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<\/a>The Pizza Cake, invented by none other than Karen Salkin! (The close-up of it is at the top of this page.) Photo by Jeanine Anderson.<\/p><\/div>\n
And this time I\u00a0really\u00a0<\/em>lucked-out because today is none other than International Pizza Cake Day. (Yes, I do<\/em> realize that today is also some kind of Ode to Marijuana Day, but there’s enough written about it to render yet another article about it banal. However, you may feel the need to light up when you see all these pix of Pizza Cakes!)<\/p>\n And guess who invented the Pizza Cake?\u00a0 Yours truly! No fooling. I\u2019ll tell you the circumstances in a minute, but first I have to say that when I first created it, I talked about it on my Los Angeles TV show, Karen’s Restaurant Revue<\/em>. And then local people started copying me, which, of course, I’m happy about. I was an influencer before it was even such a thing!<\/p>\n A dessert pizza.<\/p><\/div>\n And then it must have grown from there. (Or else some other great minds have thought like me from the get-go.) As I researched National Days last week, I could not believe that there’s actually a day for something I invented all those years ago! (And, as you can see, I have this pictorial proof.)<\/p>\n A “cake” made out of layered pizzas.<\/p><\/div>\n So, because we all need a tiny break from thinking about the world’s, and our own, problems for a tiny bit, I figured I’d tell you my tale about my creation of the Pizza Cake.<\/p>\n By the way, pizza cake<\/em> is not to be confused with dessert<\/em> pizza, which I did not<\/em> invent, but love to eat! Or with actual<\/em> pizzas being layered on top of each other to resemble<\/em> a cake. (I had no idea this was such a complex topic when I began this article!!!)<\/p>\n Now here\u2019s that fun story of my invention of Pizza Cake:<\/strong><\/p>\n As you may know by now, Mr. X is not a fan of going out. Nor of birthday celebrations for himself. But, always wanting him to feel as special as he is, I threw him a few crazy, and under-appreciated, surprise festivities in our early years together.<\/p>\n So, not having learned my lesson, when his big day came around once again, I asked him what he wanted to do for it, and without skipping a beat, he answered, \u201cPizza party.\u201d I said, \u201cReally?\u201d And he responded, \u201cLimo<\/em> pizza party.\u201d And he thought that would shut me up, and we could do nothing to celebrate.<\/p>\n But I thought he was serious, so I orchestrated what I thought was one of the great celebrations. And, of course, it was another surprise one, which we still laugh about to this day! (He laughs that he may not cry.)<\/p>\n I hired a stretch limo for the night, filled it with tons of fun candy and drinks, and invited our three best friends to surprise him. I ordered pizzas from several places from Beverly Hills to Ventura, and even figured out the exact timing to get from one place to another, so the pizzas would be waiting for us, but still piping hot. (I still don\u2019t know how I thought of all this!)<\/p>\n Clarence looking out of the stretch limo, wondering where Karen had gone. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n To break up the sameness of our multi-pizzas feast, I ordered a variety of ice cream shakes from a very famous soda fountain in town. And I ran into each place to pick-up the food, so Mr. X would never have to leave the limo. (After all, even though he meant the whole thing as a joke, the title he had chosen to begin with was<\/em> \u201climo pizza party!\u201d)<\/p>\n But the pi\u00e8ce de r\u00e9sistance was the birthday cake I came up with. That\u2019s right\u2014you guessed it\u2014it was a\u2026pizza cake!!! I wanted Mr. X to have a cake, of course, but at the same time, I wanted to continue the \u201cpizza party\u201d theme. So I went to my favorite bakery at the time,* The Butterfly Bakery, and asked the owner, the fabulous Liz Brooks, if she could make a cake to look like a large pizza. *[Note: The Butterfly would still<\/em> be my fave today, but it closed shortly before Liz passed away several years ago.]<\/p>\n Karen Salkin triumphantly presenting her Pizza I suggested a flat, round carrot cake, with the cream cheese frosting made to look like the melted cheese, and a lot of shredded carrots mixed in to mimic the look of the sauce coming through the cheese. And then Liz went one step further, and sliced dark, fat strawberries more thinly than I\u2019ve ever seen done, before or since, as slices of pepperoni.<\/p>\n And then I went to a local pizzeria and begged them for an empty box. That was the most brilliant move.<\/p>\n Between coming out of an official pizza box and the \u201cpepperoni,\u201d it was so realistic-looking, in fact, that, at first sight, our vegetarian friend said she couldn\u2019t eat it! So it was extra special when I revealed that it was not<\/em> yet one more pizza, (just when we could not eat another bite of one, by the way,) but a carrot cake! They were all amazed. Even Mr. X was, although he was also relieved that it was not one more real<\/em> pizza. And that one item closed-out the evening perfectly.<\/p>\n Karen Salkin and her Pizza Cake, with cameos by Mr. X and Clarence, the Singing Dog. Photo by Peter Meahan.<\/p><\/div>\n So there you have it from the horse’s mouth\u2014the actual invention of something we nationally celebrate today\u2014the Pizza Cake!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
Cake to Mr. X. Photo by Jeanine Anderson.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/a>