Incredible Sugar Cookie Cake Recipe

Name: Sugar Cookie Cake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 cup butter (softened); ¾ cup vegetable oil; 1 cup white granulated sugar; 1 cup powdered sugar ({confectioner's sugar}); 1 tablespoon vanilla; 2 eggs; 4½ cups all-purpose flour; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon cream of tartar; 1 teaspoon baking soda; M&M's or icing (optional)

4.96

30 minutes

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By: Julie Blanner70 Comments
Updated: 9/10/21

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An easy, thick and chewy Sugar Cookie Cake. This Sugar Cookie Cake recipe makes the best birthday cake, Valentine’s cake, party treat and more! It’s quick and easy to make and is melt in your mouth delicious!

A sugar cookie cake in a heart shaped dish

It was a sweet week in our house last week, which means it’s Sweet Week here on the blog this week! Are you excited? I thought so. I have five new easy dessert recipes for you, just in time for Valentine’s Day, but let’s face it, any day is a great day for dessert!

I’m kicking it off with my sugar cookie cake, which is a beautiful way to celebrate birthdays, Valentine’s Day and any day that ends in “y”.

Table of Contents

Butter – Soften the butter before using it. I use unsalted butter, if you use salted decrease the amount of salt added to the batter.
Vegetable Oil – Vegetable oil is a key ingredient in this cake. The finished result is a wonderfully moist and delicious cake.
Powdered Sugar – For that all important sweetness.
Vanilla – A hint of vanilla brings out all the other flavors.
Eggs – To bind.
Flour – All purpose, no need to sift.
Salt – Key ingredients for any cake! All purpose flour and fresh eggs are a must and the salt brings out the sweetness.
Cream of Tartar and Baking Soda – These two ingredients together create carbon dioxide bubbles and help the cake to rise during baking.

A heart shaped sugar cookie cake on a kitchen work surface

To see how easy this Sugar Cookie Cake Recipe is, watch the video in the recipe card or keep reading with step-by-step photos below.

Grease your pan and preheat oven.
Combine butter, oil, sugars and vanilla until smooth. Blend in eggs.
Combine dry ingredients and incorporate into wet.
Press into your prepared pans.
Using parchment paper, press to smooth the top of your cake for the prettiest result. You can also use your offset spatula to help smooth the batter into your chosen pan.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Pressing down on the batter with parchment

Optional: press M and M’s on the top before baking – it makes for a very pretty heart cake! Is it just me, or is every dessert cuter when it’s heart shaped?

The sugar cookie cake decorated with m&ms

The Easiest Valentine’s Day Cakes

Chris describes this Sugar Cookie Cake as cookie crack. It takes less than 10 minutes to make and bakes beautifully in tart pans, but you can also use 2 pie dishes, a 1/4 cookie sheet or a pizza pan. This sugar cookie cake is incredible on its own, but you know kids (and really big kids) love M&M’s, too.

Either way you slice it, I know it will be one of your favorites, too.

It’s absolutely simple enough that a beginner baker can tackle it with amazing results. Don’t be afraid to give this a try – it’s very little effort for an adorable reward!

You can also decorate the cake with buttercream frosting if you wish, or slather my favorite buttercream icing for sugar cookies to coat the top.

This Valentine’s Cake Will Melt in Your Mouth

Cookie Cakes are quicker and easier to make than cookies because there’s no scooping the dough onto cookie sheets baking one after the other. That’s one of the reasons I love baking cookie cakes in cake pans instead of always making traditional cookies- the faster I can put it together, the easier it is to enjoy.

The best part is that each bite tastes like the center of a sugar cookie!

Adjust baking time based on what type of dish you use. You can use a pizza pan, cake pan, pie dish, tart pan or springform pan. The thicker your cake is, the longer it will need to bake.
I baked a slightly smaller, thick sugar cookie cake, which required 20 minutes – baked to perfection. If there’s anything I can recommend in life it’s that you should never over-bake your cookies.
If you’re newer to baking, you can certainly mix this recipe by hand. However, I love using my stand mixer fitted with a flat edge beater.
Decorate however you’d like! Get creative! We love to frost our cookie cakes, but any type of candy toppings look cute as well. You can also simply top with a little homemade whipped cream and a sprinkling of confectioners sugar.
I slightly under-bake just about everything for that melt-in-your-mouth texture we’ve all come to love about sugar cookie cake!

Megan says: “Hi, it looks so cute, I think I will make it for valentine’s day for my boyfriend who loves M&M’s. But I have a question , when do you add the M&M’s? Before baking or after? If before, don’t they melt?” I prefer to place them before baking. You can just place them on top of your dough rather than in it to make them prettier (as shown). Enjoy!
Dainty says: “The cookie cake looks so cute! What brand is that heart pan and where did you get it? I have to have it!” This pan is a Le Creuset heart tart pan. I also love this pretty ruffled pie dish!
Adela says: “it was great i made a 14 x 2 inch came out perfect and delicious adjusted the time. 5 stars” Thanks for the great review Adela, glad you enjoyed!

If you try this sugar cookie cake recipe, please come back to share using my 5 star rating in the comments below! Not only do I appreciate it, but I know readers do, too!

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