Birthday Cake Cookies Recipe for Soft and Chewy Funfetti Cookies

Birthday Cake Cookies

These birthday cake cookies are soft, chewy, and loaded with white chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. Clear vanilla extract does the heavy lifting here, giving every bite that classic birthday cake flavor you remember from a funfetti sheet cake at a childhood party.

You get the look and the taste of a celebration cake, but in an easier to make cookie that fits on one baking sheet.

They are a smart choice when you want something festive without baking and frosting a whole cake. The dough comes together quickly with melted butter, so there is no softening, no creaming, and no waiting around. Scoop the dough, bake it, and the batch is ready in about 32 minutes from start to finish.

Why you’ll love this recipe

I made my first batch for my nephew’s birthday when there was no time to bake and decorate a layer cake. The cookies vanished faster than any cake I have ever brought to a party, and they have been my go to celebration treat ever since.

• Real birthday cake flavor. Clear vanilla extract is the ingredient that makes these taste like a bakery birthday cake. Regular vanilla extract works in a pinch, but it tastes more like vanilla and less like the funfetti cake you are picturing.
• Soft centers with crisp edges. They bake up chewy in the middle with a light crisp edge, which is exactly what you want in a sugar cookie style treat.
• No mixer required. Melted butter means no creaming step and no waiting for butter to soften on the counter. A whisk and a spatula handle everything.
• Ready in under an hour. Prep takes about 20 minutes and the cookies bake in about 12 minutes.
• Sprinkles inside and out. White chocolate and rainbow sprinkles go into the dough and get pressed on top, so every cookie looks like a party.

Tools

You do not need much equipment for this recipe, and most of it is already in a standard kitchen.

• A baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cut the parchment to fit the pan. Sheets that are too large curl up at the edges and can push the dough around.
• An electric hand mixer or a whisk. The hand mixer is optional. A whisk works well because the butter is already melted.
• A cookie scooper, 3 tablespoons or 4 tablespoons. A larger scoop gives you bakery style cookies with a better spread. If you prefer small, bite sized cookies, use a smaller scoop and watch the bake time closely.
• Two mixing bowls. A small one for the dry ingredients and a large one for the wet ingredients.
• A spatula. You will switch to it at the end to fold in the chocolate and sprinkles without overmixing.
• A wire rack. For cooling the cookies after they firm up on the baking sheet.
• An optional round cookie cutter. Choose one slightly larger than the baked cookies and swirl it around each cookie right out of the oven to tuck in uneven edges.

One note on scoop size: bigger dough balls spread better and give you that bakery look, so if you are torn, go with the 3 tablespoon or 4 tablespoon size.

Ingredient notes

Here is everything that goes into the dough. The weights matter more than they look, so it is worth pulling out a kitchen scale.

Clear vanilla extract is the key ingredient for that birthday cake flavor. Regular vanilla extract can be substituted, but the cookies will taste different, closer to a classic vanilla sugar cookie than a funfetti cake.

Unsalted butter, melted. Melt it in the microwave or on the stovetop before you start mixing. Melted butter keeps the dough soft and means you never have to cream butter and sugar together.

Egg at room temperature. A cold egg can solidify the melted butter when it hits the bowl. Let the egg sit out for a while, or place it in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes.

White chocolate, roughly chopped. Chop it by hand so you get uneven pockets of chocolate in the dough, and keep a little extra aside for pressing on top.

Rainbow sprinkles. They go into the dough, and extra sprinkles go on top for that unmistakable funfetti look.

Most of the ingredients are listed in grams because a scale is far more accurate than a measuring cup for flour and sugar. Small amounts, such as baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stay in teaspoons because most kitchen scales are not accurate below 10 grams.

For reference, the source nutrition works out to about 281 calories per cookie, with 37 g carbohydrates, 3 g protein, 13 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 23 g sugar, 1 g fiber, 209 mg sodium, and 43 mg cholesterol.

How to make birthday cake cookies

The method is simple, and the only real rule is to stop mixing as soon as the flour disappears. Follow these steps and the cookies come out soft every time.

