Valentine's Day Heart Cookie Cake
This heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie cake is soft, chewy, decorated with bright pink buttercream, and baked using a simple DIY foil mold. It’s the perfect Valentine’s Day treat and fits beautifully on a half-sheet pan.
Equipment
- Aluminum foil to make the heart shape
- 1 baking sheet half sheet size is best
Ingredients
Cookie Cake
- 14 Tbsp unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch optional, for texture
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 2/3 - 1 cup Valentine M&Ms plus some extra for sprinkling on top
Buttercream Frosting
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tsp milk or heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- pink gel food coloring
Instructions
Prepare the Pan and Foil Mold
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a half-sheet pan (18×13 inches) with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
- Folding a long piece of aluminum foil into a strip that's about 2 inches tall. This long pieces will have to be long enough to go all the way around to make a big heart, so make it pretty long.
- Make a “tape” piece of aluminum foil to “tape” the ends of the strip together to make a big loop. Just fold up a smaller strip of aluminum foil into a wide strip. then place the ends of your long strip together and wrap that smaller strip around them to hold them together.
- You should have a large loop. Then, flatten your loop so you don't have any lumps.
- Finally, gently maneuver your loop of foil into the shape of a heart and place it on your line baking sheet.
Make the Cookie Dough
- Whisk melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth.
- Add eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla; mix well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk flour, extra flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
- Fold in chocolate chips and M&Ms, reserving a handful for topping.
Bake
- Scoop dough into the foil heart and spread it evenly. Smooth the edges so the heart is clean and well-defined.
- Bake the cookie cake for about 15 minutes, then carefully remove it from the oven.
- Sprinkle extra chocolate chips and M&Ms onto the surface for brighter color.
Reshape the Heart
- The dough will expand a bit outside the foil mold during baking, which is to be expected!
- To keep your crisp heart shape, use a butter knife to gently trim away any cookie that has leaked out of the heart frame.
- Gently press around the edges of your foil frame to push it back into a defined heart, especially the top “V.” Be careful, as it will be hot!
Continue baking, checking every 3 minutes
- To keep your heart shape really crisp (the dough will naturally want to expand to be a circle) keep pulling your cookie cake out of the oven every 3-ish minutes to gently reshape the heart.
- Bake until edges are golden and the center looks just set, about 18–27 minutes total (So an extra 3-12 minutes after you initially pull it out and sprinkle on the extra chocolate chips and M&Ms).
- Adjust the shape one last time immediately after removing from the oven if needed.
Cool and Decorate
- Let the cookie cake cool completely in the pan before decorating. Then, carefully remove the aluminum foil from around the edge of the heart.
- Beat softened butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add a splash of milk or cream as needed to get the right frosting texture.
- Tint with pink gel coloring.
- Add frosting to a piping bag with a star tip (I like the Wilton 4B tip, but the Wilton 1M or any other star tip is fine).
- Pipe stars around the border of your cookie cake.