Birthday Cake Cookies
36 cookies
The best Birthday Cake Cookies are soft and chewy sugar cookies topped with vanilla buttercream and extra sprinkles!
Equipment
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup rainbow sprinkles
Frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C, or 160°C fan oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat baking mat and set aside
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and mix well.
- Add the flour mixture in 2-3 smaller additions, mixing well after each.
- Stir in the sprinkles until evenly distributed.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (1 ½ inch or #40), drop dough onto the prepared cookie sheets 2 inches apart.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 7-9 minutes, until cookies have spread and are slightly golden.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
- Prepare the frosting. Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Then add the powdered sugar gradually and continue mixing until smooth. Lastly, mix in the vanilla and salt.
- Pipe the frosting on the cooled cookies using a piping bag fitted with a round tip. Sprinkle the frosted cookies with sprinkles.
Notes
- Use the right kind of sprinkles. Regular rainbow sprinkles (jimmies) work perfectly in the cookie dough. You can also use the small, round, nonpareil sprinkles, but understand that they can bleed colors into the dough and potentially make a mess.
- Let the cookies cool down all the way. Adding buttercream frosting to warm cookies will not work, as the cookies will melt the butter! Be patient, and make sure that the cookies are ready for frosting.
- If you need more details on how to make the frosting, visit my full recipe for buttercream for cookies! It's delicious on all types of cookies, including cut-outs and cookie bars.
- If you don't have a piping bag, you can also spread a generous layer of buttercream onto each cookie before adding the frosting. Using a piping bag gives the cookies a professional-looking finish though!
- You can skip the frosting if you like, and add extra sprinkles on top of each cookie before baking.
- Store frosted cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 218kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 65mg | Potassium: 18mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 328IU | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg