You Can Order a Cheez-It Cake to Celebrate the Snack's 100th Anniversary

As a Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2011, Stephanie Izard has been on our radar for over a decade. We've spoken about everything from her kalbi ribs recipe to her love of fish sauce, from cooking with salted caramel to (of course) goat—the animal that's found its way into the name of nearly everything she's done. But Chef Izard's latest creation may be her most ambitious to date. And before you think it isn't a cake made out of Cheez-Its to celebrate the beloved snack cracker's 100th anniversary… well, yes… it's a cake made out of Cheez-Its. And soon, you can order one yourself.

It's been 100 years since Cheez-It crackers were created in Dayton, Ohio, in the spring of 1921. And to mark this momentous occasion, the brand partnered with the both personally and professionally Cheez-It-infatuated Chef Izard—and her whimsical new Chicago bakery and sweets shop, Sugargoat—to create The Cheez-It Cheez-Itennial Cake, a cheesy birthday cake a century in the making.

"I'm a long time Cheez-It fan and we actually already had a cupcake that utilized Cheez-It in the recipe at Sugargoat," Izard—who said her own wedding cake was also Cheez-It-inspired—told me via email. "I really wanted to amp up the Cheez-It flavor for this cake—not only in flavor but also give it the look of a box absolutely exploding with Cheez-It crackers. It took quite a few trial runs, over the course of a few weeks, to reach the perfect amount of cheesiness."

Next week, anyone will have the chance to try it. Starting at noon ET on May 17, Cheez-It fans can attempt to order these limited-run Cheez-Itennial Cakes through the nationwide delivery company Goldbelly.

Izard explains the final product is more than just a snack cracker cake in name. "We use an entire box of large Cheez-It crackers in every cake!" she proclaimed. "We make Cheez-It flour, Cheez-It shortbread crumble on the inside, dulce caramel white chocolate Cheez-It crackers—all-in-all, I would say it's at least half Cheez-it. We added cheddar caramel and flavored the red icing with Nesquik to give it a sweet, nostalgic flavor that goes nicely with the saltiness of the Cheez-It crackers."

And though salty cheese crackers might not sound like a natural fit for a sweet dessert, Izard also told me that the whole point is to let those Cheez-Its shine. "We didn't want to hide anything," she said. "We tried to celebrate the saltiness and crunch of Cheez-It while adding in components to create a delicious, moist cake. I love desserts that play up the saltiness to keep them from becoming overly sweet."

The results are apparently as habit-forming as a box of the crackers themselves. "I'll describe the final product with an anecdote," she told me. "The day that we were taking promotional pictures for the cake, we took a lot of snaps of me taking bites of the cake. The photographer said 'You know, you don't need to keep taking bites, if you don't want to.' And I said 'Oh, I want to!' and couldn't stop eating it."

But feeding your own craving won't necessarily be a… well… cakewalk. Cheez-It explains that only a limited supply of the $49 cakes will be released each day until May 20, sold on a first-come-first-serve basis. So if you're also a Cheez-It diehard, you may want to bookmark this official Goldbelly link: goldbel.ly/CheezIt100Cake.

But even if you miss out, Izard says don't worry: They have a contingency plan. "Fans can create a simplified version of the Cheez-Itennial Cake with the Cheez-It Yourself Caramel Crumble Cake recipe," she told me. "Stay tuned for that recipe..."