Cake Batter Cookies blend familiar cake flavors into a delicious cookie, featuring soft, chewy centers, crisp edges, tons of sprinkles, and rich chocolate.
The Best Cake Batter Cookies
These cookies are pretty simple to make and packed with flavor. They are like a cookie + cake flavor hybrid. The texture is still completely cookie-like — crisp edges with a chewy, soft interior. So while they don’t have a cake-like texture, they do taste reminiscent of cake batter (Funfetti® cake batter)!
Ingredients
Ingredients- Butter: Creates a rich, fluffy base in your cookies.
- Brown and White Sugar: Adds moisture, flavor, and crispness.
- Egg: Binds and structures the cake batter cookies.
- Vanilla Extract: Enhances overall flavor.
- Baking Soda: Aids in rising and lightening the cookies.
- Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix: Contributes to moisture and taste.
- Cake Mix: Imparts a unique flavor and texture.
- All-purpose Flour: Forms the cookie structure.
- Sprinkles: Add color and texture to the cookies.
- White Chocolate Chips: Provide sweetness and creamy texture.
How To Make Cake Batter Cookies
- Cream butter and sugars until ultra creamy, light, and fluffy.
- Whisk dry ingredients in a separate bowl until combined.
- Mix dry and wet ingredients just until combined to avoid tough cookies.
- Gently fold in baking chips and sprinkles with a spatula.
- Form tall dough balls, cover, and refrigerate.
- Bake on a lined sheet until edges are lightly browned, and centers are soft and chewy.
Cake Batter Cookie Tips
- Use Jimmies Sprinkles: Best for texture and flavor, no color bleed.
- Chill Dough: Solidifies butter, absorbs pudding mix; don’t exceed 3-4 hours.
- Quality Cake Mix: Prefer Betty Crocker® Super Moist; Rainbow chip, yellow, white, or Funfetti recommended.
- Correct Pudding Mix: Choose instant, avoid sugar-free/low-sugar for best results.
- Measure Accurately: Use spoon and level or grams for precision, prevent cakey cookies.
More Delicious Cookie Recipes
- Snickerdoodles
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Meringue Cookies
Cake Batter Cookies
The perfect combination of everyone's two favorite desserts, these Cake Batter Cookies are soft, delicious, and perfect for any occasion.
Equipment
- Sheet pan lined
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup instant vanilla pudding mix not sugar or fat free, dry
- 1 cup Funfetti cake mix or yellow cake mix, dry
- 1-1/4 cups flour spooned and leveled
- 1/2 cup sprinkles
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl, beat together room temperature butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat until ingredients are completely smooth and combined, and light and creamy. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking soda, salt, unprepared pudding mix, unprepared cake mix, and flour. Stir until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to wet. Beat till combined, but do not overmix. The cookie dough gets very thick. Gently fold sprinkles and chips into the dough with a spatula.
- Form tall cookie dough balls that are about 3 tablespoons in size. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Place no more than 6 cookie dough balls on a pan to give ample room for the dough to spread while baking. Bake for 9–13 minutes or until lightly browned at the edges and slightly under-baked in the center. I bake mine for about 11 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool on the sheet pan for another 3–4 minutes. While they are on the sheet pan, you can add a few more chocolate chips and sprinkles to the top, but this is optional. Place cookies on a cooling rack until fully cooled. Cookies are best enjoyed the same day they're made.
Recipe Notes
Storage: Once cooled, you can store any leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.
Nutrition
Calories: 289kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 215mg | Potassium: 73mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 239IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Out of curiosity, why dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar? Is it a taste/texture thing? Most often I see light brown sugar in cookie recipes so I’m curious! Would it make much of a difference if I used light brown sugar instead? Really looking forward to giving these a try! I tried a previous cake batter cookie recipe (Sally’s Baking Addiction) but found that once baked, the cake batter flavor didn’t really come through very much. That recipe didn’t have pudding mix in it though so I’m interested to see the texture and flavor differences. Thanks for the recipe!
Both light and dark brown sugar contain molasses, but dark brown sugar has more. Because of the increased amount of molasses, dark brown sugar has a darker and deeper color with a stronger flavor. Dark brown sugar is slightly more acidic with more moisture. I find dark brown sugar has a more pronounced caramel flavor and a richer sweetness with a slightly chewier texture. Light brown sugar is also great and will work fine in the cookies. Hope you love these cookies!
Can you make these with homemade cake batter that’s wet and has all the ingredients in the batter already. Like can I add the wet cake batter to this cookie mix and make them into cake batter cookies? I am trying to make bulk so making a lot isn’t a issue.
No, I don’t see that working well, sorry!
Our absolute favorite! We’ve made this 4 times this holiday season. So yummy!
Yay! So happy to hear! Thanks Chelsea! 🙂
Just wanted to say that these cookies are the reason new yeaar’s resolutions never stood a chance. Added different things like cranberries and peanut butter pieces, along with nuts, and an hour after baking, the only trace of the cookies is the smell in the kitchen.
Love hearing these are a hit! 🙂 Thanks so much for the comment Magda! xo
Just got done baking these for Christmas. They are delicious!! Thank you for the recipe!! 🙂
You are so welcome! 🙂 So glad you enjoyed these!
I am drawn to rainbow colored foods! Seriously. I dont know what it is about rainbowwwwwww!!
Hah!! They are just so fun! Thanks GiGi!
With my son grown, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading about your Elf on the Shelf adventures! Nutella, your husband is adorable! And, so are these cookies. Can’t wait to try them.
Cake batter cookies are the best. These cookies look super soft and chewy, just the way we like them!
We cant stop making cookies over here! These look incredibly delicious and I love your story about elf on the shelf! Our first night introducing ours was a total mommy fail… Chase threw it accross the room crying because it scared him…lol!
Hahaha oh no!! Too funny!
Ah, these look so cute!