The Easiest Sheet Pan Cookie Cake & Homemade Buttercream Icing

There are times for homemade, from-scratch desserts…and there are times when 20 teenagers are coming to your house and you need something easy, delicious and almost impossible to mess up.

This is that recipe.

It’s the cookie cake we make for birthdays, parties and last-minute gatherings because it takes just a few ingredients, feeds a crowd and can be shaped and decorated however you like.

Best of all, it’s simple enough for the kids to make—which might be my favorite part.

Because hospitality doesn’t have to mean perfection. Sometimes the best thing we can do is make the food simple enough that we can actually enjoy the people we invited over.

Easy Sheet Pan Cookie Cake

Ingredients

• 2 boxes Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, melted

• 2 large eggs

• 2 tablespoons water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.

3. Add both packages of cookie mix, melted butter, eggs and water to a large bowl.

4. Stir until everything is completely combined and a thick cookie dough forms.

5. Transfer the dough to the parchment-lined sheet pan.

6. Using clean hands or a spatula, press and shape the dough into a large rectangle, circle or whatever shape you’d like. Try to keep the thickness fairly even so it bakes evenly.

7. Bake for approximately 20–25 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden and the center is set but still soft. Start checking it around the 20-minute mark—you don’t want to overbake it.

8. Remove from the oven and allow the cookie cake to cool completely before decorating.

Easy Homemade Vanilla-Almond Buttercream

This is less of an exact science in my kitchen and more of a “keep mixing until it tastes and looks right” recipe—which is exactly why it’s so good.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, completely softened to room temperature

• 3 cups powdered sugar, plus more as needed

• 1 tablespoon milk or cream, plus more as needed

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

• ½ teaspoon almond extract

• Pinch of salt, optional

Instructions

1. Add the softened butter to a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.

2. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix again.

3. Gradually add the powdered sugar, about one cup at a time, mixing between each addition.

4. Add about 1 tablespoon of milk and continue beating until the frosting is light, fluffy and spreadable.

5. Adjust as needed: if the buttercream is too thick, add milk one teaspoon at a time. If it becomes too thin, add a little more powdered sugar.

6. Once the cookie cake is completely cool, spread or pipe the buttercream around the edges and decorate however you like.

A little tip: The almond extract is what gives this frosting that classic bakery-style flavor. A little goes a long way, so ½ teaspoon is plenty.

Make It Your Own

Add sprinkles, tint the buttercream with food coloring, pipe a birthday message across the middle or let the kids decorate the whole thing themselves.

It doesn't have to look perfect.

Put it on the counter, order the pizza, open your home and go enjoy your people.

Because that's really the point anyway!