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These soft, chewy birthday cake cookies are everything you love about birthday cake in cookie form: sprinkles, swirls of buttercream frosting, and more sprinkles.
You don’t run a baking site for as many years as I have without developing a bit of an obsession with sprinkles.
I use them to top everything from vanilla bundt cake to sour cream cookies to homemade truffles. And they get mixed into recipes like popcorn balls, easy sugar cookies, and funfetti pancakes.
They just make everything so much more fun and festive! I don’t care if you’re a kid or an adult, I’m convinced you’re lying if you say that sprinkles don’t make you at least a little bit happier.
If you want to add a little bit of sprinkle-filled happiness to your day, these birthday cake cookies are the way to do it. Of course they’re perfect for celebrating anyone’s special day, but they’re also great for small celebrations like the beginning of summer break or simply getting through a long work week.
What are birthday cake cookies?
These birthday cake cookies are soft, chewy cookies flavored with plenty of vanilla and packed with colorful sprinkles. They are topped with a swirl of buttercream frosting to bring in all of the components of your favorite childhood birthday cakes.
If you love funfetti cupcakes, you are pretty much guaranteed to love these birthday cake cookies.
As much as I love my quick and easy funfetti cookies (made with the help of a boxed cake mix), this recipe is made from scratch to give you even more options for fun ways to celebrate.
I nearly always make these cookies with a mix of rainbow sprinkles, but you could also theme the sprinkles to any holiday or occasion. Try green sprinkles for St. Patrick’s Day, pink and red for Valentine’s Day, or your team’s colors for a game-day treat!
How to make birthday cake cookies
These birthday cake cookies might be made from scratch, but they’re definitely still an easy recipe!
Ingredients you’ll need
For the sprinkle-filled cookies, you will need:
- 1 ⅓ cups room-temperature unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sprinkles
Since we use the creaming method to make these cookies, make sure your butter has softened to room temperature before beginning.
If you forget to set your butter out ahead of time, check out my tips for how to soften butter quickly. You might also want to review how to cream butter and sugar so you know what to watch for when making this recipe.
And make sure you know how to measure flour correctly. This is a simple step that will help your baked goods come out perfect every time.
The buttercream frosting we are using for these cookies is just a slightly smaller batch of my favorite homemade buttercream frosting. For that, you will need:
- 1 cup room-temperature unsalted butter
- 3 ¼ cups powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Again, make sure your butter has softened to room temperature. This will give you a silky-smooth frosting.
Another way to make that frosting super smooth is to sift your powdered sugar. For this recipe, measure out the 3 ¼ cups of powdered sugar first, then sift it.
You can use any vanilla extract you like in this frosting, but to keep it bright white, use clear vanilla instead of your usual pure vanilla extract.
Making this recipe
To make these cookies, start by creaming the butter and sugar together with a mixer until light and fluffy. This will take about 3 minutes, so don’t try to rush this step.
Add the eggs and vanilla, then mix until well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add this mixture to the wet ingredients just until the dough comes together, then mix in the sprinkles.
This dough does need to chill before scooping, so cover and refrigerate the dough for 1-2 hours.
Once the dough is chilled, use a medium cookie scoop to drop scoops of the dough 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets. Bake the cookies at 350°F for 10-12 minutes, until barely lightly golden around the edges and set in the centers.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling before frosting them.
Make the frosting by beating the butter with a mixer for about 6 minutes. Slowly add the powdered sugar, mixing until well combined, then add the vanilla and milk.
Beat on high speed for about 5 minutes, until the frosting is smooth and fluffy. Pipe or spread the frosting onto the cooled cookies and top with more of your sprinkles.
Storage tips
Unfrosted birthday cake cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days.
You can store frosted cookies in a covered container on the counter for 2-3 days as long as the room is not too warm. If the room is warm, I recommend storing them in the refrigerator and letting them come to room temperature before serving.
You could also freeze the cookie dough or the baked, undecorated cookies.
Follow my instructions for how to freeze cookie dough to freeze balls of this dough. Then you can enjoy these birthday cake cookies on a whim whenever a craving hits!
You can also freeze the unfrosted cookies in a zip-top freezer bag for up to a month. Let them thaw at room temperature for 1-2 hours before frosting.
Recipe FAQs
You can use any sprinkles or sprinkle mixes you like best, but I typically prefer rainbow jimmies (the long sprinkles).
If you have shaped sprinkles (such as hearts, stars, etc), the shapes will not show up very well in the cookies themselves, so I suggest saving those for decorating the tops of the cookies.
Nope! These birthday cake cookies are really delicious without the frosting on them, so feel free to enjoy them as-is if you aren’t a big fan of frosting. You could also spread a smaller amount of frosting on each cookie if you don’t want to go for a big swirl on top.
