Fruit Pizza
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The perfect summer dessert – this homemade fruit pizza is so easy and will look beautiful at your next potluck or BBQ. It features a soft and chewy sugar cookie, silky cream cheese frosting, and fresh fruit.
Fruit pizza is a classic summer dessert for good reason. This recipe isn’t too sweet and features the perfect combination of a chewy, tender sugar cookie paired with a whipped cream cheese frosting that’s not too sweet and extra fluffy. Then it’s topped with your favorite in season fruit – sometimes I like to arrange the fruit in a design or pattern, while other times I just go free hand and end up with a mountain of fruit on top.
I’ve also shared a recipe for a brownie fruit pizza and mini fruit pizzas before – but this fruit pizza is the classic.
For the Sugar Cookie Base
The sugar cookie base is soft, tender and chewy. It’s just the right amount of thickness and has the perfect buttery, vanilla flavor. Making the dough is really simple:
- Whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Mix the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract into the butter mixture.
- Carefully beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.
From there, you’ll cover the bowl and pop the dough into the fridge for 30 minutes.
When you’re ready to bake, the dough is pressed into a lightly greased 12-inch pizza pan. You will need to leave about a 1 inch perimeter around the sides as the dough will spread to the sides when it bakes.
Frosting for Fruit Pizza
For this fruit pizza, we’re using a whipped cream cheese frosting that’s made incredibly creamy with a slight tanginess and not too sweet. It’s almost somewhere in between whipped cream and cream cheese frosting and tops the pizza with a fluffy cloud of perfection.
You’ll first beat the cream cheese and sugar with the whisk attachment of your mixer. Then drizzle cold, heavy whipping cream and continue beating until medium peaks form.
Decorating and Serving
You can either slice and serve the fruit pizza directly from the pan, or transfer to a large serving platter or cutting board. If you plan to transfer the pizza to a serving plate, then you’ll want to carefully lift it out of the pan and transfer before adding the frosting and fruit.
You’ll spread the fluffy whipped cream cheese topping on top of the cookie crust – I like to leave a perimeter around the edges, just like a regular pizza and the sauce. Then top with fresh fruit. Make sure that the fruit is dry – you don’t want to add raspberries filled with water on top of the whipped cream cheese frosting as the water can make the frosting separate.
Make Ahead & Storage
You can make the cookie crust 1 day in advance, cool fully, and then cover the pan and store at room temperature overnight. You can make the frosting 1 day in advance and store in an airtight container in the fridge overnight. Let the frosting sit on the counter at room temperature for about 30 minutes so that it’s easier to spread. Then frost and decorate the day you plan to serve.
I do not recommend assembling the fruit pizza in advance (more than a few hours) as the fruit can get soggy.
Because of the frosting, fruit pizza should be stored covered in the fridge. Leftovers will keep in an airtight container for about 3 days.
More Summer Berry Desserts to Try
Fruit Pizza
Equipment
- 12-inch pizza pan
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Crust
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250 grams)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter (168 grams), slightly softened but not starting to melt
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract, optional, but recommended
Topping
- 8 ounces full-fat cream cheese (226 grams), brick style
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ¾ cup whipping cream (180 ml), 33-35% MF, cold, from the fridge
- 3 cups fresh fruit, about – depending on your designs
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Crust
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
- Beat the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract into the butter mixture. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl a few times.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until incorporated.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. (If the dough is in the fridge overnight, you will need to let it sit on the counter for about 20 minutes before pressing into the pan).
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃). Spray a 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and drop onto the greased pizza pan. Place a piece of wax paper on top of the dough, then press into an even circle. You can also use a rolling pin to roll out the dough – just ensure that there is a piece of wax paper between the dough and your rolling pin. Leave about ½ to 1 inch of a perimeter around the sides of the pan (ie the dough will not reach the edges). The dough will spread slightly as it bakes – leaving the perimeter around the edges ensures that it won't spread over the sides of the pizza pan. Remove the piece of wax paper.
- Bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 17-20 minutes, or until the top looks set.
- Cool the crust.
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
- Using a stand mixer or a large bowl with a hand held mixer, beat the cream cheese and granulated sugar. Be sure to use the whisk attachment. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl a few times.
- With the mixer on a medium speed, drizzle in the cold heavy cream while continuously beating with the whisk attachment. Keep mixing until the mixture is thick and medium peaks form.
Decorating
- If you plan to serve the fruit pizza not in the pizza pan, carefully transfer the fully cooled crust to the serving plate.
- Frost the cooled crust with the whipped cream cheese frosting. Arrange the fresh fruit on top.
Notes
- Cream Cheese: Be sure to use full-fat, brick-style cream cheese. Do not use anything that is low fat, low calorie or labelled spreadable.
- Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Fruit pizza is always best when it’s fresh.
- Nutrition: Details are an estimate only, based on 1 slice, assuming the pizza is cut into 12 uniform slices.
