Sugar Cookie Cake
Sugar cookie cake—where cake meets sugar cookies! This festive Christmas cake features sugar cookie dough balls baked into moist vanilla cake, topped with fluffy vanilla frosting and plenty of sprinkles!
Equipment
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Dough
- 9 tablespoons unsalted butter cool room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2-2 tablespoons whole milk room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour heat treated *see notes*
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 5 tablespoons jimmies sprinkles
Vanilla Cake Batter
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sour cream room temperature
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour *See notes below for measuring*
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/3 cup whole milk room temperature
- 1/4 cup hot water
- 11 sugar cookie dough balls from recipe above
Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract together until light and fluffy. Mix in the milk. Then mix in the flour, salt, and sprinkles. If too dry, add 1/2 tbsp more milk until the dough feels soft. Scoop the dough into 2 tbsp-sized portions, pressing down the tops slightly, and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. Line a metal 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper.
- Cream the butter, sugar, and oil until light and fluffy, 5 minutes.
- Mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing on low speed until completely incorporated before adding the next. Then mix in the sour cream and vanilla extract. Scrape down the bowl as needed.
- Mix in 1/3 of the dry ingredients, then half the milk, alternating ingredients, ending on dry.
- With the mixer running on low speed, stream in the hot water and mix until just combined.
- Spread the cake batter evenly into the baking pan. Gently press 11 sugar cookie dough discs into the cake batter, then use an offset spatula to spread the batter to cover the dough completely. You can roll the rest of the cookie dough into bite-sized balls to decorate the top!
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out covered in a few moist crumbs. Let the pan cool completely on a wire rack before decorating. Try not to stick the toothpick into the spots where there are cookie dough balls.
- Cream the butter with the paddle attachment until smooth. Then mix in the powdered sugar, heavy cream, salt, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed until combined, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 3-4 minutes until very light and fluffy.
- Once the sugar cookie cake is completely cool, spread the frosting on top, creating swoops and swirls with the back of a spoon. Decorate with the cookie dough balls, sugar cookies, sprinkles, etc. Enjoy!
- Store leftover cake in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Let them come to room temperature before serving! Cake slices can also be frozen for up to 1 month in an airtight container.
Video
Notes
*Measure your dry ingredients properly. This is my #1 baking tip! Do not ever scoop a measuring cup into your flour as this always leads to using too much flour. Instead, use the spoon-level method. This means fluffing the flour first, then spooning it into your measuring cup/spoon. For the BEST results, use a kitchen scale!*
I HIGHLY recommend using a metal baking pan. Glass or ceramic pans retain heat differently. A pan with rounded edges will need to bake longer than the bake time.
Cover the cookie dough with the cake batter before baking. This will keep it from browning or melting on top of the batter.
Mini cookie dough balls: Heat-treat the flour before mixing it into the cookie dough. This can be done in a bowl in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. The cookie dough is now edible and can be used for decorating the top of the cake!
