Make a soccer ball cookie cake worthy of the 2026 World Cup that resembles the new Trionda soccer ball design.

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While watching soccer for a week straight I realized something – the classic soccer ball shape we all associate the sport, the 32-panel truncated icosahedron originally introduced by Adidas for the 1970 World Cup, was updated to a 14-pannel ball by Adidas for the 2006 World Cup improve accuracy and hasn’t been seen since in professional play. And yet we still all envision that 32-panel black and white ball when we think of a soccer ball. To be fair it is still used for recreational use so it’s not completely gone.

Now that you’ve had a little soccer ball history lesson, I will explain why it is relevant to this recipe. At first I was looking to create homemade soccer cookies since a few people have been having trouble finding the Pillsbury soccer ball cookie dough that I used in my World Cup Soccer Cookies. But then I thought about making a jumbo soccer ball cookie cake that would essentially look like a life-size, albeit flattened, soccer ball!

But then while scrolling Instagram I saw that Kelly of Just A Taste had already beat me to it! I could have gone ahead and still done mine but I decided to give myself a challenge and make a soccer ball cookie cake that looks like the Adidas Trionda used in the 2026 World Cup. It’s not that much harder to make but it was much harder to describe in the directions as you’re not just simply creating round balls of dough and pressing them flat. I hope you are able to figure it out based on my photos.

If I wasn’t in such a hurry to get this done in time for the USA vs Australia game today I should have hunted down Canada and Mexico flags to pair with USA for my photos as they are the three North American hosts this year. Instead I used Italy (whom isn’t even at the World Cup this year) and a Czechia hat because I was working with what I had at the moment. This is what happens when I bake on a whim at 6am before my day job.

WORLD CUP TIRONDA SOCCER BALL COOKIE CAKE

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Yield: 8-12 Servings Prep Time: 2 Hours 45 Minutes Cooking Time: 20 Minutes 20 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Blue, green, and red gel food coloring
• Blue, green, and red sanding sugar (optional)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla until just combined. Slowly beat in flour mixture until it comes together into a dough.
3. Divide the dough into sixths (I used a kitchen scale). Wrap three dough balls in plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
4. Place the remaining 3 portions into three separate small mixing bowls. Add a few drops of blue food coloring to one, green to the second, and red to the third. Mix until blended. Wrap each color in plastic wrap and refrigerate all of the dough for at least 2 hours.
5. When ready, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and coat a 10-inch springform or cake pan with nonstick spray; set aside.
6. Take out the 3 undyed dough balls and place on a clean, floured work surface*. Roll each into approximately 1/2-inch thick and 12-inch long log; set aside.
7. Take out the 3 dyed dough balls and shape each into a lowercase "b" shape** (see photos), about 1/2 inch thick.
8. Place colored sanding sugar into separate bowls. Coat each colored dough with its corresponding color. Shake off the excess and return to the work surface.
9. Pair one white log with each colored dough, wrapping the log around the long outside edge and tucking into the short edge (shaped like a 6 around the b - see photos).
10. Arrange the three doughs in a circle so that the long arms on the outsides, underlining the "b" of the adjacent color (see photos). Lightly press together. Using a cake lifter or large spatula*, transfer dough to the prepared baking pan.
11. Press cookie dough evenly into the pan to fill the spaces, but be careful not to disturb the sprinkles***. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until center is set and dough is very lightly golden.
12. Remove from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Serve and slice as desired.

Notes

*Alternatively you could work on a sheet of parchment paper and use it to lift and place in the bottom of a springform pan, cutting off the excess. **If you want to get fancy, I pinched off the tail of each and swapped them to the tails of the adjacent one to try to emulate the pattern on the real soccer ball. ***I recommend placing a piece of wax or parchment paper on top to help spread evenly while not disturbing the sprinkles.

Source: Adapted from my Cut Out Sugar Cookies and Pizza Cookie Cake.

Kicking off the World Cup with these sweet earth soccer cookies that are perfect no matter who you are cheering for – we are all on this planet together!

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Today marks the first day of the 2026 World Cup and to celebrate the occasion I whipped up these soccer ball cookies last night after seeing the Pillsbury soccer balls cookie dough at the grocery store. Nothing like a last minute recipe to keep the blog alive. But sometimes spontaneity is necessary for my creative baking juices to flow. Although in this case spontaneity also paired with a desire to be quick and easy as this bake was not part of my regularly schedule program last night.

Originally I thought I would make a chocolate chip cookie cake topped with the soccer cookies but then I remembered I basically already did that with my skillet football cookie cake. Further brainstorming brought me to cupcakes topped with green frosting piped to resemble grass but I had zero desire to process two separate bakes, let alone to make frosting and deal with a piping bag. So I decided to make a World Cup version of my double decker cookies.

