This Almond Flour Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake is soft and chewy with crispy edges and loaded with peanut butter and dark chocolate chips. It's a thick, giant chocolate chip cookie, topped with chocolate frosting and sprinkles, and sliced and served like cake. If you're not a lover of traditional cake for celebrating, this cookie cake is a fun and delicious alternative!
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Table of Contents
Using almond flour keeps this cookie cake gluten-free, and you don't need to worry about using any other types of specialty flours. My goal was to create a chocolate chip cookie cake that simply replaced all-purpose flour with almond flour but was still soft, thick and chewy. The rest of the recipe is pretty standard with brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter and eggs!
Key ingredients
As almond flour can sometimes take on a grainy texture in baked goods, I included a few different ingredients in this recipe to help improve the texture. (All of the ingredients are pictured below and the full list of ingredients and quantities are included in the recipe card at the end of this post).
- Cornstarch - Just a tablespoon of cornstarch added to the dry ingredients helps keep this cookie cake soft, thick and chewy.
- Peanut butter - Replacing some of the butter with peanut butter helps create a thicker, smoother cookie dough batter. Make sure you're using shelf stable smooth peanut butter and not the natural, runny kind. Natural peanut butter will not produce the same cookie dough texture.
- Egg yolk - There is already an egg in the cookie dough, but I added another yolk to add moisture and to enhance the chewy texture of the cookie.
How to make a chocolate chip cookie cake with almond flour
Below is a brief overview of the steps to make this recipe along with photos. For further details, please see the recipe card at the end of this post.
Tips for making the BEST almond flour cookie cake
- Use a springform pan - Using a pan with removable sides will make it easier to decorate, slice and serve the cookie cake. I also like to line the bottom and sides with parchment paper to ensure there is no sticking or over browning. You can use a cake pan instead of a springform pan, but it will just be a little more trouble to cut and remove the slices.
- Don't over bake - This is probably the most important tip. In multiple rounds of testing, I ended up over baking this giant cookie, and the result was a dry cookie cake with a hard crust. You'll want to bake this one until the edges just start to brown but the middle doesn't look fully set. The middle will sink a little as the cake cools, but that's okay.
- Let cool fully before frosting - I know this is so hard to do with a warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie, but almond flour baked goods need a little cooling time to firm up. You also don't want to pipe frosting onto a warm cake as it will melt quickly.
Frosting and sprinkles
I'm using a rich and fudgy chocolate sour cream frosting here, but you can use your favorite frosting recipe, just make sure it's pipe-able. This chocolate peanut butter buttercream or this vanilla bean sour cream frosting are also delicious options! (You'll want to half most frosting recipes as this cookie cake doesn't require a lot of frosting).
As for sprinkles, use any kind you like - jimmies, confetti or nonpareils. If you want to keep this cookie cake gluten-free, just make sure your sprinkles are gluten-free too.
You can also enjoy this cookie cake warm, without any frosting. Just let it cool for an hour so it has time to set up, then slice and serve. It will still be warm with melty chocolate chips inside!
A note on measuring ingredients
For convenience, US cup measurements are included in the recipe card for this recipe. To ensure greater accuracy, however, weight and volume measurements are also provided. So, if you see grams (g), you'll want to use a kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients, and if you see milliliters (ml), you'll want to use a liquid measuring cup. Smaller quantities of ingredients are provided in teaspoons and tablespoons.
Recipe FAQs
I don't recommend using a glass pie dish for this recipe. When I tested it, the edges of the cookie browned way too much.
While I haven't tested it, you should be able to make it dairy-free by using dairy-free chocolate chips and plant-based butter in the cookie dough and by using a dairy-free frosting recipe.
If the cake is unfrosted, it can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days. Once frosted, it keeps best covered in the fridge and will last for up to 5 days.
More almond flour cookie recipes
- Almond Flour Monster Cookies
- Almond Flour Sugar Cookies
- Almond Flour Snickerdoodles
- Almond Flour Peanut Butter Blossoms
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If you make this recipe, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments below!
📖 Recipe
Almond Flour Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Ingredients
For the cookie cake:
- 2 cups (208 g) fine blanched almond flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup (145 g) shelf stable smooth peanut butter
- ¼ cup (56 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup (115 g) light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup (55 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (170 g) dark chocolate chips
For the frosting:
- ¼ cup (56 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup (63 g) full fat sour cream, room temperature
- 1 cup (120 g) 120g powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
- ¼ cup (25 g) cocoa, natural or dutch-processed
- Sprinkles, optional topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and line the sides and bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the almond flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, use a handheld or stand mixer to cream together the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. This will take about 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture is fluffy and turns a lighter color.
- Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and beat until combined.
- On low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Press the cookie dough mixture into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 14-17 minutes, or until the edges just start to brown. Let cool fully.
- To make the frosting, add the butter and sour cream to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Add in the cocoa and powdered sugar, and beat together on low until mixed in and then increase the speed to medium-high until smooth and creamy.
- Pipe frosting around the edges of the cookie cake and decorate with sprinkles. Slice and serve.
Notes
- While you can use a 9-inch cake pan, I recommend using a 9-inch springform pan as the removable sides make it easier to decorate, slice and serve the cookie cake.
- Be careful not to over bake. This will result in a dry cookie cake with a hard crust. You'll want to bake it until the edges just start to brown but the middle doesn't look fully set. The middle will sink a little as the cake cools, but that's okay.
- If the frosting is too thick to pipe, add a little bit of milk until it reaches your desired consistency.
- You can also enjoy this cookie cake warm, without any frosting. Just let it cool for an hour so it has time to set up, then slice and serve. It will still be warm with melty chocolate chips inside.
- To keep this cookie cake gluten-free, make sure your sprinkles are gluten-free too.
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Nutrition Facts per Serving
Disclaimer
Nutrition information is an estimate only and will vary depending on the substitutions made and the brands used.
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