My BFF retired last week, and her daughter and I conspired to surprise her with a couple family celebrations. When I asked what kind of cake I should make to celebrate, Daughter said that BFF really doesn’t care much for desserts but she loved Cheetos. I was up for the challenge!

After a quick search on Pinterest, I found a recipe that sounded interesting, maybe tasty, and definitely do-able. (I can’t relocate the original recipe to give credit to the creator.) I started with a 17-1/2 ounce bag of regular Cheetos. I opened the bag and then started crushing the pieces into smaller pieces. I poured the bag’s contents into a large bowl.

On the stovetop, I melted 3 tablespoons of butter and one 10-ounce bag of mini-marshmallows until they were thoroughly melted. (Yes, this is like Rice Krispie Treats.) I poured the marshmallow mixture into the Cheetos bowl, stirred to combine, and then patted it out into a 9X13″ pan, already sprayed with cooking spray.

I could have stopped there, but why not take it over the top? Remember, I’m married to a pastry chef. I had Dan the Man make a marshmallow cream icing (he called it Italian meringue), which I spread over the Cheetos. Dan the Man then used his mega-torch to brown the top. Yum! I then used a second bag of Cheetos to write a message (I tried to fit ‘Congrats’ without any luck), and the cake was now one of a kind for BFF. Surprisingly, it was a pretty tasty treat!