4-Ingredient Cookie Butter Cake Recipe

Do you want to know how to make a regular old from-the-box cake into something that tastes like it's fresh from the bakery instead? Simply add cookie butter. Lots of cookie butter. And a decent dose of regular butter, too. And eggs. And as it happens, aside from a cup of water, those are all of the ingredients that this wonderfully simple recipe calls for. It's perfect when you're in the mood for a sweet treat that goes beyond the everyday without requiring a ton of extra effort.

"This is my new go-to cake recipe because it is incredibly easy and delicious," says chef, food writer, and registered dietician Kristen Carli of Camelback Nutrition & Wellness. And how, exactly, can you take this cake from a 10 to an 11 when it's already so great by itself? "I highly recommend microwaving a few tablespoons of cookie butter and drizzling it over top," Carli says

Iced and decorated, this is a perfect cake for any and all standard cake occasions, from birthdays to anniversaries to holiday parties and much, much more. On the other hand, it can also be served as-is, without icing or a cookie butter drizzle, to make a sweet and satisfying coffee cake type of treat. However you serve it, rest assured that you'll be doing it right. And even if you're a total novice when it comes to baking, you'll be hard pressed to get this easy recipe wrong. Simply put, this 4-ingredient cookie butter cake couldn't be better.

Okay, ready for one crazy complex ingredient list? No? Not a problem, because this recipe's ingredients list is anything but that. Instead, it's blissfully simple but without sacrificing on flavor. What you'll need is one box of classic yellow cake mix (any decent brand will do), 4 eggs, a 1/2 cup softened butter, a 1/2 cup of cookie butter, and 1 cup water. Yes, technically that's five total ingredients, but like salt and pepper used to taste in other recipes, water should get a pass here.

Looking for a great cookie butter? Take a look at your friendly local Trader Joe's for their widely beloved Speculoos Cookie Butter Spread, though you are welcome to use any other brand that you particularly enjoy. Just be ready to use plenty of it as you're assembling and finishing this cake. The cookie butter addition is a great way to elevate a boxed cake mix and make it taste downright homemade.

First, preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Then spray a 9 inch by 13 inch cake pan with a nonstick cooking spray to make sure that your cake will perfectly leave the pan later.

Now using a mixer, combine the softened butter and the cookie butter. A classic KitchenAid stand mixer is ideal in terms of speed, power, and giving your arm muscles a break, but a hand mixer and a bowl is fine, too, as long as you're prepared to add a few extra minutes to this process. Take your time mixing these ingredients together because they need to be well combined to make sure the sweet, buttery goodness will blend evenly into the batter. You'll know it's ready when you see a smooth, homogenous mixture of both regular butter and cookie butter in the bowl. 

Go ahead and reserve a bit of extra cookie butter in a microwave safe container if you plan to drizzle some melted cookie butter over the baked cake as a final flourish.

Once the butter and cookie butter are fully combined, add the eggs, cake mix, and water to the bowl. Beat everything together in the mixer for 2 minutes on high or until everything is well combined and the mixture is smooth. Be sure to avoid overmixing the batter, however, as you don't want to over-develop the gluten in the mix's flour and create a tough cake.

Now pour the batter into that prepared cake pan and pop the pan in the oven on a center rack. Bake the cake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out cleanly, without any crumbs or unbaked batter clinging to the toothpick. Stick around in the kitchen, especially towards the end of the baking time, as you'll want to watch the top of the cake to make sure that it doesn't burn. Dry cake would be terribly sad, after all.

Once the cake is baked, let it cool for a few minutes. Yes, considering the lovely smell of a freshly baked cake, that may be difficult, but stay strong. You'll want to let the cake cool enough that it can leave the cake pan in one piece. After it's cooled for a few minutes, gently run a butter knife around the sides of the cake and pop it out of the pan by inverting it onto a dish or carefully lifting it out with spatulas.

You can now ice the cake, serve it as-is, or set it aside for later enjoyment. For an easy extra step, microwave a small amount of cookie butter until it's liquid, then drizzle it over the freshly bake cake. Your tastebuds will thank you.

Assuming (and this is a pretty big assumption) that there is any cake left over, you can easily set it aside for later. "This stores great in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days," says Carli. And remember that, when you're enjoying a slice later, you can always enhance it even further with a drizzle of that melted cookie butter.