Fuzz is having a birthday party, and we’re hoping her twelve year old buddies like the activity we’ve planned – decorating chocolate chip cookie cakes! There will still be a birthday cake (Fuzz loves Marble), but in addition to that the kids will each get a 9-inch chocolate chip cookie cake which they can decorate and take home to their families in pizza boxes. That is, if I can convince our local pizza spot to sell us a few boxes. We’ll see, but what I do have right now is a good gluten-free cookie cake recipe. I had to test it because one of Fuzz's good friends is on a gluten-free diet and needs a special cookie cake.
Because I don't do a lot of gluten-free baking and didn't want to spend money on five different types of flour to make by own baking mix, I used Pamela’s Pancake and Baking Mix which I found at my grocery store and which had pretty good ratings on the internet.
Pamela's Baking Mix Gluten Free Cookie Cake
It worked so well in this cookie cake that I took things one step further and developed a gluten-free chocolate cake, but I’ll tell you about that in a different post. For now, here’s the cookie cake recipe. I used Pamela’s recipe, but baked the cookie in a 9 inch round pan at 300 degrees F. for 30 minutes. The cookie cake is slightly softer than actual cookies, which is perfect because it is after all, a cookie cake.
The gluten-free cookie cake is easy to cut into neat slices, and is not overly sweet which makes it a perfect pairing for the frosting. Like most gluten-free baked goods, it does leave a little gritty sensation behind, but it wasn't unpleasant enough to give me second thoughts on eating this whole practice cookie cake myself. I'm going to cut it into wedges, freeze it, and eat it over the next few days (or weeks).
This recipe will give you enough for 1 9-inch cookie cake plus extra dough for making some individual cookies. You could also try making it in a 14-inch pizza pan, in which case you’d probably need to use all of the dough. I’ve only tested it in a 9-inch cake pans.
Recipe
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Ingredients
- 7 tablespoons butter. unsalted or salted (I use unsalted) (100 grams)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- ¼ cup light brown sugar (50 grams)
- 1 large egg (50 grams)
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix
- 1 ⅓ cup chocolate chips Enjoy Life makes a good gluten free chip
Icing
- 1 stick butter, softened (114 grams)
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- ¾ teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon of whole milk or as more needed to get nice piping consistency.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a 9-inch round metal cake pan with foil and spray foil with cooking spray.
- With a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars until creamy. Add the egg and beat until incorporated, then beat in the vanilla. Add the baking mix and stir to make a soft dough, then stir in the chocolate chips.
- Weigh out about 12 ounces of dough. If you don’t have a scale, just eyeball it and go with about ⅔ of the mixture. Put the dough in the center of the pan. Dampen your hands with a little water and press the dough into a circle so that it comes to about ½ inch from the sides and the cookie has plenty of room to spread.
- Bake the cookie at 300 F for about 30 to 33 minutes or until it appears set and lightly browned. Let cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then carefully lift and let cool completely. You can decorate the cookie as soon as it’s cool or freeze it and decorate when you are ready.
- To make the icing, beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla. Add milk as needed until you get the consistency you like. Pipe around edges of cookie cake.
Anna says
Thanks for taking the time to let me know, Caleigh. You're the first person to actually make it and review it, so I appreciate the feedback.
Caleigh says
Made this tonight for my dad's birthday! Sooo good! Everyone loved it!!
Laura says
That was pretty genius, using the pancake mix. Pinning for future reference!
Katrina says
My SIL does all gluten free for her daughter that has lots of allergies and she told me that Pamela's was the best baking mix. I haven't tried it. I'm going more the route of getting all the different flours to make my own. So far, I have no clue what I'm doing. But I'd love a big gluten free chocolate chip cookie. 😉
Anna says
Great idea to use the disposable pans with covers! I ended up buying pizza boxes from a local restaurant. They charged me 50 cents a box, though! I thought that was a little high, but since I only needed five it wasn't a big deal.
B says
I just did this last weekend for my 6-year-old's birthday party. I just baked the cookie cakes in disposable round cake pans and the kids decorated them in the pans. They came with a plastic lid, so it worked out great for sending them home, too. Have a fun party!
Chewthefat says
That is so sweet of you (no pun intended) to make a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie for Emma's friend. I've been experimenting with going gf for the past several months, but that is by choice...I always feel sorry for kids who have restrictive diets. I agree with Adam--what an amazing idea for a party!
Anna says
Christie, most of the chocolate chip cookie recipes I know of aren't that great on day 2, so what I do is put them in the freezer on day 1.
Christie says
I love your site and have tried many of your recipes that my family has enjoyed. It is interesting to me how a few small tweaks can make such a difference in a choclate chip cookie. Have you tried a chocolate chip cookie recipe that is just as good the day after baking?
Martha in KS says
Maybe you could get pie boxes from a bakery.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMMA!
Adam says
Best birthday party ever!