This Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake isn't just any ordinary cookie cake recipe. This is the most delicious and soft vegan chocolate chip cookie baked like a cake, topped with naturally colored vegan frosting, and sprinkled with rainbow confetti sprinkles. Life is too short not to have your cake and make it colorful too!
*Recipe originally shared July 2019 and updated July 2022*
Truth is, this obsession goes back way back to when I first discovered Wegman's cookie cake as a child. Ever since that day, I honestly haven't celebrated a Birthday without cookie cake.
As you can imagine, I can't eat Wegman's cookie cake anymore, so I had to create my own dairy-free & eggless cookie cake to celebrate this year!
This chocolate chip cookie cake is really just a large soft cookie baked like a cookie cake pizza, but honestly even better.
Ingredients:
How to make the best vegan cookie cake
Make the vegan cookie dough
Like most of my cookie recipes, this starts off with creaming vegan butter and sugar until fluffy. Then, mix in the ground flaxseed, almond milk, and vanilla.
After that mix in the dry ingredients including the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. As a final step, fold in the vegan chocolate chips and mix until a thick vegan chocolate chip cookie dough forms!
Add to a springform pan & bake
For this recipe, I used a 9" Springform pan. You could probably get away baking in a cast-iron skillet or even using a 10" pan and reducing the baking time by a few minutes if you don't have a springform pan on hand.
I really like using a springform pan for this recipe because it's easy to remove the outside of the pan, frost the cake, and easily slice it.
Then, add to the oven and bake for 26-28 minutes.
Make the vegan vanilla butter frosting
I first perfected my vegan buttercream recipe when I made these Vegan Lemon Olive Oil Cupcakes.
To make this cookie cake frosting, I used that base recipe but took half of my frosting and turned it a pretty purple-pink color! To decorate this cookie cake, I mixed freeze-dried dragonfruit pitaya powder with ⅓ of the frosting for a naturally-dyed frosting!
Decorate the cookie cake
After putting a thin layer of white frosting over the entire cake, I added the pink and white frosting to opposite sides of a piping bag and piped a super fun frosted edge. You can definitely add as much or as little frosting as you want to this Birthday cake cookie, but I tend to go on the side of frosting the whole cake!
As the last step- just add rainbow sprinkles!
FAQ & Tips:
Can I make this cookie cake gluten-free?
Definitely! Just make sure to use a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour like this one from Bob's Red Mill. Please note that using almond flour, coconut flour, or other flour alternatives will not work in this recipe.
How do I store cookie cake?
If the cake isn't frosted, it can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days before frosting. This means you can definitely make the cookie part of this cake ahead of time!
If the cake is frosted, you will want to slice it and store the slices between layers of parchment paper in a closed container.
It's best to store the cookie cake in the freezer where it will keep for up to 1 month. You can also store the container in the fridge for 3-5 days, but it tends to dry the cookie out a bit.
If you're never experienced the pure unadulterated joy of eating a birthday cookie cake- let this recipe change your mind! I may have single-handedly eaten half of this Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake myself this year and I don't regret a single bite. Enjoy!
-TSG
If you're looking for other Vegan Birthday Dessert Ideas, Check out these recipes:
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Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Ingredients
Cookie Cake
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup cold vegan butter
- ¼ cup organic white sugar
- ½ cup organic brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
- 2 Tbsp almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- ½-3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips *more or less depending on preference
Vanilla Frosting
- ½ cup cold vegan butter
- ¼ cup vegan shortening
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1- 1 ½ cups organic powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp pitaya powder *optional, to make ⅓ of the frosting pink
- 1 Tbsp rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
First, Make the Cookie Dough
- Preheat your oven to 350F. Then, add the all-purpose flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder to a large mixing bowl and sift together. Set aside the bowl.
- Add the cold vegan butter and sugar to a standing mixing bowl. Whip together until creamed for about 2 minutes. Then, add in the flaxseed, almond milk, and vanilla bean paste/extract to the bowl and mix to combine.
- Next, add the bowl of dry ingredients to the standing mixer and mix together until a dough forms. As a final step, add in the chocolate chips and mix by hand to combine.
Bake the Cookie Cake!
- Add the dough to a greased 9" springform pan and use a spatula or your hands to press the dough flat. Add to the oven and bake for 26-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before frosting.
