Cake Mix Cookies are easy, buttery, and have a wonderful cake batter flavor! How to make cookies from a cake mix slightly doctored with flour, sugar, real butter, chips, and sprinkles.
Cake Mix Cookies
Cake batter is one of my favorite dessert flavors, second only to chocolate. I have a treasure trove of cake batter infused recipes on my website, and even a well-loved funfetti cake recipe that’s made from scratch, but is specifically designed to imitate that classic cake mix flavor.
However, I hadn’t ever used cake mix as an ingredient in one of my own cookie recipes before. I’d played with the standard, few-ingredient cake mix cookie recipes in the past and had always been happy with the results, but this time I decided I wanted to doctor the recipe a little more and really learn how to make cookies from cake mix that would be absolutely delicious.
The result: an almost gourmet-style, sprinkle-speckled, chocolate chip flecked cookie infused with vanilla cake batter flavor in every bite. These cake mix cookies are truly delicious.
How to Make Cookies from Cake Mix
For these cake mix cookies, all you will need is the dry yellow cake mix (not prepared according to the instructions on the back).
- You won’t need the full box of mix, so seal the leftovers in an airtight container so that you have them available for the next time you want to make a batch of cake mix cookies (which will be as soon as you finish off the first batch).
- Many cake mix cookie recipes use oil, but these use real butter, which gives them a deep flavor and helps keep their texture nice and soft, and (most importantly) cookie-like rather than cake-like.
- These cake batter cookies are also made with a blend of both flour and cake mix (rather than just the mix) so the cake batter taste is present without being overpowering.
Cake Batter Cookies are Chewy, not Cake-Like
Unlike a lot of cake mix cookies that I’ve tried in the past, these flatten out quite nicely as they bake. First, the cake mix cookies actually puff up in the oven, but as they cool they’ll slowly settle down to a chewy (not at all cakey!), nicely textured cookie.
More Cookie Recipes You’ll Love
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies – Favorite recipe!
- Funfetti Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cornflake Cookies (no bake)
- 4 Ingredient Red Velvet Cookies – Cake mix cookies!
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies – Classic!
Cake Mix Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup Brown sugar tightly packed
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup yellow cake mix
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup mini chocolate chips optional
- ¼ cup colored sprinkles/jimmies
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl using a handheld mixer), cream butter until smooth.
- Add sugar and brown sugar, beat until well-combined.
- Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cake mix, baking soda, and salt.
- Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture until completely combined.
- Fold in sprinkles and mini chocolate chips.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill cookie dough for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper.
- Once cookie dough has chilled, drop by rounded 1 ½ tablespoon-sized scoops onto prepared cookie sheets, spacing at least 2" apart.
- Bake on 350°F for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely on cookie sheet before enjoying. Cookies will puff in the oven and then settle as they cool.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
REPIN this Easy Recipe
More Recipes You’ll Love:
4 Ingredient Red Velvet Cookies (also made with cake mix!)
Cake Batter Rice Krispie Treats
Best sugar cookies ever!! Thank you so much!!
BEST cookies EVER!
They are soft, chewy, and buttery! It’s a mix between a sugar cookie and a chocolate chip cookie. Thank you for sharing! made them for our Xmas cookie exchange last year and we were all eating them before we could exchange them. Making them again today
Sorry I can’t rate this recipe because I haven’t tried it yet. The question I have is, can a French Vanilla cake mix be used for this recipe?
Any cake mix should work in this recipe but keep in mind it will change the flavor of the cookies!
Hello! I’ve made this recipe many times and i love it! However, I am going to be making it at an altitude of 9,600. What changes do I need to make to the recipe?
Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of experience with High Altitude cooking so I can’t say for sure.
Are we able to use one cup oil instead of one cup butter? Please let me know. Thank you .
While I have only made this as written, I believe you could use oil instead, but if you have butter, I recommend that, it adds a lot of great flavor!
Can you chill the dough overnight??
While I haven’t chilled the dough overnight, I do think that will work for these cookies Aubrey. Just check the cooking time to make sure they’re done to your liking. Enjoy!
I have made this recipe 3 times already with different cake mix flavours and I LOVE IT!!!! I used Funfetti without the sprinkles and chocolate chips and I used half lemon and half strawberry so that it made “pink lemonade!” The only disappointing thing was even though they were not in the freezer/refrigerator they were rock had the next day. Anyway I just wanted to say thank you for this delicious recipe!
The strawberry lemon is such a great idea and I bet they’re pretty too!! So glad you’ve loved this recipe Mikyla!
So I ended up adding the whole cake mix recipe..
How did they turn out Katie?
Can I use m&m’s instead of chocolate chips?
You sure could Kathryn!
Can you use salted butter?
You can use salted butter however it may slightly change the flavor of these cookies as the cake mix has salt in it as well.
Love all those sprinkles! And it’s hard to beat that cake batter flavor. YUM!
Made the red velvet. Very good!
Anything with sprinkles on wins me over right away! I’ve read about them all over the place, but I’ve never actually tried making cookies with a cake mix. I’ve got to give this a go!
Omg these are so fun, I can just imagine how delicious they are can’t wait to try!
Oh boy these look so fun!
Jane x
I love your pictures here so bright and colourful, a perfect compliment to the recipe.