Fans of gooey, doughy cookies, you belong here.
Situated in the Cart Blocks, about two blocks east of Powell’s Books, downtown Portland’s Cookie McCakeface serves warm, doughy cookies that are roughly the size of baseballs. The Oregonian Readers’ Choice Award for best food cart went to the cart as well.
The dome-shaped cookies are served directly from the oven, weigh almost half a pound each, and are a couple of inches tall. A number of flavors contain a gooey substance, such as Nutella ganache or marshmallow. One even had an entire Oreo cookie inside.
I adore cookies with a crispy outside, but I also enjoy medium-rare cookies. Sarah Ahlvers, proprietor of Cookie McCakeface, stated, However, I am obviously unable to serve rare dough.
She therefore developed a special recipe that produces both crispy and doughy cookies after considerable research and development.
Cookie McCakeface’s Cookie Meister cookie (right) is a cookies & cream cookie that has a complete Oreo cookie inside and edible Google eyes.”The Oregonian” or Ryan Fernandez
“I can’t tell you about the three different flours that go into it, but it’s the protein content that makes it gooey on the inside even though it’s cooked through,” Ahlvers explained.
Ahlvers loads cookies onto a cookie sheet and bakes them in an oven once a customer placed an order.
We fry it at a high temperature very quickly. She claimed that this maintains the dome-like shape that resembles an ice cream scoop.
Although Ahlvers had been baking for fun most of her life, she didn’t start her cookie company until April 2020, when the coronavirus epidemic was just getting started. She claimed to have started taking cooking classes after being fired from her position as an IT specialist at Structured Communication Systems.
Her brother allowed her to use the kitchen at Vault 31, a Vancouver videogame bar. For a few months, Ahlvers sold cookies from her kitchen via DoorDash, she claimed.
Ahlvers purchased her first food cart in 2021 and operated it in the pod that was formerly Cartlandia (now Springwater Cart Park) until May 2023, when she relocated to the current downtown location.
Cookie McCakeface may be found at The Cart Blocks pod in downtown Portland.”The Oregonian” or Ryan Fernandez
Before I relocated, I did a lot of study. My want to be downtown was intense. My hometown is Portland. This is where I grew up. “I really wanted to be a part of that because I loved the downtown scene in high school and college and I felt like it was coming back,” Ahlvers said.
Seven constant flavors and one or two rotating specials are available in the cookie cart.
The Choc Blocker (chocolate peanut butter), the Cookie Meister (cookies and cream with an Oreo in the center, topped with two gooey eyes), chocolate chip cookies, and the Midnight Society (their version of a cookie) are some of the most well-liked cookies.
A cookie Large, doughy cookies are served at the McCakeface cart at The Cart Blocks pod in downtown Portland. This treat, known as the Midnight Society cookie, is filled with graham crackers and marshmallows.OregonLive/The Oregonian | Teresa Mahoney
The Eat The Rich, which features five different types of chocolate with a Nutella ganache core, is currently the special. Additionally, the store offers vegan and gluten-free options.
How about the name of the cart? Ahlvers stated that she was registering her company under her brother’s LLC at the beginning and that she needed to provide a name in order to complete the application.
I was certain that I wanted something cookie-like. Ahlvers, who has a cosmetics-focused Instagram account, stated, “I knew I wanted it to be something with cake face because that’s like a makeup industry term and I’m obviously into makeup.”
“How about Cookie McCake’s face?” he asks. And I instantly detested it. I kind of adore it now, around four years later.
If you go:
The Cart Blocks pod at 770 W. Burnside is where you can find Cookie McCakeface. Open from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, or until sold out.
Vault 31 bar, located at 316 S.E. 123rd Ave. Ste. D4, Vancouver, Washington, also sells cookies. Only Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m., or until they are sold out, are cookies available.
Teresa Mahoney
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