Pizza Cookie Cake

If you love pizza as much as my husband you need this cookie cake, decorated to look just like a pizza with his favorites toppings!

Yesterday was Bob’s 35th birthday! But we were in Chicago for a wedding so we actually celebrated a week ago in Columbus with a full day of pizza – breakfast, lunch and dinner. He always says he could eat pizza every day so I took it a step further and treated him to an all day pizza fest, and dinner was even a pizza buffet in case he didn’t get his fill the rest of the day. Oddly enough when it came to deciding on his birthday dessert, it didn’t immediately occur to me to make something pizza-related, but thank goodness that light bulb finally went off. Guys, I made him a cookie cake that looks like a pizza!

Let me tell you, preparing a surprised birthday cake for someone you live with is not an easy task. Even the ingredients had to be hidden and I banned him for stepping foot in or even peeking into the kitchen. Although I doubt he would have figured it out from the ingredients alone (heck he would’ve probably been confused), I still wanted the entire thing to be a surprise. And then transporting it to the restaurant (I got approval first) meant it had to be in a concealed container that would also not crush it.

Since the man also loves Oreos I stuffed the cookie cake itself with chopped Oreos and white chocolate chips. I made sure to hide any black pieces of Oreo that appears on the outer edges of the cake in order to preserve the eventual tan color the cookie dough would turn when baked to resemble pizza dough. Once cooled, I smeared strawberry jam on top to act as the pizza sauce, grated white chocolate over the top for mozzarella, and cut little circles out of a Fruit by the Foot for pepperoni. The other toppings were decided based on Bob’s go-to pizza: pepperoni, black olive, and hot pepper. The hot peppers were created by slicing yellow sour Twizzlers.  For the black olives I had several ideas but ended up sticking to mini chocolate chips. What candy would you use to mimic your favorite pizza toppings?

Four years ago: Honey-Sriracha Ketchup Grilled Chicken

Five years ago: Black Cherry-Peach Crisp Ice Cream

Six years ago: Greek Yogurt Everything Bagels

Eight years ago: Cosmic Brownies

PIZZA COOKIE CAKE

Serves 12

Ingredients:

COOKIE CAKE

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract

2 cups mix-ins (I used white chocolate chips and chopped Oreos)

TOPPINGS

1/2 cup strawberry jam (“pizza sauce”)

2 oz. shredded white chocolate (“mozzarella”)

1 Fruit Roll-Up, cut into circles (“pepperoni”)

3 sliced yellow Twizzlers sour mini twists (“banana peppers”)

1/2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips (“olives”)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat melted butter and sugars together until creamy, about 3-4 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture until combined. Stir in chocolate chips, chopped cookies, and coconut. Dough will be thick and sticky.
3. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment paper in the bottom of an 10-inch cake or springform pan. Grease the sides.
5. Spread cookie dough evenly into the pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until center is set.
6. Remove from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
7. Spread jam on top, leaving the outside edge exposed as the “crust”. Sprinkle shredded white chocolate on top, followed by remaining toppings.

Source: Adapted from my Coconut, Mango & White Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake.