Gluten-free cookie cake topped with silky coconut milk ganache that's easier to make than both cookies AND cake! Made with sweet rice and oat flours in under an hour, it tastes like a giant, tender chocolate chip cookie baked in a springform pan.
It's my party and I can eat cookie cake if I want to.
This was my mantra for my last birthday and it will now likely be the same for all birthdays to come.
This gluten-free cookie cake is like a giant, soft-baked chocolate chip cookie. Formed in a springform pan and topped with ganache, it's easier to make than both cookies AND cake. There's no scooping or worrying about spreading. You don't have to fuss with splitting layers or crumb coats of frosting. And who doesn't love chocolate chip cookies?
To make the perfect cookie cake, I combined two reader-favorite recipes: my brown butter gluten-free chocolate chip cookies and chewy gluten-free blondies. All recipes use sweet rice, oat, and tapioca flours to build a sturdy dough loaded with butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.
Here's what I love about it:
- crispy, golden edges
- tender in the middle
- packed with butterscotch flavor from butter and brown sugar
- undetectably gluten-free
- easy to make with one bowl in under an hour
The Good Stuff
Just a handful of ingredients go into this chocolate chip cookie cake.
Flavor Flours
A trio of GF flours creates dreamy flavor and texture here. You'll never know it's gluten-free!
- Gluten-Free Oat flour (I use Bob's Red Mill brand) gives it earthy flavor, tenderness, and crispy edges.
- Sweet rice flour helps it hold together and creates a smooth texture, like all-purpose flour would.
- You can substitute Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten-free flour, which is made with sweet rice flour.
- Tapioca flour adds chew and keeps the cookie middles soft.
Other Key Ingredients
- Butter makes it rich and moist.
- Granulated sugar adds sweetness. I use organic granulated sugar, such as Florida Crystals, but regular white sugar will work too.
- Brown sugar should be fresh, soft, and full of molasses. Either dark or light will work. I prefer organic dark brown sugar, which is more flavorful and slightly coarser.
- A sprinkle of flaky salt makes it completely addictive. I prefer Maldon salt for its thin, crisp flakes.
- Lots of bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks offset the sweetness of the dough. I like using baking chocolate with at least 70% cacao mass chopped into large pieces, but feel free to use your favorite chocolate chips. I used Hu gems here.
Minutes to Cookie Cake Heaven
This recipe makes one cookie cake. I used a 9-inch pan here, but an 8-inch pan will work for a slightly thicker cookie cake. It serves 8-10. To feed a crowd, double the recipe and bake it in a 9x12-inch pan for a cookie sheet cake.
The dough takes minutes to mix up and the cookie cake can be in and out of the oven in under an hour. Allow time for it to cool completely before frosting.
Bojon appétit, my sweets! If you make this, I’d love to know. Please leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.
Soft-Bake Gluten-Free Cookie Cake with Oat Flour
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
Wet Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons butter (115 g) unsalted butter (plus ½ teaspoon soft butter for the pan)
- ½ cup (100 g) packed organic dark or light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) organic granulated sugar
- 1 large egg (2 ounces by weight out of shell)
- 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- ½ cup (78 g) sweet white rice flour (such as Koda Farms Mochiko)
- ½ cup (50 g) gluten-free oat flour (such as Bob's Red Mill)
- 2 tablespoons (15 g) tapioca flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 6 ounces (170 g) bittersweet chocolate (around 70% cacao mass), coarsely chopped (1 ¼ cups)
To Finish
- 1 recipe coconut milk ganache (cooled for several hours)
- flaky salt such as Maldon, for sprinkling (optional)
Equipment
- kitchen scale (for weighing ingredients for better accuracy)
- springform pan (8 or 9-inch)
Instructions
Ganache (if using)
- If using coconut milk ganache, make the ganache first thing so that it will be cool enough to pipe.
Prep
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350ºF.
- Line an 8 or 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper on the bottom and rub the sides with the softened butter.
Dough
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until bubbling.
- Place the sugars in a large bowl and pour the hot, melted butter over them. Stir combine, then let cool slightly for a few minutes.
- Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract into the cooled sugar-butter mixture until well-combined and emulsified.
- Meanwhile, sift together the flours, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.
- Stir until just combined, then stir in the chocolate chips.
Bake
- Spread the dough in an even layer into the prepared pan.
- Bake until the top is puffed and shiny and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs, 23-33 minutes. Mine takes 28 minutes in a 9-inch pan; if using an 8-inch pan it might take a little longer.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
Finish
- Pipe with the ganache or other frosting and sprinkle with a little flaky salt if you like to finish.
- Cut into wedges and serve. Bojon appétit!
Notes
- Swap the butter for vegan butter (such as Miyoko's cultured butter)
- Swap the sugars by weight for coconut sugar and/or maple sugar
- Swap the sweet rice flour by weight for a gluten-free all-purpose blend, such as Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1
- Swap the oat flour by weight for sorghum or teff flours.
- Swap tapioca flour for arrowroot flour.
Trish says
Happy birthday a day late, Alanna! Besides, it seems you should have a birthday week, don’t you think? Since many of us are in a celebratory frame of mind for the holidays, you can just rename it for your purposes! ;-)
I’m so grateful for your hard work and experimentation, never thought gf baking could be so much better than the gluten full kind. So looking forward to what you have in store! You’re the best! xo
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
You're the sweetest Trish - thank you for the birthday wishes and for trying so many of my recipes. I'm very grateful! <333
dipti says
This is a wonderfully decadent birthday cookie cake- happy birthday, belatedly, Alanna, and I wish you many joyous returns of the day. I made this for New year's eve, with buckwheat instead of oat. It has a delightful texture, crisp and shiny on the edges and surface and tender inside. I did find it too sweet and would halve the sugar if I made it again - though please advise, would such a drastic reduction of sugar affect the texture/ structure of this cookie cake? Very best wishes to you and yours for this new year!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Hi Dipti,
I'm so glad you liked the cookie cake! Though I'm sorry to hear that it was overly sweet to your taste. I get it!
Sweetness in cookies is something I struggle with too. Since the only wet ingredients are sugar, butter, and egg, the sugar is important for the texture of the cookie. Adding more egg makes it more cakey and less dense/chewy. More butter makes it greasy. And adding another liquid, like milk, can make it more cakey and crumbly.
That said, since we don't need to worry about this recipe spreading like we do with a chocolate chip cookie, it would probably be fine to decrease the sugar. Just keep an eye on it since it may bake more quickly.
Anther option would be to use a less sweet chocolate to balance the sweet cookie, say 85% cacao mass, or even some 100% chocolate mixed in there.
Please let me know what you try. Happy baking!