I had hoped the patriotic Pillsbury Funfetti cake mix would be available in stores since Memorial Day just past and July 4th is on the horizon but alas it was not. Halloween decor has been spotted but not patriotic Funfetti? Maybe they aren’t coming out with it this year? Either way I decided it was for the best because even with the sprinkles, Funfetti cake mix cookies would have been too similar in color to the soccer cookies on top. I wanted a pop of color and a pop is what we got!

Dyed to resemble our sweet Earth (round) instead of just one country to honor all of the humans living on this planet together – which also means they are perfect no matter which team you are supporting. I considered using matcha and blueberry pea flower to dye them instead but again I wanted something easy. Maybe you will appreciate that as well when you go to make these for yourself!

Side note: If you are unable to find these premade soccer cookie dough balls, I did find a video that shows a neat way to make your own soccer cookies. I had intended to make giant version but instead I decided to go from this easy recipe to one that required slightly more shaping skills and made a trionda soccer ball cookie cake!

Looking for ideas for a USMNT watch party that are more patriotic/red+white+blue themed? Feel free to dye these red and blue instead. My USA soccer ball cake is also super fun but does take a bit more skill as it has a surprise inside. To take advantage of all those seasonal summer berries you could made red white and berry shortcakes or hand pies.

Alternatively, if you are already sweltering in the heat this week and don’t want to turn on your oven, some great no-bake options are a patriotic dessert lasagna or patriotic rice krispie treats. And I even have a recipe for a red white and blue sangria!

WORLS CUP SOCCER COOKIES

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Yield: 20 cookies Prep Time: 20 Minutes Cooking Time: 10 Minutes 10 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

• 1 box (15.25 oz.) white cake mix
• 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder*
• 2 eggs, room temperature and lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• Green and Blue food coloring
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 (9.2 oz.) package of Pillsbury soccer ball shaped cookie dough

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, lightly mix together the cake mix, cocoa powder, eggs, and vegetable oil. Divide evenly into two bowls, add a few drops of green food coloring to one and blue food coloring to the other. Blend dough until thoroughly mixed and no dry pockets remain.
3. In a small bowl, place the granulated sugar; set aside.
4. Portion the dough into 3/4-inch balls (I used a small cookie scoop, size 60) then combine one of each color into one medium-sized dough ball.
5. Roll dough balls in sugar, shaking of excess, and place on the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart. Using the bottom of a glass, flatten each cookie to about 1/2-inch thick. Place a soccer ball cookie dough ball on the top of each.
6. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until just barely golden on the edges. Let cool 5-10 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

*This helps the food coloring be richer/darker rather but it is optional.

Source: Adapted from my Red Velvet Thumbprint Cookies and Holiday Double Decker Cookies.

One small change and your classic potato casserole will never be the same. Cheetos cheesy potatoes have all the starchy cheesiness that you love but are finished off with an even cheesier topping.

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I couldn’t let my self-proclaimed birthday month of recipes go by without sharing one with Cheetos. This is simply a version of the classic cheesy potato casserole topped with Cheetos similarly to my Cheetos mac and cheese but a bit heavier on the Cheetos. It doesn’t get any cheesier than this.

These Cheetos cheesy potatoes were served at a friends BBQ cookout over Memorial Day weekend to which I also brought a more classic cheddar mac and cheese at the request of the host. Thankfully cheesy potatoes are easy to make so adding a second dish wasn’t a big deal. Of course I also brought dessert but that recipe is for another day…

Evidently cheese side dishes were in high demand because there were barely any leftovers. Guess Cheetos are like bacon – they make everything better. Who needs corn flakes on top when you can have Cheetos cheesy potatoes? I even had requests for the recipe despite the substitution being so simple. Just proves that small changes can make a difference after all.

CHEETOS CHEESY POTATOES

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Yield: 8 Servings Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cooking Time: 45 Minutes 45 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

POTATO MIXTURE

• 1 (32 oz.) pkg. frozen diced hashbrowns, thawed
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 1 (10.5 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 cups sour cream*
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• Dried minced onion, to taste

TOPPING

• 2 cups crushed crunchy cheese-flavored corn snacks** (Cheetos)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the potato mixture together, stirring until evenly distributed, and pour into prepared pan. In a medium bowl, stir together the crushed Cheetos and butter until coated. Sprinkle over the potato mixture.
3. Bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly and the topping is golden.

Notes

*Plain nonfat Greek yogurt also works if preferred. ** Don't completely pulverize them, but to the point that the largest pieces are pea-sized.

Source: Adapted slightly from my Cheesy Potato Casserole, inspired by my Cheetos Mac and Cheese.