Crumbl Birthday Cake Cookie Copycat
If you love a sweet sugar cookie loaded with sprinkles but covered in a rich cream cheese frosting, this is the post for you! I’m going to show you how I made this Copycat Crumbl recipe for Birthday Cake Cookies!
A Kid at Heart
No matter how old I get, I’ll always be a kid at heart. My eye is still drawn to anything with sprinkles: cupcakes, funfetti cakes, or cookies.
When I saw this recipe for Crumbl Birthday Cake Cookies at Cooking with Karli, I knew I had to give it a try. And I had just the right occasion in mind, a family Thanksgiving dinner.
I know, I know: cookies aren’t the first thing you think of when you’re making your Thanksgiving meal list. But I knew I would be spending the day with six of my nine grandchildren and they love cookies.
These cookies are bright and colorful, especially with the sprinkles. (I confess, I only had Christmas sprinkles on hand, so my cookies had a distinctive red, white, and green vibe.) But they tasted as good as they looked, I promise! And I should clarify that I made ⅔ of Karli’s recipe. I only needed a few.
Cream Cheese Frosting
The one thing that sets these cookies apart from other sugar cookies I’ve done (like the Pink Crumbl Cookies, my Lofthouse cookies, and my Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies) is the amount of cream cheese in the frosting.
Most sugar cookie frostings are a traditional buttercream. Even those with a bit of cream cheese only have it in small amounts. This cookie, though? Its frosting is mostly cream cheese, with only the tiniest bit of frosting.
I wasn’t sure the kids would like all of that cream cheese, to be honest. It runs a bit on the tart side, even with the added powdered sugar. But they gobbled those cookies down, y’all. . .even with full bellies after eating Thanksgiving dinner.
Side note: We have a joke in our family that we always save room in our dessert pocket, even after a very filling meal.
Enough chitter-chatter. By now, hopefully I’ve convinced you to give these delicious cookies a try. Let’s take a look at what you’ll need to make them.
Birthday Cake Cookie Ingredients
You will find a full printable recipe card at the bottom of this post but here’s a quick look at what you’ll need. These are simple ingredients you might already have on hand in your pantry or refrigerator.
FOR THE COOKIES:
- room temperature salted butter
- granulated sugar
- eggs
- all-purpose flour
- baking powder
- sprinkles
- cake batter flavoring or cookie vanilla
FOR THE FROSTING
- room temperature cream cheese
- room temperature butter (salted or unsalted, your preference)
- vanilla (or cake batter flavoring)
- powdered sugar
- Milk or cream to thin, if you need
How to Make Crumbl Copycat Birthday Cake Cookies
These are so simple, y’all. I think the kids would have enjoyed making them with me.
Make the Cookies
Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place the butter into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until light and fluffy.
Add the sugar and vanilla and continue to mix.
Now add the eggs, mixing well.
Scrape the sides f the bowl then slowly work in the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder). Don’t over mix.
Fold in the sprinkles.
You can use a large ice cream scoop if you want to make Crumbl-sized cookies. I don’t really like to make bigger cookies because I’m giving them to the kids. So, I used a typical cookie scoop for mine. This way the recipe made 24 cookies, in total.
Gently press down on the balls of dough with your palm.
Bake for 11 - 13 minutes or until set.
Remove and place tray of wire cooling rack, then transfer the cookies directly to the rack once cooled.
Make the Icing
While cookies are baking and cooling, make this simple cream cheese frosting.
Place cream cheese and butter into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy.
Add flavoring and sugar and continue to beat until smooth and lump-free.
If the frosting is too thick, add a tablespoon of milk or cream to thin.
Bring it Together
Place the frosting into a piping bag.
Pipe the cookies, starting in the middle and making a spiral design.
Add some sprinkles.
Serve and enjoy!
Because these cookies have cream cheese in the frosting they need to be refrigerated. They taste good cold but they’re even better at room temperature, so allow them to wam up a bit before serving.
What to Expect from these Cookies
They’re sweet, they’re luscious. . .they’re everything you hope a sugar cookie will be. But the addition of the sprinkles gives them a lovely little “crunch” that you don’t get with traditional sugar cookies.
My favorite part? The cream cheese with sprinkles on top. There was something about the combination of the tart cream cheese with the crunchy sprinkles that just sent these over the top.
Like I mentioned earlier, the kids ate them up. Literally. I didn’t bring any home with me and that was just fine. (I snuck home a little chunk of my Lemon Chiffon cake, instead.)
These were so fun and I know they’ll be a big hit—no matter the age of your guests.
Variations on this Recipe
I think this is such a versatile recipe and you could do so much with it. Here are a few suggestions:
Regular buttercream: Not a fan of cream cheese? No problem. Just make a traditional buttercream using butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla.
Cinnamon-sugar: This cookie would be terrific rolled in cinnamon and sugar before baking. You would end up with a Snickerdoodle!
Like that cinnamon-sugar idea? Take it a step further by adding a cinnamon-sugar infused buttercream. I did this in my Churro cookie recipe!
Sandwich cookies: You could sandwich these together using buttercream between them. Then roll the edges in sprinkles. Yum!
Other Cookies from Out of the Box Baking
If you like these cookies, you’re going to love many of my other recipes. Here are some fan favorites:
- Mexican Wedding Cookies
- The Perfect Sugar Crinkle Cookies
- Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies
- Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Sugar Crinkle Cookies
That’s it for this post, friends! I hope you enjoyed this delicious recipe.
If you make this recipe and love it, don’t forget to leave a review and a comment below. And while you're at it, go ahead and pin some photos to your Pinterest boards!
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Crumbl Birthday Cake Cookie Copycat
If you love a sweet sugar cookie loaded with sprinkles but covered in a rich cream cheese frosting, this is the post for you! I’m going to show you how I made this Copycat Crumbl recipe for Birthday Cake Cookies!
Ingredients
- FOR THE COOKIES:
- 1 cup room temperature salted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ cup sprinkles
- 1 teaspoon cake batter flavoring or cookie vanilla
- FOR THE FROSTING
- 8 ounces room temperature cream cheese
- ¼ cup room temperature butter (salted or unsalted, your preference)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla (or cake batter flavoring)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- Milk or cream to thin, if you need
Instructions
- Make the Cookies: Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the butter into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until light and fluffy.
- Add the sugar and vanilla and continue to mix.
- Now add the eggs, mixing well.
- Scrape the sides f the bowl then slowly work in the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder). Don’t over mix.
- Fold in the sprinkles.
- You can use a large ice cream scoop if you want to make Crumbl-sized cookies. I don’t really like to make bigger cookies because I’m giving them to the kids. So, I used a typical cookie scoop for mine. This way the recipe made 24 cookies, in total.
- Gently press down on the balls of dough with your palm.
- Bake for 11 - 13 minutes or until set.
- Remove and place tray of wire cooling rack, then transfer the cookies directly to the rack once cooled.
- Make the Icing: While cookies are baking and cooling, make this simple cream cheese frosting.
- Place cream cheese and butter into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy.
Add flavoring and sugar and continue to beat until smooth and lump-free.
If the frosting is too thick, add a tablespoon of milk or cream to thin. - Bring it Together: Place the frosting into a piping bag.
- Pipe the cookies, starting in the middle and making a spiral design.
Add some sprinkles. - Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 318Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 53mgSodium: 166mgCarbohydrates: 43gFiber: 0gSugar: 30gProtein: 3g
The nutrition information is a product of online calculators. I try to provide true and accurate information, but these numbers are estimates.
