I was going to make cookies for a family birthday this weekend (because I am pretty well 'sweeted out' after all the holiday goodies and knew a cake would mostly go uneaten). I was doing a random internet search for birthday cake cookies when I stumbled upon little cookies that looked like birthday cakes, but had the pinata idea going on as well; with mini M&M's in them.
Remember about 8 years ago when donkey Pinata cookies became a thing?
Cookies filled with mini M&Ms' or other little candies or
sprinkles? And soon everyone was making them and in all different
shapes? Like that.
I hate M&M's so THAT wasn't happening, but I liked the idea of the birthday cake cookie and decided I would use whatever I happened to have on hand in the cupboard.
I used a regular sugar cookie dough recipe (here is one of my favorites), some leftover royal meringue icing I had in the freezer from decorating Christmas cookies, some sprinkles and mini marshmallows from the pantry and topped them off with some wax birthday candles from the cupboard.
I loved them... but also loved how incredibly quick and easy they came together.
Roll and re-roll scraps to cut out round cookies. You need 3 cookies per 'cake'.
My round cookie cutter in the photo is one I made years and years ago by cutting a tin can in half and using a pair of pliers to smooth down the top edge. I have a lot of other round cookie cutters but this one gets the most use.
After baking, while your cookies are still hot, use a smaller sized round cookie cutter to cut a circle out of the center of one of the 3 cookies that will form each birthday cake cookie.
I saved the little cut-outs and made them into tiny cookies as well.
You can save them, use them or eat them.
I used a plastic straw to cut a small circle out of the top and final layer of each of the birthday cake cookie tops.
I usually see mini M&M's used in pinata cookies but I don't like chocolate and hate M&M's. I've seen Skittles used - which is TOTALLY my kind of filling but it's a good thing I don't have Skittles in the house because I'd eat the entire bag. Even if it were a 1 lb. size bag. I'd eat it. So no... we have no Skittles in the house.
Besides, I knew I wanted to use sprinkles or multi-colored jimmies anyway to go with my birthday cake sprinkle theme. However, I did spy my itty bitty mini marshmallows in the cupboard (bought for Christmas cookies I never got around to making) so I used those too!
Any meringue or royal icing would do but I had 2 bags leftover from Christmas cookies in the freezer. A light blue and a white. So those became my color theme.
Lay the bottom layer of your cookie down and pipe the icing around the edge, topping with the second layer; which is the one with the hole cut out. Let this dry for about an hour so the sprinkles in the filling don't stick to the icing.
When the icing is dry to the touch, I filled them with some jimmies, sprinkles and marshmallows.
Then I carefully piped another round of icing and topped the 'cake' with the final cookie.
I didn't have to worry about hiding the icing like I did on the donkey pinata cookies, as you want the icing to show on these; it looks like a layer of filling between your cake slices.
I let the cake cookies sit while I got out the little wax birthday candles and cut the ends off of them to make them a little bit shorter and more to the size of the tiny 'cakes'.
I just snipped them off with scissors.
I piped a bit of icing around the base of the candle, and inserted it into the cookie top.
Then I used a decorators bag with the end snipped off to top the cookie with royal icing, letting it run down the sides a bit.
After about 2-3 minutes of letting it set up a bit, I sprinkled some little rainbow sprinkles and multi-colored jimmies on top.
When you are done, let them dry overnight so the icing hardens. This makes them fabulously portable.
Today I simple stacked them on a metal cake stand and we were ready to with the birthday girl a happy birthday!
