Tonight is my son's 11th birthday party and because I am the Birthday Fairy, last weekend I offered to make him any dessert he wanted. He originally asked for a cat cake, but the idea of cutting and eating a cake shaped like his favorite animal quickly caused him to change his mind. A few years ago I made him a kitty litter cake (I will never look at Tootsie Rolls quite the same way ever again!) and he asked me to make it again, but I refused. It didn't take long for him to run out of ideas. "Just make something cool," he said.
So later on in the week we discussed what would be served for dinner at his party and he decided on pizza (total shocker!) and that was when the idea came to me, "Pizza Cake". I searched the web briefly and didn't find anything other than dessert pizzas so I decided to make my own.
I'll do my best to describe how I made the cake but it was an experiment so please bear with me.
Pizza Cake
2. Cover a large oven proof cutting board or the bottom of a large cookiesheet with tinfoil or wax paper. Place one layer of the cake on top of the tin-foil. Frost the top of the bottom layer and place the top layer on top.
3. Over medium heat, simmer the preserves until runny. Add several drops of red food coloring (if desired) to make the color closer to that of tomato sauce. .
4. Spread the warm preserves over the cake, covering the top thoroughly but not so much that the cake is saturated. Chill the cake again for at least an hour so that the preserves re-congeal.
5. Now for the fun part - decorating!
- Sausage/Meatballs - with a very sharp knife, cut the malt balls in half, set aside
- Green Peppers - I am sure there's lots of great ways to do this but I bought Wilton's green icing and piped it onto a greased plate into small squares and rectangles. I then placed it into the freezer to firm-up.
- Pepperoni - Grease a small muffin tin and put one red candy-melt into each cup. Sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of grated brown candy-melts into each well. (I used a handheld cheese-grater to grate the candy-melts. See "cheese below for more details). Put the muffin tin under the broiler to melt the candies (only takes a minute or two). Once they are melted, mix the red and brown candy-melts together using a toothpick. Place into the freezer for about 10 minutes or until set. Once they are hard, flip the muffin pan over to release the "pepperoni" (I ended up hitting the back of the tin with knife to free the candy).
- Olives - get the dried blueberries ready, set aside.
- Cheese - I used a handheld cheese grater like this one to grate the white candy-melts over the top of the pizza. I worked my way over the top of the pizza until it had a good coating of cheese, but not so much that the "tomato sauce" didn't peek through. Then I used the brown candy melts around the perimeter the the "crust" -- I thought it looked more crust and slightly burnt, like a real pizza would. Finally I put the entire pizza in the oven under the broiler and watched it very closely. It only took 3 minutes for the "cheese" to melt - it even browned slightly!
After you take it out of the oven and while it is still warm, put your toppings on the pizza. I started with the sausage/meatballs, then the green pepper, followed by the olives and the pepperoni and then a little more cheese. Put it into the fridge to set again. For fun, put the pizza cake in a pizza box for a cute visual effect. Use a pizza cutter to slice it!
- 1 cake mix - any light colored favor prepared as the package recommends
- 1 container any flavor homemade or store bought icing
- 2 cups strawberry preserves (seedless raspberry preserves will work do too)
- Wilton Candy Melts 14 oz package in white, red, and light-brown
- 8-10 larger-sized malt balls ( I found these in the bulk food isle)
- Green icing
- 1/8 cup dried blueberries
2. Cover a large oven proof cutting board or the bottom of a large cookiesheet with tinfoil or wax paper. Place one layer of the cake on top of the tin-foil. Frost the top of the bottom layer and place the top layer on top.
3. Over medium heat, simmer the preserves until runny. Add several drops of red food coloring (if desired) to make the color closer to that of tomato sauce. .
4. Spread the warm preserves over the cake, covering the top thoroughly but not so much that the cake is saturated. Chill the cake again for at least an hour so that the preserves re-congeal.
5. Now for the fun part - decorating!
- Sausage/Meatballs - with a very sharp knife, cut the malt balls in half, set aside
- Green Peppers - I am sure there's lots of great ways to do this but I bought Wilton's green icing and piped it onto a greased plate into small squares and rectangles. I then placed it into the freezer to firm-up.
- Pepperoni - Grease a small muffin tin and put one red candy-melt into each cup. Sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of grated brown candy-melts into each well. (I used a handheld cheese-grater to grate the candy-melts. See "cheese below for more details). Put the muffin tin under the broiler to melt the candies (only takes a minute or two). Once they are melted, mix the red and brown candy-melts together using a toothpick. Place into the freezer for about 10 minutes or until set. Once they are hard, flip the muffin pan over to release the "pepperoni" (I ended up hitting the back of the tin with knife to free the candy).
- Olives - get the dried blueberries ready, set aside.
- Cheese - I used a handheld cheese grater like this one to grate the white candy-melts over the top of the pizza. I worked my way over the top of the pizza until it had a good coating of cheese, but not so much that the "tomato sauce" didn't peek through. Then I used the brown candy melts around the perimeter the the "crust" -- I thought it looked more crust and slightly burnt, like a real pizza would. Finally I put the entire pizza in the oven under the broiler and watched it very closely. It only took 3 minutes for the "cheese" to melt - it even browned slightly!
After you take it out of the oven and while it is still warm, put your toppings on the pizza. I started with the sausage/meatballs, then the green pepper, followed by the olives and the pepperoni and then a little more cheese. Put it into the fridge to set again. For fun, put the pizza cake in a pizza box for a cute visual effect. Use a pizza cutter to slice it!
I've been witness to the better part of the Birthday Fairy's offerings and while they are all amazing, this one really blows me away! Go Julia!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited to see that you're doing this, and what a way to kick things off. I can't believe it's not pizza! (I am also very happy to see that you've featured those cashew nut butter cupcakes... still the best tasting cupcakes I've ever had and so lovely to boot. I shall never forget those.)
ReplyDeleteThis cake was really good and kinda looked like a pizza. I kinda didn't know what the malted milk duds were but when I found out it was supposed to be sausage, it looked like it! It tasted good and looked awesome for my 11th B-day! Although Diet Rite orange soda does not go with it.
ReplyDelete