It's my birthday! Every year growing up and until I had to gluten free, I always wanted a cookie cake from the Great American Cookie Company. I remember as a kid, whenever my mom and I were at the mall, I would always ask for money to get one of the double doozy sandwich cookies. Something about the icing combined with a yummy chocolate chip cookie were just divine. I've had all manner of cookie cakes over the years - homemade, giant and even single serving size. But I've never had a gluten free cookie cake until now.
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Ingredients
Butter - Butter is what is going to make this recipe chewy and delicious. I use Miyokos Creamery Vegan Butter for most of my baking. I find it has the closest flavor and consistency to dairy butter. However, if you cannot have nuts (it's made from cashews), then use your favorite butter product. Dairy butter will work as well, if you are not dairy free. The amount will be the same.
Sugars - This recipe calls for a mixture of both brown sugar and white sugar. Brown sugar adds a little more moisture to the cookie, which is important in gluten free baking. It also gives a little added complexity to the flavor and chewiness. But it's also necessary here to react with the baking soda.
Vanilla - Use a good quality vanilla extract, not imitation vanilla flavoring. It's expensive, but so worth it.
Egg - The egg is the protein that helps bind things together. Always use large size eggs when baking, that's the standard. I haven't tested this recipe with egg replacements, but I expect a flax egg or Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer would work just fine.
Gluten Free Flour - I personally use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Flour Blend for almost everything I bake. I think it provides really consistent results. You can use your favorite gluten free flour blend, but the results may vary as this recipe was tested with BRM. This recipe will not work with regular gluten flour.
Salt - A little salt is always needed to help bring out the flavor in sweet dishes.
Baking Soda - Normally gluten free baking will use baking powder, but in this case I don't want a lot of rise because the mall cookie cakes are usually dense and chewy. Baking soda will also provide a little bit of browning to get that cookie cake look.
Chocolate Chips - I used Enjoy Life Mini Chips here. They are gluten free and dairy free. The mini chips will make the cake easier to cut as it can sometimes be difficult to make a nice cut through a full size chip. You can use whatever chips you like.
Instructions
A gluten free cookie cake is pretty easy to make. Just like making chocolate chip cookies without all the scooping and waiting.
Whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar in a large mixing bowl.
Add the egg and vanilla to the sugar mixture and whisk until smooth.
Fold the gluten free flour, baking soda and salt into the egg mixture. Then add the chocolate chips and mix until evenly combined.
Pour the cookie dough into a 10-inch springform pan.
Use a spatula to spread the cookie dough into an even layer in the pan.
Bake!
How to decorate this gluten free cookie cake
The frosting recipe below tastes exactly like the white frosting from the Great American Cookie Company. It goes perfectly with a chocolate chip cookie.
You can use the frosting to write messages like "happy birthday" but I prefer to just decorate all around the edge so every slice has a little bit of icing.
I have also sprinkled mine with gluten free sprinkles to make it extra festive.
What kind of pan do you use for a cookie cake?
They do make cookie cake specific pans, but they are very large. For this recipe you will need a 9" springform pan for this recipe. If you don't have one you can use a regular cake pan, although your cake will come out thicker and might be more difficult to remove.
Can I make the dough ahead of time?
While this recipe doesn't require chilling to be delicious, you can absolutely make it the day before and keep the dough the refrigerator. Spread your cookie dough in the pan, cover the pan with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
If you want to make this cake further in advance, fully bake the cookie cake and allow it to cool. Then wrap the undecorated cake in several layers of plastic wrap ensuring that it is completely sealed. Store in the freezer for up to a month. Bring to room temperature before serving.
Storage
The cake should be good for 2-3 days. The icing I use in this recipe is made with shortening, which makes it very sturdy and long lasting. If you substitute butter you will want to store your cake in the refrigerator for best results.
Check out these other recipes for amazing chocolate chip cookies:
Gluten Free Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gluten Free Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Pistachio Cookies
(Small Batch) Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Small Batch) Gluten Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gluten Free Copycat Levain Chocolate Chip Cookies
Please tag me @wellfedbaker on Instagram if you make this recipe! Happy baking!
Recipe
Gluten Free Cookie Cake (Great American Copycat)
Ingredients
For the cake
- ¾ Cup Vegan Butter melted
- ½ Cup Light Brown Sugar
- ¼ Cup Sugar
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 Egg
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 ½ Cup Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour Blend
- 1 Cup Dairy Free Chocolate Chips
For the icing
- ⅓ Cup Shortening
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla
- 2 Cup Powdered Sugar sifted
- 2 Tablespoon Non-Dairy Milk
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Whisk together until combined.¾ Cup Vegan Butter, ½ Cup Light Brown Sugar, ¼ Cup Sugar
- Add the vanilla and egg. Whisk until smooth.½ teaspoon Vanilla, 1 Egg
- Whisk in the salt and baking soda, just 2-3 strokes. Add the flour. Using a spatula fold together about 5 times.¼ teaspoon Salt, ½ teaspoon Baking Soda, 1 ½ Cup Gluten Free 1-to-1 Flour Blend
- Then add the chocolate chips. Continue to fold until all of the flour is incorporated.1 Cup Dairy Free Chocolate Chips
- Line the bottom of a springform pan with parchment paper.
- Spread the cookie batter into the prepared pan making sure to create an even layer spread across the whole pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes and then turn to broil and cook an additional 2 minutes to brown the top.
- Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove to a wire cooling rack.
For the icing
- Beat the shortening and vanilla together until smooth and fluffly, about 2 minutes. Turn your mixer to low and add the powdered sugar. Then begin adding the milk, 1 tablespoon at a time. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated turn the mixer to high speed and beat for about 3 minutes.⅓ Cup Shortening, ½ teaspoon Vanilla, 2 Cup Powdered Sugar, 2 Tablespoon Non-Dairy Milk
- Prepare your piping bag with desired tip. Place the icing in the bag and decorate the cake to your liking.
Tiffany is the recipe developer, stylist and food photographer behind Well Fed Baker. As a lifelong baker who had to go gluten free and dairy free in 2016, Tiffany strives to share allergen friendly recipes that never feel like they are free from anything.
Marcy Stone says
Hi! Just made this for my daughter’s friends birthday. It was a test run and I’m glad I did a test first because, although the flavour was lovely, the cookie crumbled as we ate it and made a huge mess. It just doesn’t hold together at all 🙁
I’ll have to try a different recipe now.
Oh no, Marcy, I'm sorry you had a bad outcome. Thanks for your feedback, it's always helpful to know how things work in the real world. There are so many variables between products, technique and equipment between our kitchens that anything can happen. Gluten free baked goods can be a little crumbly because there is no gluten of course. I haven't experienced this recipe being too crumbly to eat though (as you can see from the photos). The first thing that comes to mind is possible too much flour or too long of a cooking time.
I have this recipe slated to be retested this month so stay tuned for improvements. I know that won't help with your upcoming birthday party, but I hope you will revisit the website to find another recipe to love! 🙂
Amy says
The flavors were great but I can’t figure out what I did wrong. The outer ring was delicious but the inner 75% circle was completely gooey and uncooked. I used the same ingredients except I used Earth Balance dairy free butter. Any advice would be appreciated!
Hi Amy,
I can only guess it needed to cook a bit longer. Cooking in large round pans can be tricky because sometimes the outside does cook quicker leaving the center underdone. They make strips to wrap around the pan to make it all bake a little more even (they also help keep cakes from poofing up in the middle during baking).