Even though the buttercream frosting for these cookies will crust up, you won’t want to stack the cookies. If you are transporting them to a party, I suggest using large bakery boxes, like the type you’d get donuts in from the donut shop.
The boxes will give you plenty of room to store the cookies without destroying the frosting. Plus, they’ll look so pretty and professional that your friends might even think you got them from a bakery!
The minimum chilling time for this cookie dough is 1-2 hours, but you can let it chill for up to 24 hours before baking.
If you keep it in the fridge for longer than 2 hours, you will likely need to allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 30-40 minutes before scooping and baking.
Birthday Cake Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 1 ⅓ cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sprinkles
For the Buttercream Frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 ¼ cups powdered sugar sifted
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
For the Cookies
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; about 3 minutes.
- Add in eggs and vanilla and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until the dough comes together. Mix in sprinkles.
- Cover and refrigerate dough for 1-2 hours.
- When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking liner.
- Use a medium cookie scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) to drop dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
- Bake cookies in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. Allow cookies to rest for a few minutes before removing them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once cookies have cooled completely, prepare the buttercream frosting.
For the Buttercream
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed for about 6 minutes.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in powdered sugar, and continue beating until well blended.
- Add in vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk. Mix on low speed until moistened.
- Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy; about 5 more minutes. If your frosting is too thick, gradually add a little more milk, 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
- Pipe frosting onto cooled cookies and top with festive sprinkles.
Video
Notes
- If you want to maintain a bright white frosting, use clear vanilla in the buttercream.
- The minimum chilling time for this cookie dough is 1-2 hours, but you can let it chill for up to 24 hours before baking. If you keep it in the fridge for longer than 2 hours, you will likely need to allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 30-40 minutes before scooping and baking.
- You can use any sprinkles or sprinkle mixes you like best, but I typically prefer rainbow jimmies (the long sprinkles). If you have shaped sprinkles (such as hearts, stars, etc), the shapes will not show up very well in the cookies themselves, so I suggest saving those for decorating the tops of the cookies.
- Unfrosted birthday cake cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days. You can store frosted cookies in a covered container on the counter for 2-3 days as long as the room is not too warm. If the room is warm, I recommend storing them in the refrigerator and letting them come to room temperature before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Omg I was looking everywhere for cake flavoured cookies that were made from scratching and didn’t use cake mix!! But I have a few questions: this recipe makes 36 cookies right? And can I use baking soda instead of baking powder?
Hi Laura – Yes, this recipe makes about 36 cookies. I have not made this recipe with baking soda instead of baking powder so I’m not sure of the result. If you happen to give it a try, I’d love to know how they turned out. Thanks so much for stopping by.
-Jamie
Are these cookies wlsweet enough to not have the frosting? I want to bake them for my son’s class birthday bash they have at the end of the month and the school does not want us bringing in too much sugar.
Thank you!
Theresa-
Yes, they will be totally fine without the frosting. :)
That is a lovely looking cake…
Thank you! I hope you like them!
These cookies are an absolute delight! Cookies and frosting = life perfected.
My boyfriend and I just bought a townhouse together and I love having our own space. While this house doesn’t have a walk-in pantry, I commandeered the cupboard under the stairs and the linen closet as my ‘baking and blogging cupboards’. I’m never going to grow up ;)
Good on you for getting customised shelves and drawers!
Those cookies do look like just birthday cake! And I imagine they taste like it too. Love the sprinkle blend too, very fun :D
Hey, Jamie – you may remember me. I used to be one of the managers at Williams-Sonoma. I have a few bundt pans….at last count, I had 57. That doesn’t count any of my cookie sheets, layer cake pans, etc etc so on so forth…
I live in a one-bedroom apartment. (Oh, did I mention the 500+ cookie cutters?)
I want to build and live in a Tiny House. I have been fighting with EVERYONE who keeps saying that i’ll have to get rid of all my baking stuff – and I keep pointing out that all the people on TinyHouse nation have ski equipment and such – why can’t my pans go where their ski equipment goes??? Anyway – this is a long-winded way of saying how much I envy your pantry!!!
Jeanne-
Of course I remember you! 57?! That is incredible – clearly I need to step up my bundt pan game. We moved from Toledo to Cleveland, so I haven’t been into the Toledo WS in quite some time. I hope all is well!
-Jamie
Those look delicious and simple!, really great idea for a bday :)
Cookies with frosting and sprinkles are the best!! So cute as well!
How fun are these cookies?!?!?! Ok, I need to check out those sprinkles. I mean Happy Unicorn? I see my money going straight to sprinkles now!!!
It’s so funny to hear you talking about a special baking pantry because I have always said how when I build a house one day that is my number one request! I hope you post pictures of how it turns out. These cookies are also so festive and fun. Love it!