Piecaken. You’re Welcome.

Piecaken

I saw this idea of putting a pie inside of a cake on a video somewhere. I don’t remember where it was, but I remember I had to try it and I thought about it a lot … probably way too much. It’s like a turducken, but it’s a piecaken; a pie inside a cake. Anyway, last Thanksgiving, Sarah and I took a shot at this and I guarantee you it can easily be done by anyone with even the slightest bit of cooking knowledge or skill.

Here’s the simple recipe:

1. Make a pie.
2. Make chocolate tort cake batter.
3. Pour chocolate tort batter in a springform cake mold and make sure it covers the bottom and sides of the pie.
4. Bake.
5. Pop out of springform pan.
6. Pour ganache on top.

See?! Isn’t that easy? If you want a little more detail I wrote more about it below.

Step by step piecaken recipe:

Start by making a pie. I cheated and used the frozen pie crust from the store. You can also make your own. It doesn’t really matter. It has a few good tips and is worth a quick read. Earlier in the summer, we had picked and frozen several pounds of strawberries from the garden, which we used to make the pie filling. Honestly, making pie filling is really just adding a little bit of sugar and cornstarch with the fruit and bringing it to a syrup on the stovetop over medium-high heat. If you want a good strawberry pie recipe for this, check out this one at Bettycrocker.com. After the pie is made, freeze it. It will make it much easier to take out of the tinfoil and baking the final piecaken with a frozen pie worked perfectly.

Here’s my pie: It looks pretty good doesn’t it? Now, let’s throw that thing in a cake!

Now, make your chocolate torte batter (or just buy some). But, making your own batter is really simple. Combine 8 ounces of dark chocolate, two sticks of melted butter, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and 6 eggs.

When the batter is done, you can set up your cake mold. Spray it with non-stick spray and sprinkle cocoa powder on all sides so it is well covered. It should look like this:

Now, pour in about 1/2 of the batter. Then add the pie (take it out of the tinfoil – obviously). Press down on the pie a little to work the batter around the sides being careful not to push it to the bottom of the tort. Fill in any gaps around the pie with the rest of the batter. It is important to make the sides equal to or slightly higher than the center so that when you pour the ganache on top it pools a bit.

Bake the cake and pie together at 375 degrees. The time may vary a little so keep an eye on it, but it should be around 20 minutes. What you are looking for is that the torte is firm. Let it cool and remove the cake mold.

Once the pie and the torte are set, let it cool and make your ganache. For the sake of things, make it a double batch. You can’t have too much ganache.

Ganache is simple too. Mix 8oz of dark bittersweet chocolate, 6 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of whole milk (we’re not going for healthy here), and a splash of vanilla extract in a metal bowl you can use as the top of a double boiler.  Use the double boiler to melt the chocolate into the other ingredients stirring constantly to avoid burning.

Plate your piecaken on your serving platter. Pour the fresh ganache over the cooled cake and pie. Don’t be afraid to let it spill over onto the platter a little. It looks beautiful and, of course, means more ganache to eat! Chill in the fridge. After the ganache cools, you can decorate it with strawberries and mint; or whatever you prefer. Serve cold then sit back and enjoy the piecaken with your friends and family!

If you like the Piecaken, you will probably like these other desserts:

• Sherry Cake
• Chocolate Zucchini Cake
• Christmas Tree Meringues
• Homemade Irish Cream
• Christmas Coffee (alcoholic)
• Christmas Mimosa

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