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The Pancake Princess

The Pancake Princess

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Baking Broadway: Bobbie’s 35th Birthday Cookie Cake from Company The Musical

by erika 7 Comments

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birthday cookie cake shaped like the numbers 35 topped with frosting, fruit and candy

This is the third installment in the Baking Broadway series. Since Broadway is currently closed until early June, I’m partnering with Broadway Roulette for this mini baking series to bring Broadway to your kitchen while we’re all social distancing!

Company is a Tony-award winning musical featuring a 35-year old who, surrounded by couple friends, doesn’t want to settle down. (As a barely sub-30 year old who has been quarantining solo, no plot line has ever felt so relevant.) The current Broadway production has genderswapped the original male protagonist, so the musical features female protagonist Bobbie navigating through a series of vignettes with friends and past flames, all linked by her 35th birthday celebration.

birthday cookie cake shaped like the numbers 35 topped with frosting, fruit and candy

I’ve only seen a handful of musicals, so I’ve really had to lean on some of my Broadway fan friends to help me brainstorm ideas for this series. Of all the musicals I’ve researched for this baking series, Company and Six are probably among the top two I can’t wait to see once Broadway re-opens!

So this is a modern re-imagining of Bobbie’s birthday cake in the form of one of those trendy Number Cakes topped with a vibrant array of macarons and flowers. (Except I nixed the finicky macarons for cookie and brownie scraps.)

birthday cookie cake shaped like the numbers 35 topped with frosting, fruit and candy
slice of birthday cookie cake with frosting and strawberry

I’ve been lusting after the aesthetic of these gorgeous flowery cakes but resistant to purchase a specialty cake pan to bake a number-shaped cake (or baking a whole 9×13 pan of cake to trim out a number also seemed wasteful). With a cookie cake base, however, it’s much easier to bake a cookie in a freeform shape and then trim it down to size.

Whenever I’m baking for a friend’s birthday, I’m often struck with indecision (and sometimes short on time to make a full layer cake). This was such a fun, delicious and pretty project that I think this might be my go-to birthday gift treat in the future!

cookie cake with frosting, strawberry and a candle

How to Customize Your Number Cake

This is more of a Number Cake guide than a strict recipe. Here are a few tips for substitutions and changes:

  • To scale down: This recipe yields two very large cookies (equivalent to a batch of 16 cookies), enough to feed a crowd of 16+. If you’re baking for a smaller crowd, just halve the recipe and scale the cookie shapes accordingly.
  • Cookie cake base: The cookie cake base is a double batch of Oh Ladycakes’ coconut oil chocolate chip cookies (one of my favorites from the vegan chocolate chip cookie bake off). I chose it for its doughy and soft texture, but you can use any cookie dough you like for the base.
  • Buttercream: I used a basic vanilla buttercream (where you can easily use either regular or vegan butter), but you could add cocoa powder to make it a chocolate buttercream or use any favorite buttercream recipe!
  • Organic powdered sugar: To avoid an overly sweet buttercream, I learned a great tip from Buttermilk by Sam to use organic powdered sugar, which is less sweet! It really does make a huge difference in taste.
  • Frosting the cake: To get the signature frosting dollops in a Number Cake, I used this reusable frosting applicator paired with a round frosting tip, but you can even use a plastic bag paired with a round tip (or possibly with no tip at all?? Not sure if that would work) to do the piping if needed.

If you need to bake any birthday treats during quarantine, I hope this inspires you to try a Number Cake in honor of Bobbie!

birthday cookie cake shaped like the numbers 35 topped with frosting, fruit and candy
birthday cookie cake shaped like the numbers 35 topped with frosting, fruit and candy
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5 from 2 votes

Bobbie’s 35th Birthday Cookie Cake

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 17 minutes
Servings 16 people

Ingredients

For the Cookie Cake:

  • 1 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 2/3 cup refined coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
  • 1/2 cup almond milk, room temperature
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea or kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Basic Buttercream

  • 2 sticks butter (8 oz or 1 cup) or vegan butter, softened
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (organic preferred)
  • 2-4 tablespoons milk (any kind)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • pinch fine kosher salt

Cookie Cake Topping Ideas

  • Fruit: sliced strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, chopped kiwi or mango
  • Candy: malt balls, chopped Kit Kats, Hershey bars, M&Ms, Reese's, Snickers, etc
  • Chocolate-dipped or drizzled chunks of brownie or cookie cake trimmings
  • Sprinkles!!

