The softest vegan cookie cake you'll ever eat! Create a bakery-style flavor and ultra soft texture at home. Great for birthdays and other celebrations!
To celebrate my birthday this year, I made cookie cake! I have always loved cookie cake - I love the classic cookie flavor, especially when it's a super soft cookie, WITH the frosting.
Like, cookies are good, but cookies AND frosting?! Simply delightful.
This cookie cake is a classic cookie cake turned vegan - we're using AP flour, vegan butter, and sugar. If you want a version that's totally WFPB, head over to my plant-based fruit pizza recipe, where the cookie is totally refined sugar free, oil-free, and gluten-free.
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Why I love this Vegan Cookie Cake
- Dietary needs - this recipe is completely vegan - dairy-free and egg free! And can easily be made gluten-free
- Great for birthdays and parties - cookie cake is so fun and can be decorated in any way for whatever occasion
- Vegan version of a classic - A classic dessert that friends and family will love - all diets welcome
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- Vegan Butter: I recommend Earth Balance or Miyokos
- Organic Light Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: This recipe calls for organic sugar because non-organic sugar is not vegan. For color, most sugar is processed with bone char. So, to keep the recipe fully vegan, use organic sugar. See my post on how to make your own vegan brown sugar.
- Ground Flax + Non-Dairy Milk: we don't actually make a flax egg in this recipe, but these are both the components for the egg. You can use water or non-dairy milk as your liquid.
- Vanilla Extract: or vanilla bean paste
- Almond Extract: this is optional but very highly recommended. To me, almond extract is what gives this cookie cake that bakery-style flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour: you can easily make this gluten-free by subbing gluten-free all purpose flour. I recommend decreasing the flour slightly when using gluten-free flour, because gf flour tends to make cakes and cookies more dry than regular. See the recipe card for details.
- Kosher Salt: if your butter is unsalted increase kosher salt to 1 ½ teaspoons
- Baking Powder
- Vegan Chocolate Chips: I use Enjoy Life mini chips. Any vegan chocolate chip will work. Or feel free to omit the chips.
- Vegan Sprinkles: For birthday cookie cake vibes! I used naturally colored sprinkles to avoid food dyes. I have more notes in the recipe card about different options.
Vegan Buttercream Frosting
See my full post about vegan buttercream frosting for detailed notes.
- Vegan Butter: I use Earth Balance
- Organic Powdered Sugar: same note as above about choosing organic sugar to ensure the sugar is vegan.
- Vanilla
- Beetroot Powder: if you want to color your frosting, I recommend using beetroot powder for a beautiful pink. You can also use foods like turmeric, matcha, and spirulina for other colors!
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9" springform pan with parchment. (I find tracing a circle around the bottom of the pan and cutting to be the best method.)
Step 2. In a large bowl add the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Use a hand mixer to beat until the butter and sugars are fully combined. (Since this recipe uses cold or only slightly softened butter, this may take longer than normal.)
Step 3. Add the milk, ground flax, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat again until combined.
Step 4. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix again until the flour is totally incorporated into the wet ingredients. Do not over mix.
Step 5. Add the chocolate chips and sprinkles, if using. Mix again, for 10-20 seconds, just to combine.
Step 6. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Press evenly into a flat layer.
Step 7. Bake for 22 minutes for a soft cake or 25 minutes for a more crunchy cake. Let the cake cool completely. (I recommend chilling the cake before frosting for the best flavor.)
Step 8. Make the frosting (see my vegan buttercream frosting post for full notes). In a medium bowl add the softened butter and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and mix on low speed until the frosting comes together. If you want to add coloring, remove ⅓ cup of the frosting and place in a separate bowl. Add the beetroot powder (or other coloring) and mix until incorporated.
Step 9. To frost like I did, add both colors to separate sides of a piping bag and pipe two rows onto the circumference of the cake. Alternatively, you can cover the entire cake in frosting and use the colored portion to pipe a single row around the edge.
FAQ & Expert Tips
This cookie cake is SOFT when you bake it for 22 minutes as recommended. It's that perfect soft bakery texture!
If you like a more solid, almost crunchy cookie, increase the baking time to 25, up to 27 minutes.
This cookie cake is good fresh out of the oven but I've found that it tastes best after having been chilled.
Let the cake cool for at least 20 minutes at room temperature before placing in the fridge to cool completely.
Either way, if you are icing the cake, you must cool the cake completely.
Store this vegan chocolate chip cookie cake in the fridge! As I mentioned above, I think the flavor is best when the cake is chilled and it will last longer this way - up to a week.
If you ice the cake, the cake must be stored in the fridge.
More cookie cake flavors
- Red Velvet: I use a bit of chocolate and beetroot powder for color (it bakes into a reddish color!) to create a delicious vegan red velvet cookie cake
- Slightly Chocolate: as the name suggests, this is a slightly chocolately version of this cookie cake. It's not a deep rich chocolate (which is an entirely different recipe because of the way cocoa powder interacts with the dough) but just a hint. It is more rich in flavor than the standard recipe
- Oatmeal: like an oatmeal cookie in cookie cake form! Feel free to add raisins instead of chocolate chips. Or both!
