Full of sprinkles and white chocolate chips (which add the flavor of “frosting” to the cookie) these cookies are tender and chew and taste like you’re taking a giant bite out of a yellow birthday cake covered in sprinkles. And the best part of it is no cake mix is involved so you can be sure of the ingredients going into your cookies. You can substitute natural sprinkles if you would like as well if you would like to go all organic or eliminate anything with artificial colors.
In less than two week’s my oldest is turning 3! The first year birthdays really mean anything at all and right now we are all about legos, Octonauts, Princess Sofia and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. For three months we were planning an Octonauts birthday party only to have it change in the last minute. For me, birthday celebrations are as much fun to plan and bake as they are to see the joy of opening presents. Here is a picture of the birthday bash we threw a couple of years ago… Pardon the quality of the photo 
If you look in the very left corner of the photo you will spy these exact cookies! That is how much I love them, I have been making them as an annual birthday tradition ever since. And they are the perfect celebratory treat that can go in a lunchbox as easily as they can be part of a party. To me they are everything birthdays should be.
- milk/semisweet chocolate chips and sub out 1/4 cup of the flour for cocoa powder for a chocolate cake twist
- color code your sprinkles to your favorite sports team for a fun game day treat. This is a Dodgers house, so we rock the Blue & White.
- Sandwich these cookies around some delicious Sprinkles Cake Batter Ice Cream… I happen to know of a good recipe for you 😉
- Add 1/4 teaspoon mint extract, swap in milk chocolate chips and some green food coloring to the mix to make these into mint chocolate cake cookies
- Color code them to your party with just a couple drops of food coloring of your choice. Pink and purple work particularly well.
Any way you make these cookies, they will be a huge hit!
Beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy for 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until fully combined. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and powdered milk. Add to the stand mixer and combine on low speed. Add in the white chocolate chips and sprinkles. Mix gently. 
Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes (at least 30 minutes, but up to 2 days is even better) When you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a 1 tablespoon measure, scoop rounded tablespoons and roll into balls. Bake for 10-12 minutes. 
If you want some help with it cooking more evenly and not browning, I suggest a Silpat. I bake every cookie you will ever see on this blog on a silpat 🙂 
Birthday Cake Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons powdered milk
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips (I used a blend of white and semi-sweet chocolate chips)
- 3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
Instructions
Beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy for 3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla; beat until fully combined.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and powdered milk.
- Add to the stand mixer and combine on low speed.
- Add in the white chocolate chips and sprinkles. Mix gently.
Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes (at least 30 minutes, but up to 2 days is even better)
- When you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Using a 1 tablespoon measure, scoop rounded tablespoons and roll into balls.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- You aren't looking for them to brown.
I made these and they turned out very flat. Do you know what I could have done wrong? Other than that they still taste amazing!
Oh no! Glad they still tasted good though. Flat cookies could be from a number of things. Make sure to accurately measure your flour because too little can cause that and remember to double check the dates on baking powder and baking soda. Hope this helps to troubleshoot for next time.
I made these, and they turned out quite well. My only request is that when people post recipes, to use weights rather than other measurements like ‘a stick’. I had to look up what a stick of butter was and how much it weighed. The batter is drier than I had expected, so my only change was i put the cookies into balls and then refrigerated for only about 15 mins for each cookie tray as I didn’t want them to dry out too much.
Can the recipe be doubled?
Certainly – if you click on the servings (it will be green bold) in the recipe card, a slider will appear. Slide to double the amount and the ingredients amounts will automatically adjust. 🙂