Once Cooled, Make the Frosting
- Begin by adding your vegan butter, shortening, and vanilla to a large mixing bowl. Whip together until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Once whipped, slowly add in your powdered sugar ½ cup at a time and whip until a smooth frosting has formed.
- Take the frosting out of the mixing bowl and add ⅔ of the frosting to one bowl and ⅓ of the frosting to another. In the bowl with ⅓ cup frosting, mix in the pitaya powder.
- Cover the cookie cake with a thin layer of the white frosting. Then, add the remaining white frosting and pink frosting to opposite sides of a piping bag and pipe along the outer edge of the cake. As a final step, sprinkle the rainbow sprinkles on top. Cut into 8 slices and enjoy!
Notes
- Cookie Cake will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week. The cake can be frozen for up to 1 month, just let the cake defrost at room temperature for 1 hour before eating.
- This cookie cake comes out soft and chewy. For a crispier cookie cake, replace the brown sugar 1:1 with white sugar
- For a chewier cookie cake, substitute the all-purpose flour 1:1 with bread flour
- Frosting recipe updated 6/2022- the previous version called for ⅓ cup shortening (vs. the new ¼ cup) and added 1 Tablespoon of coconut cream. I find the new version to be a better consistency for frosting and piping, but you can still use the old recipe if you prefer that!
Laura says
If I don’t have flaxseed can I obit it all together or should I sub with chia seeds?
Megan says
Sub chia seeds- you can't remove it altogether or the consistency will be off.
Joyce Byres says
I made this cake for my family, and I had to double it, I recommend doubling it even if it's not for a party or a big family. My family really liked it, and the next day I made it again for some friends and they really liked it too.😁 and I bake oil free so I just used apple sauce instead of the oil and it really worked out.
Megan says
So glad everyone liked it and glad to hear it worked with applesauce in place of oil too 🙂
Aubrey says
Made this today in an 8inch pan as that's what I had, it is delicious!
Megan says
So happy you enjoyed it!! 🙂
Nikkj says
Omg … delicious!!!! I made this last weekend and it was amazing. I shouldn’t have told anyone it’s vegan and gf (used bobs mill gf flour and still totally delicious) I baked for a few extra minutes just until getting golden. I also used a diff icing recipe only bc it’s the one I always use but I’m sure this one is perfect!!!
Question- do you think this cake could possibly work to kind of crumble up and use in push pops (layer the cookie crumbles and icing type thing)???
Thanks for the amazing recipe!!
Megan says
So glad you loved it!!
I'm not sure about push pops as I've never tried that, but I don't see why not 🙂
Tretha Conaway says
I made this today for my daughter's bday party this evening. I doubled the recipe and baked in a large cast iron skillet. I will also double the icing and use my blue spirulina to make blue icing because that's what I have and I think it'll be fantastic. The edges of the cookie cake rose up on the sides and the middle is lower and flat. Looks like a perfect pool for icing.
Megan says
Sounds perfect- hope everyone enjoys it and happy birthday to your daughter!
adan says
No argument here; best vegan chocolate cookie cake recipe! Our fussy vegan teen had a very happy birthday cake experience with it! Thanks!
Megan says
Love to hear that and Happy birthday!
jojo says
I made this for a vegan friend, but the rest of the party attendees were not vegan. Everybody loved both the cake and the frosting. The crust turned out perfectly browned/slightly caramelized, while the center was perfectly chewy. From my non-vegan perspective, this was the best cookie cake I've ever had - a tie with a cast iron non-vegan cookie cake I tried a different time. I think this recipe, made in a cast iron, would take all cookie cakes to the next level. Thank you!
jojo says
I used a 9" ceramic pie dish. Could be my oven, or my choice of bakeware, but: I baked it for 28 min, then turned the oven off, but based on the color, decided to keep it in there/let it "rest" in the heat for another 2-3 min before taking it out.
Also, the frosting was amazing, but becomes quite soft at room temperature. After adding coloring, I found it helpful to refrigerate a few hours before working with it. Kept the whole cake in the fridge until ready to serve.
Thank you again!!
Megan says
Thank you so much for the review- I'm thrilled everyone liked it 🙂 You can definitely make it in a cast-iron next time as well!
stephanie says
Hey Megan! I'm hoping you'll see this in time. I just signed up to make my niece a cookie cake for her 13th birthday this weekend, but she and my daughter are severely allergic so they need it to be vegan so I'm so thankful I found your recipe.
