Halloween Pumpkin Cookie Cake

Amethyst · October 29, 2025, 9:40pm

Halloween Pumpkin Cookie Cake

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients:

Cookie Cake:

½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick). You will be melting this
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (You’ll be chopping ½ cup and adding the remaining ½ cup whole).

Orange Frosting:

½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of Salt
2-4 tablespoons milk
10 drops Wilton Orange Food Coloring

Decorating:

M&M’s or chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Chop ½ cup of the chocolate chips. The goal here is to have a mixture of tiny chocolate flakes throughout the dough, while still having the whole chunks in there for texture. Set aside.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt unsalted butter (½ cup, 1 stick/) for 20-30 seconds until JUST melted.

Add in granulated sugar (¼ cup) and light brown sugar (½ cup), and use a spatula to stir until combined (* do not use a mixer!). Add in egg (1 large) and vanilla extract (1 ½ teaspoon), then mix.

Add in baking soda (½ teaspoon), baking powder (¼ teaspoon), and salt (¼ teaspoon), and mix until just combined. Add in flour (1 ½ cups) and mix until all the flour disappears into the dough.

Add the chopped chocolate chips (½ cup) from earlier and whole chocolate chips (½ cup) into the dough and mix. Immediately proceed to pressing into the pan (you don’t want the dough sitting out, or it will set too much with the melted butter).

Grease a 11" metal cookie cake pan (don’t have one? See notes below.) Although this cookie removes cleanly, if you are worried about it sticking, line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper first. Using a spoon or your clean hands, drop the dough into small chunks in the pan. This will help disperse everything so that you can easily smooth it out. Once all the dough has been added, use a spatula or your hands to press down the dough into a smooth layer (being sure to get all the corners).

Tip: If you notice 2-3 chocolate chips are stuck together, separate them before baking. This will allow the chocolate to be evenly dispersed and prevent the cookie from having a giant clump of chocolate in one spot (which could cause it to more easily break while cutting).

Bake at 350°F for 12-14 minutes - do NOT overbake or your chocolate chip cookie cake will not be soft. You want the cookie cake to be slightly brown on the top and look slightly underbaked (my oven was perfect at 12 minutes). Remove from the oven and place the entire pan on a cooling rack. Allow the cookie cake to cool completely before removing.

Tip: To remove from the pan, use a knife to go around the edges, place a flat platter on top, then flip over the pan to remove. If you used parchment paper, this should come out rather smoothly. After flipping over the cookie cake, flip it over again on the final decorating plate or platter (I LOVE these cute paper trays and the largest one in the pack is perfect for a 10" cookie cake).

Once the cookie cake has cooled, spread the orange frosting (instructions below) over the top.

Follow the photos to decorate the jack-o-lantern cookie cake design.

To Make Frosting:

Beat softened unsalted butter (½ cup) on medium-high speed for 2 minutes until smooth. Turn the mixer to low speed, then add the powdered sugar (1 ½ cups) slowly. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides.

Add vanilla extract (1 ½ teaspoons) and salt (pinch) and turn mixer to medium speed. One tablespoon at a time, add milk (2-4 tablespoons, as needed).

Add food coloring (10 drops of Wilton Orange Gel), and combine. Beat on high for 2-3 minutes until creamy and the frosting is at a good consistency to pipe. If it looks too runny, add more powdered sugar. If it looks too stiff, add a tiny bit of milk until you get to the desired consistency.

This will make just enough frosting to cover the top of the cookie cake, or 1 ¾ cups frosting.

Notes:

Don’t have a round 11" pan? You can bake in a 9x13 pan (they’ll be a little thinner) OR Create a DIY Cookie Cake Pan

Freezing/Make Ahead Tip: I don’t typically like freezing chocolate chip cookies because I feel like they get dry and not as chewy in the freezer. If you do need to make this in advance, you could wrap the baked, unfrosted cookie in plastic wrap, and when you’re ready to eat it, let it thaw to room temperature, then frost and decorate.

You don’t want to add the M&M’s and then freeze or refrigerate, or the candy colors will bleed onto the frosting.

Gluten-Free: For those asking, I turned this popular recipe into the best Chewy Gluten-Free Cookie Cake!

Tip! Turn the M&M’s upside down so that the “m” is face down; this will give you a cleaner look! For the stem, turn the green M&M’s sideways to make it skinny.

Tips & Variations:

Make it chocolate! Use my Triple Chocolate Cookie Cake dough as the base and then use the homemade vanilla buttercream below to create the same look…but with chocolate!

Make it a sugar cookie! I’ve also made this jack-o-lantern cookie cake using my [Frosted Sugar Cookie Cake recipe, and it’s so good!

Add a message! Instead of the face, you could write on “Happy Halloween” or decorate this cookie as a spider web for other Halloween cookie cake designs!

Frequently Asked Questions:

How do I store cookie cake? Does it need to be refrigerated?

This cookie cake can be stored at room temperature for 2-3 days. It will technically last longer but starts to dry out around day 3!

Can I make this gluten-free?

You can totally decorate my Chewy Gluten-Free Cookie Cake](https://www.designeatrepeat.com/sugar-cookie-cake/) the same way!

My favorite brand of flour for it isBob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour.

Nutritional Facts:

Recipe courtesy of Design Eat Repeast.com