- Cornbread: a little strange, but cornbread cookies are delicious and you CAN make a cornbread cookie cake. It would make a super fun treat for a summer party.
Exact notes on all of these flavors are in the recipe card below!
Recipe Prayer
Jesus, thank you for the gifts of delicious desserts. Grant us the time to enjoy this cake with our friends and loved ones. Amen.
More vegan birthday desserts
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Cookie Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ Cup Vegan Butter cold or slightly softened; I use Earth Balance
- ½ cup Organic Light Brown Sugar see note about sugar
- ¼ cup Organic Granulated Sugar see note about sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Non-Dairy Milk or water
- 1 Tablespoons Ground Flaxseeds
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ⅛ Teaspoon Almond Extract optional but highly recommended
- 1 ¼ Cups All-Purpose Flour
- ½ Teaspoon Kosher Salt if your butter is unsalted increase kosher salt to 1 ½ teaspoons
- ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
- ⅓ Cup Vegan Chocolate Chips I use Enjoy Life mini chips
- ¼ Cup Vegan Sprinkles + more for decorating optional; see notes about natural dyes and cookie cake texture
Vegan Buttercream Frosting
- ½ Cup Vegan Butter I use Earth Balance
- 1 ½ Cups Organic Powdered Sugar see note about sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 Teaspoon Beetroot Powder optional; see notes for more coloring options
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9" springform pan with parchment. (I find tracing a circle around the bottom of the pan and cutting to be the best method.)
- In a large bowl add the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Use a hand mixer to beat until the butter and sugars are fully combined. (Since this recipe uses cold or only slightly softened butter, this may take longer than normal.)
- Add the milk, ground flax, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Beat again until combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix again until the flour is totally incorporated into the wet ingredients. Do not over mix.
- Add the chocolate chips and sprinkles, if using. Mix again, for 10-20 seconds, just to combine.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Press evenly into a flat layer.
- Bake for 22 minutes for a soft cake or 25 minutes for a more crunchy cake. Let the cake cool completely. (I recommend chilling the cake before frosting for the best flavor.)
- Make the frosting (see my vegan buttercream frosting post for full notes). In a medium bowl add the softened butter and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar and mix on low speed until the frosting comes together. If you want to add coloring, remove ⅓ cup of the frosting and place in a separate bowl. Add the beetroot powder (or other coloring) and mix until incorporated.
- To frost like I did, add both colors to separate sides of a piping bag and pipe two rows onto the circumference of the cake. Alternatively, you can cover the entire cake in frosting and use the colored portion to pipe a single row around the edge.
Notes
Gluten Free
This cookie cake works perfectly when made gluten free. Gluten free flour is more absorbent than regular flour, so decreasing the flour slightly helps create a moist texture. Instead of 1 ¼ cups of flour, use 1 cup + 2 tablespoons gluten-free all purpose flour (I use King Arthur brand.)Sugar
This recipe calls for organic sugar because non-organic sugar is not vegan. For color, most sugar is processed with bone char. So, to keep the recipe fully vegan, use organic sugar. I've found that organic brown sugar is expensive and hard to find, so I make my own. See my full post on how to make vegan brown sugar. I have not tested this recipe with sugar substitutions, but coconut sugar would likely work as a sub, though using entirely coconut sugar would make the overall flavor more caramely. For a completely WFPB/gluten-free cookie option, make the cookie I used in my plant-based fruit pizza.Sprinkles
Natural sprinkles - any sprinkle that uses real foods like beets and turmeric to dye the sprinkles - are less stable than regular sprinkles that contain artificial dyes. These sprinkles break down more easily when baked and can create a more oily texture; to combat this, you can add 2 tablespoons of extra flour if you use naturally dyed sprinkles. This is optional - without the extra flour, the cookie cake will still turn out, it will just be more oily. Sprinkles with food dyes do not do this, so no additional flour is necessary.Other cookie flavors
I have made several versions of this cookie recipe. Here are some other fun flavors you can try: For all these flavors, SUBTRACT ¼ cup of all purpose flour and ADD:- Red Velvet: 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder + 2 tablespoons Beetroot powder
- Cornbread: ½ cup cornmeal
- Hint of chocolate: 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder + 2 tablespoons flour
- Oatmeal: subtract an additional 2 tablespoons of flour; add ½ cup + 2 tablespoons oats + ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
Natural food coloring
Real foods can create beautiful colors. Here are some color options and real-food powders you can add:- Pink: beetroot powder or pink pitaya powder
- Blue: blue spirulina (makes the most vibrant blue!) or butterfly pea powder for a softer blue color
- Green: matcha
- Yellow: turmeric
- Purple: purple sweet potato powder
Nutrition
Nutrition information is an estimate.
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