1. Prep the oven and pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set the bowl aside.
3. Mix the wet ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to mix the melted butter and granulated sugar until combined. Add the egg and the clear vanilla extract, then whisk until everything is incorporated.
4. Bring the dough together. Add the flour mixture and mix until it is almost combined. Add the chopped white chocolate and the rainbow sprinkles, then switch to a spatula to finish folding the dough together. This last part matters, because overmixing can make the cookies tough.
5. Scoop the dough. Use a cookie scooper to portion the dough onto the lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie so they have room to spread.
6. Bake. Bake for about 11 to 12 minutes, until the edges are set but the middles of the cookies are still very soft. In the last 2 minutes of baking, press a few extra chunks of white chocolate onto the top of each cookie and add more sprinkles.
7. Reshape and cool. Right after the cookies come out of the oven, you can swirl each one with a round cookie cutter that is slightly larger than the cookie to push the uneven edges in for perfectly round cookies. This step is optional. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes until they are firm enough to handle, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

The dough will look soft and a little sticky, and that is exactly right with melted butter. The centers should still seem underdone when you pull the tray out. They set up as they cool, which is what gives you that soft, chewy middle.

Pull the cookies while the centers still look a touch underbaked. They finish setting on the hot baking sheet, and that is the trick to keeping them soft instead of crisp all the way through.

If you are baking for a party, the swirling step is worth the extra minute. It turns slightly lopsided cookies into neat rounds, which looks lovely on a platter next to a stack of napkins and a glass of cold milk.

Storage

Keep the baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Store them in a single layer, or stack them with a piece of parchment in between, so the chocolate and sprinkles on top stay where you put them.

Freezing

These cookies freeze beautifully, and so does the raw dough, which makes them a handy treat to keep on hand.

Baked cookies. Let them cool completely, then freeze them in a freezer bag for up to 1 month. Thaw at room temperature for about an hour before serving, and they taste freshly baked.

Unbaked dough. Scoop the dough balls onto a tray or a cutting board and freeze the whole tray for about 30 to 60 minutes, until the balls are firm. Transfer the frozen dough balls to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 1 month.

You can bake them straight from frozen at 350°F for about 15 minutes, which is a few minutes longer than the fresh dough needs.

More Cookies

If these birthday cake cookies made it onto your favorites list, there are plenty more cookie recipes on the blog worth baking next. Try a new one each week, share a plate with a neighbor, and enjoy the smell of cookies in the kitchen.

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Birthday Cake Cookies

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Birthday Cake Cookies These birthday cake cookies are soft, chewy, and loaded with white chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. Clear vanilla extract does the heavy lifting here, giving every bite that classic birthday cake flavor you remember from a funfetti sheet cake at a childhood party.

• Total Time: 32 min
• Yield: 10 cookies 1x

Ingredients

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Ingredients
180 g all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
115 g unsalted butter, melted
125 g granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract
100 g white chocolate, roughly chopped, plus extra for topping
50 g rainbow sprinkles, plus extra for topping

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Instructions

Instructions
1-Preheat oven to 350°F: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2-In a small bowl, stir together flour,: In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3-In a large mixing bowl, use a: In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer or whisk to mix melted butter and sugar until combined. Add the egg and clear vanilla extract and whisk until incorporated.
4-Add the flour mixture and mix until: Add the flour mixture and mix until almost combined. Add the white chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. Switch to a spatula to finish folding the dough together to prevent overmixing.
5-Use a cookie scooper to scoop the: Use a cookie scooper to scoop the cookie dough. Release the dough ball onto your lined baking sheet, leaving about 2″ in between each cookie for spreading.
6-Bake for about 11-12 minutes or until: Bake for about 11-12 minutes or until the edges are set but the middles of the cookies are still very soft. In the last 2 minutes of baking, press a few extra chunks of chocolate on top of each cookie and sprinkle with more sprinkles.
7-Immediately after taking them out of the: Immediately after taking them out of the oven, swirl the cookies around with a round cookie cutter that’s slightly larger than the cookies to push the uneven edges in for perfectly round cookies (optional). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes until they’re firm enough to handle before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

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• Prep Time: 20 min
• Cook Time: 12 min
• Method: bake

Nutrition

• Calories: 281kcal
• Sugar: 23g
• Sodium: 209mg
• Fat: 13g
• Saturated Fat: 8g
• Carbohydrates: 37g
• Fiber: 1g
• Protein: 3g
• Cholesterol: 43mg