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Birthday Cake Cookies are everything you love about birthday cake in cookie form – sprinkles, buttercream frosting, and more sprinkles.
When we were deciding on the plans for our new home, one room was an absolute must. It wasn’t a home office or playroom for Elle, nope – it was a walk-in pantry.
A place that I could deck out with floor to ceiling shelving to accommodate my massive collection of baking pans, small appliances and enough sprinkles to last me a lifetime.
When we sat down with our builder, none of the plans we were interested in included a walk-in pantry. I had a slight diva moment, I mean how can anyone possibly have enough space to store everything in a tiny kitchen pantry?!
That’s when Eric reminded me that my everything is a tad bit different from everyone else’s everything. What he was saying was that 7 styles of bundt pans and a gazillion bags of chocolate chips is not the norm.
We ended up adding an extra room that is intended to be used for additional laundry space or a small home office, but we’re adding in custom shelving and drawers, and I couldn’t be more excited to organize all the sprinkles.
Speaking of sprinkles, I recently placed an order to Sweetapolita’s Sprinkle Shop and I’m officially obsessed with every single one of her creations.
Words cannot even begin to describe how beautiful her custom blends are – you just have to check them out for yourself. You guys, she has a blend called Happy Unicorn and now she officially has all my money.
I told you, I’m obsessed.
Sweetapolita’s Birthday Party sprinkles are what inspired these Birthday Cake Cookies. They’re soft, chewy, topped with a swirl of vanilla buttercream and loaded with sprinkles.
Although I’m no stranger to doctored up cake mixes, I wanted to create these cookies from scratch, but if you’re short on time, these Cake Mix Cookies are a definite winner!
Of course, this Birthday Cake Cookies recipe is perfect for celebrating anyone’s special day, but they’re also great for small celebrations like getting through the first few weeks of school or getting a brand new pantry installed. You can even celebrate on a whim when you follow my instructions for how to freeze cookie dough on this recipe!
If you’re as obsessed with sprinkles as I am, be sure to check out my Funfetti Sugar Cookie Bars and Funfetti Cupcakes!
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.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi! I’m looking forward to making this recipe!! Although, I was just wondering how far in advance could I make the buttercream frosting?? Also, when chilling the dough, could I roll it into a log and just slice the cookies???
Thank you so much!!!
Hi Wisper-
You can make the buttercream several days in advance and just store it in the refrigerator until it’s ready to use. Then pull it out to room temp for a bit and beat it for about 5 minutes with a mixer to get it nice and fluffy again. I have not tried rolling and slicing this dough so I am not sure how it will perform using that method. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes.
-Jamie
Hello I was really looking for a recipe to do with sprinkles and I found this one. This is the best recipe ever the cookies turned out great and you don’t really have to be that experienced making these cookies. They’re really easy and very very delicious. I could eat them all day but the only thing is that icing is a little bit too sweet.
So happy to hear you enjoyed the cookies, Nehemiah! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your feedback!
-Jamie
So I baked this yesterday, and I haven’t had the chance to try one myself yet–but they are a hit! Everyone seems to enjoy them. These cookies have been compared to the store-bought sugar cookies with the sprinkles and icing on top, and I’ll definitely have to make more. Also, I made them using butter that was still pretty cold, but hadn’t gotten to room temp yet. Worked just fine. Highly recommend this recipe! Also…this recipe was posted 4 days after my birthday…what a weird coincidence lol.
So happy to hear you (or rather, your friends!) enjoyed the cookies, Polly! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your feedback!
-Jamie