Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake Cookies (Crumbl Copycat)

How To Make Gluten-Free Chocolate Frosted Cookies, Step By Step

As always, you can find the full recipe, with ingredient amounts, detailed instructions, and tips in the recipe card below.

Start By Baking The Cookies

1. Preheat & Prep. To start, preheat the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Combine Dry Ingredients. In a medium mixing bowl, combine gluten-free flour, Dutch processed cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine until well blended and set aside.
3. Cream Butter & Sugars. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl) combine 1 cup softened butter with the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Cream on medium speed with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer 2-3 minutes, or until smooth and fluffy.
4. Finish The Wet Ingredients. Add eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate each egg fully before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add corn syrup and 1 Tablespoon vanilla. Mix to combine.
5. Add Dry Ingredients Gradually. Working a bit at a time, mix the dry ingredients 1/3 or 1/2 at a time on low speed, until all of the dry ingredients are just incorporated. (Doing this gradually helps prevent them from poofing out the sides of the mixer!) The sticky batter will look more like very thick brownie batter than traditional cookie dough–this is normal!
6. Scoop. Working with just 6 cookies at a time, use a large cookie scoop to measure 3-Tablespoon scoops of cookie dough onto a prepared baking sheet. (Don’t roll the cookie dough balls smooth, just scoop them straight onto the baking sheet.)
7. Bake & Cool. Place the pan in the oven and bake cookies 9-10 minutes, or until set on top and slightly underdone in the center. (They’ll continue to set as they cool.) Allow the cookies to cool 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process until all cookies are baked, alternating baking sheets with each batch so you don’t put cool dough on a hot cookie sheet.

Then, Make Frosting & Decorate The Cookies

1. Beat Butter. When the cookies are all cool, make the frosting. To start, beat 1 cup softened butter 2-3 minutes in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer). The butter should be creamy and lighter in color.
2. Combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add cocoa powder, 3 Tablespoons cream, 1 Tablespoons corn syrup, the vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Mix on LOW speed until just blended. Add the powdered sugar gradually, along with 2 Tablespoons more cream.
3. Whip. As soon as the powdered sugar is all added, increase the speed to HIGH and mix 1-2 minutes more, until the creamy frosting is smooth, light, and fluffy. (The should be NO lumps!)
4. Frost. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large closed star tip (like Wilton #2D or Ateco #852). Starting at the center of each cookie, pipe frosting into a rosette on top of each cookie. (Start in the center of the cookie and continue to move around the circle of the cookie until you get close to the edges.) If you don’t have a piping tip, you can use an offset spatula to frost the cookies.
5. Add Sprinkles, if desired. (I recommend only frosting 2-3 cookies at a time if you plan to add sprinkles on top of each cookie, so you can add them before the frosting sets!)