Do you think this would work on a sheet pan? I need it to be big for a crowd. Any tips you can share would be much appreciated, thank you so much!!!
Megan says
I bet it could be made on a sheet pan, but you'd likely have to double or triple the recipe. I haven't tried it myself so I don't have any tips but as long as it's the same thickness as the normal cookie cake, the baking time should be similar. If it's thinner, you'll just want to bake the cookie cake for less time. Hope that helps!
Avery says
Hi Megan,
Happy birthday! I’d like to make this soon and just wanted to confirm that the ground flaxseed meal isn’t pre-mixed with water to make a”flaxseed egg” before being added to the other ingredients. Am I reading that right?
Megan says
Yes it doesn't need to be pre mixed- it's added in just the ground flax seed then also using the 2 Tbsp of almond milk
Jasmine says
I made this for Cowy’s birthday who is my little plush cow who turned eleven. 🥳🐮 He loved it and of course my family loved it too! ❤️ I didn’t use all the vanilla frosting, but it does store well for any other future treats you want to top off with some vanilla frosting. 🤗 It slices well and doesn’t crumble very much so it’s the perfect treat for any celebration! Overall, it’s a good ol’ classic chewy chocolate chip cookie, but giant! 😃🍪
Khadija says
Hi I wanted to make a vegan cookie cake and this recipe sounds amazing, do you think I could use it to make a two layer cookie cake?
Megan Horowitch says
Definitely! You may want to make the cookie cakes the day before stacking them so they have enough time to cool but I don't see why it would not work :).
Kathryn says
Hi Megan! this looks amazing, definitely going to make for my bf's birthday this weekend! Question - could I bake this in a cast iron skillet instead of a springform pan for a cookie skillet vibe?
Megan Horowitch says
yay happy early birthday! If the cast iron skillet is the same size as the 9"pan it should work. If it's smaller or larger, the cooking time will vary. This cookie cake isn't meant to come out gooey like some skillet cookies, so just make sure you use some cooking oil so it doesn't stick and you can remove it. Let me know how it goes!
Emilie says
Hi! What do you think would happen if I used soy milk? Looks delicious! Excited to try it 😀
Megan Horowitch says
Any plant-based milk can be subbed for almond milk so soy milk should work perfectly. Hope you love it!
Alix says
Made this for a small get together & we loved it! Even my non vegan friends said it was one of the best cookie cakes they had! They actually raved about the icing and ate quite a bit without the cookie cake! So easy & wonderful!
Victoria says
Hi! This looks unbelievably good!! Have you ever doubled this recipe and stacked the cookie cake into two layers lol? I am hoping to make this for 5 people but wanted it to be denser but only have a 9'' pan!
Megan Horowitch says
I haven't tried that, but I don't see why it wouldn't work- sounds delicious! Would love to hear how it goes if you try it out 🙂
ShortGirlTallOrder says
So glad you liked it- it's the best when people are pleasantly surprised it's vegan! I don't have a calorie estimate right now but if you copy and paste the ingredients into MyFitnessPal or a similar app it should be able to pull it 🙂
Emily says
Made this for my own dessert at my nephews bday party for myself Nd offered to many other non vegans and they all loved it and were shocked it was vegan! I was wondering if there is an estimate of the calories per serving?
Matt B says
Made this for my wife's birthday and she LOVED it! Said it tasted just like Mrs. Fields 😀
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Thank you so much for the feedback Matt 🙂 and Happy Birthday!
Ciarra says
I can't wait to make this for my Birthday next month! Amazing recipe as always, Megan!
ShortGirlTallOrder says
thank you so much Ciarra!
lilly says
Hi,
Looking forward to making this. I've never used a spring form pan, anything in particular to note? I saw some videos online and people put it in another pan with water? Can I just grease it like regular and use it like regular? Do I need to wrap it in tin foil?
-New To Spring
ShortGirlTallOrder says
Hi there! You can grease it like a regular pan (butter or coconut oil works well) and it does not need to be wrapped in tin foil. If you decide to use a regular pan, I'd recommend parchment paper over tin foil, but a springform pan makes for easier removal without the need for either of these! The one thing to note is just to be careful when releasing the pan as it will be hot :). Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions!