continue mixing on medium speed until everything is well-combined, smooth, and easy to pipe.
- Keep frosting white or dye it to fit your theme with gel food coloring. When I'm feeling fancy I like to divide my frosting into two or three bowls and dye each a different color. You can use a star piping tip like the mall cookie cake or use a variety of tips for a custom look. Sprinkles are also a fun addition – I like using super soft kind.
Notes
Nutrition
Can I make this cookie cake ahead of time?
Yes! Yes! 1000x Yes! It’s so perfect for party prep and both the frosting and the cookie dough for the cake can easily be made in advance.
Securely wrap the prepared cookie dough in plastic or parchment and place in the fridge for 1-3 days. Once ready to bake, set the chilled dough out on the counter for 1 hour or so until soft enough to handle and press into the pan.
To prep the frosting, seal in a lidded container and simply bring to room temperature before adding to a piping bag to frost the cake.
I’ve even made the cake and then wrapped the pizza pan (with the baked + cooled cookie cake) in foil for the following day. When you’re ready – frost and serve!
Crazy for Cookie Cake?
- Valentine Cookie Cake
- Christmas Cookie Cake
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Cake
- Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
- White Chocolate Macadamia Cookie Cake
In case you’re simply craving a big plate of cookies, check out my dessert page for all the tasty recipes!
If you get a chance to try this giant chocolate chip cookie cake recipe, let me know!
Leave some love in the comment form below or tag your photos with @peasandcrayons on Instagram so I can happy dance over your creation and see your awesome cookie cake decorations. Can’t wait to see what you whip up!
My pan only has a 1/2” lip, how can I adjust? Could I use a cast iron skillet? Thanks for he help!!
Hi Jen! I just purchased 3 more pizza pans so I can test different varieties with this cookie cake so I’ll try to make a giant post of all my findings. What size is your cast iron?
It is 12x12x1.5. Thank you for getting back to me!!
Of course! This is a little trickier so bear with me lol. 12×12 can go two ways — Since we’re working with 144 square inches vs the 165 square inches of pan it will be a fairly thick cookie cake, almost like a pie. If you’ve ever seen those skillet cookies people serve vanilla ice cream scoops on, that’s sort of what we’ll be working with here. You can use less of the cookie dough (roll it into balls and freeze for emergency chocolate chip cookies later) and get a thinner cake like the photos by pressing in enough cookie dough to reach 3/4 inch thickness. That’s approx. the thickness in the photos. I haven’t tested a cast iron yet (adding it to my test schedule!) so I would personally line with parchment for the first run-through to ensure easy removal.
Another option would be to make a sheet pan cookie cake. if you have an 11×16 – 12×17 inch rimmed baking pan/cookie sheet you can use that for a party-sized sheet pan cookie cake
I also have a smaller family sized one that is made in a springform pan.
Thank you so much!!!!
Happy to help! I LOVE making these cookie cakes!
I needed to make a cookie cake for a birthday and there was no time to do a trial run. This turned out fantastic. I also didn’t have time to properly chill the dough but did put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. I feel like just that small amount of time helped it keep it’s shape and let the butter firm up a bit. Chilling in the fridge for at least an hour would be better. I did everything else exactly as written except the addition of Reece’s Pieces.
Reeces Pieces is one of my favorite cookie add-ins — yum! So glad it turned out great 😊
This is the best treat to theme for any holiday. So fun to decorate too!
I made this cookie cake for a sleepover this weekend for my daughter and her friends. they LOVED it so much and the directions were so easy to follow.
So happy to hear it, Janelle! Thanks!
Good tasting cookie – but horrible directions with the execution. (1) This makes WAY TOO much dough for a 14″ pizza pan. The cookie expanded, ran over the sides and also would not bake in the middle. I’m a very experienced baker and I ended up throwing out the whole thing. There was leftover dough (since it was too much for a 14″ pizza pan) so I made cookies with it. They tasted good, but I’ll stick with my own recipe with browned butter and chopped chocolate.
Oh no! That for sure should not be happening. I haven’t ever had spillover when I’ve made this cookie cake but I am more than happy to help troubleshoot. Does your pizza pan have a thicker rim around it? I use a pan with just shy of a 1 inch rim around the edge to keep everything in and allow the cookie dough to fit without spillover which could be the issue if your pan doesn’t have that. I will update the post with that tip! Does your pan measure 14 inches or more on the inner bakeable portion? (not counting the rim) If yes to both of those, did you chill the dough overnight? We can start from there and I’m happy to investigate further if needed!
Hi!! I am making this for my daughter’s birthday, and I only have a 16″ pizza pan. Should I adjust the recipe (maybe 50% more?) or buy another pan? Thank you so much!
Hi Lindsay! I have done that exact “baking math” for my sheet pan cookie cake so this will take the guesswork out of it for ya! Recipe: https://peasandcrayons.com/2017/05/sheet-pan-cookie-cake-recipe.html Cook time should be around 16-17 minutes. Look for lightly browned edges and a center that still looks a little underbaked but is just starting to set. When you cool it fully it will keep cooking in the middle and fully set once completely cooled.
You may not use the full batch of dough, but most of it. Just ensure that the pizza pan has a rim around it to contain the cookie cake and don’t add any dough that rises even the teenist bit past the rim as the cake will fluff up a little when baking and I don’t want you to have a mess on your hands. Roll any leftover dough into balls and pop them in the freezer for an emergency cookie stash for later. LMK if any other questions pop up and I hope your daughter has a wonderful birthday! xoxo
The cookie came out so soft!!! It was delicious
Yay!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This is my favorite recipe! Love the flavor. I’m curious if I can make individual cookies out of it? Thanks!
Hi Kelly! So glad you’re loving the cookie cake! I’ve made cookies out of it a few times and they for sure come out best if you chill the dough first for 24 hours (up to 72 hours) — I feel like they get this perfect chewy thickness in the center that way. My all time favorite CC cookies are my Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies and Chocolate Chunk Cookies if you want to check those out too! xoxo
I got the pizza pan you used. If I use parchment paper do you think I could slide the cookie off the pan & slide onto a cake board? Dropping this off at a friend’s home. Thank you! Looks perfect! 👌🏻👌🏻
Hi Ruth! You absolutely can! Leave a little extra parchment on each side when you bake it (fold it over so it doesn’t hang past the oven rack) Once the cake is fully cooled you will be able to slide it onto the cake board. I’ve done this a bunch and my big tip is to not move the cake when it’s still warm or it can crack. Happy baking! xoxo
Thank you for all the tips and quick response! Have a beautiful day!
Always a fave recipe in our house! Easy to make and we make one for every occasion!!! YUMMY!!
So thrilled to hear it Melanie — thank you!! We make them a lot around here too!