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in the coconut oil until well combined. Add the almond milk (microwave for 15-20 seconds if it's cold from the fridge) and vanilla; whisk to combine.
  • Add the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda and gently stir until just combined with a spatula. Fold in the chocolate chips.
  • Divide dough in half. You can either eyeball this, or weigh it out–half the dough should weigh about 525 grams.
  • Form each dough half into a rough shape of your desired numbers. Keep in mind that your cookies will spread quite a bit, so keep the holes fairly generous.
  • Bake for 17 minutes or until puffed and brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before using a sharp knife to trim the edges into your desired shape. Reserve cookie trimmings if desired to decorate the cake later. Let cool completely.

For the buttercream:

  • Cream the butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and cream until smooth. Thin with 2-4 tablespoons of milk, as needed until desired consistency is reached (you'll want a stiffer but still pliable frosting). Add vanilla and salt and mix until combined.

To assemble:

  • Use a frosting applicator or frosting bag fitted with a large round tip. (You can use any piping tip, but the round tip will yield the more typical look.) Pipe blobs of frosting onto the cooled cookie cake. If using sprinkles, I recommend sprinkling them on top right away so they stick better.
  • If time allows, let frosting set for 20-30 minutes before adding additional toppings. You can use this time to decorate some cookie cake scraps to add on top. Cake is best enjoyed immediately.

Notes

Cookie recipe barely adapted from Oh Ladycakes’ amazing coconut oil chocolate chip cookies.

Did you try this recipe?

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    Recipe Rating




  1. ashok

    January 27, 2021 at 7:20 am

    5 stars
    My Family Loved it. I am definitely sharing Guys, Thanks For sharing this Great Recipe. this recipe and this website with my friend. Hope they also love it. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe.

    Reply
  2. Lillia

    January 20, 2021 at 7:19 pm

    Hi there! Can I chill the dough in the fridge the night before?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • erika

      January 24, 2021 at 1:29 pm

      Hi Lillia–yes that should be fine!

      Reply
  3. Hannah

    October 8, 2020 at 10:06 am

    Hi I am thinking of making this for an upcoming birthday. Do you find that the cookie dough spreads when baked?

    Reply
    • erika

      October 9, 2020 at 10:02 am

      Hi Hannah! I do find the dough spreads a little bit (you won’t have neat edges) but you can easily trim the final product when it’s freshly baked and still pretty soft and you won’t have that many excess trimmings!

      Reply
  4. Qashang

    August 31, 2020 at 4:08 am

    5 stars
    Wow! You are so amazing. This is a stunning cake.

    Reply
  5. Sam

    May 10, 2020 at 8:58 am

    this is beautiful! decorating goals for sure!

    Reply

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For those of you who like to plan, here’s a very tentative guide to what I’m envisioning for this year’s bake offs (if the world doesn’t blow up). Thank you, as always, for your constant enthusiasm and support for the bake offs! 💕💕💕 

🍪Jan: lemon poppy muffins, Levain choc/pb cookies?
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Hi friends! If you’ve been following me for a little bit, hopefully you know how obsessed I am with @happyearthcompost and their mission to make composting more accessible and easy for the Houston community! Here is just a sneak peek of all the eggshells and lemon peels from the lemon poppy seed muffin bake off that are going straight into my Happy Earth compost bucket instead of the trash 🎊

I’m thrilled to be partnering with @happyearthcompost to do a giveaway for one lucky winner! Here are the deets:

🌱 you will win 2 free months of monthly pick ups from @happyearthcompost! You’ll get a little counter top bin (pictured here) and a larger bucket to keep outside (in the second pic)
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Thankful for another year of bake offs with you gu Thankful for another year of bake offs with you guys! Loving the appreciation for the coffee cake, blueberry muffin, pecan pie, gingerbread and Levain cookie bake offs (more Levain to come in 2021 hopefully!) 🎊💕

While on vacation, I’ve scraped a lot of recipes for future bake offs (thanks to your help) and I feel refreshed and ready to get back to baking ASAP! On the list for 2021 bake offs: carrot cake, oatmeal cookies, copycat lofthouse cookies, Levain chocolate pb cookies, shortbread, lemon poppyseed muffins, etc. Let me know if there’s anything else you’re dying to see in the comments!

THANK YOU for all of your support, your kind comments, your reviewing of different recipes and your spreading of joy through baked goods this past year. Thanks to my tasters for their critical tasting and hilarious comments. Can’t wait to do it all over again next year 💕
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