The best of two worlds, A pie baked in a cake!

Pecan pie inside a Butter Pecan Cake

Say whaaat? You can have the best of two worlds: Cake AND Pie all in one. I made this desert for Thanksgiving last week.

I got this idea from a CTV Edmonton Morning Live show last year when they showed a chocolate cake with a pumpkin pie inside. Since then, I have seen other similar posts on Pinterest on cakes with pie baked inside. 

Basically, you can make this pie/cake concoction in any flavours you want. Like chocolate and cherry? Why not a rich chocolate cake and a cherry pie inside, (yum)…or a spice cake and pumpkin pie inside. The variations are endless.

You can be a purest and make the pie and cake from scratch or do what I did and use a store bought pie and boxed cake mix.

Here rules on making this cake:

• Make sure the pie that goes into the cake batter is cooked! Sorry, but this is just to be on the safe side for some people out there. Do not use a frozen/thawed/or raw pie. The cake will end up in burnt crisp if it's got to bake a pie inside it too.
• This pie/cake will not work with lemon meringue pies (like lemon or flapper) or banana or coconut cream pies. Maybe, you can use the pie without the meringue or cream topping. Just use the curd and crust part. Like the pumpkin pie. I think the topping one those pies will make a horrible mess with the cake batter.
• Believe it or not, when I tell people about this recipe, they ask how me how I would cut the pie in the cake through the foil. Remove the pie from it's baking plate.
• Make sure you use a spring form pan that the pie would find inside with room around the crust for the batter to pour around. The more room the better for the cake batter to go around the pie. Plus, the spring form pan is the easiest to slice and serve this cake.

Here is my Thanksgiving pie I made with the 'Pie in the Cake' technique. I served my cake with a warm Butterscotch sauce.

Pecan pie in Butter Pecan Cake

The ingredients used to make the pie/cake. No shame - boxed cake mix and Safeway pie.

Ingredients for cake:

1 box of Butter Pecan Cake Mix (Betty Crocker) or your favorite cake recipe

1 cup of Milk

½ cup Vegetable Oil

3 large Eggs (room temperature)

1 ready made Pecan Pie or any other pie

Cooking spray
Pinch of flour

Tools:

Mixing bowl

Hand mixer

Rubber spatula or wooden spoon

Spring form pan

Parchment paper and scissors
Knife

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

On the spring form pan, spray on the bottom and lightly on the sides the cooking spray. Lightly flour the bottom of the pan only.

Get a pair of scissors and cut out the parchment paper strips to put around the sides of the Spring form. Try to cut them the width of the pan and you might need to put two parchment strips that overlap each other. Put aside.

*I find the parchment helps the releasing the cake easier around the sides.

Spring Form pan ready for the cake.

In a large mixing bowl, add the cake mix. Brake any large clumps of mix with a wooden spoon to help mix well. 

Add the milk, oil, and eggs. A trick I do is crack the eggs in a smaller bowl individually and add it to the mix. In case one of the eggs is bad, you did not ruin the entire cake mix.

Mix the batter by either using a mixer or hand mixer on low speed for 30 seconds to make sure the ingredients are mixed well. Then beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes and scrapping the bowl sides. Don’t over beat. Pretty much, follow the cake instructions on the box.

Mixing up the batter

Pour about 1/3 or so of the batter into the prepared pan. Not sure how much 1/3 is?Just try to cover the bottom of the pan and make sure the batter comes up a least ½ inch in height.

Removing the pie gently out of the plate (easier cutting)

Remove the pie from the foil pan gently. If it breaks up a little, don’t worry – put it back together on top of the batter. 

Place the pie on top of the batter – don’t press down. You don’t want the pie to sink to the bottom of the cake. My pecan pie was pretty dense and it down sink down a bit, but it still worked.

The pie on top of the batter.

Next, pour the rest of the batter on and around the pie. Make sure the pie is covered and the sides have batter. 

Do a small shake of the pan to get the batter into place. I take a knife and swirl it gently around the batter to get any air pockets.

Batter on top of the pie

Place in the hot oven and bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until inserting a knife in the center comes out clean. 

Due to the fact we’re using a spring form pan, I noticed the time the cake mix says didn’t work out. My cake actually took 50 minutes. Could be because the cake was denser using this type of pan and that there was a pie inside that took a while for the heat to get through. I kept checking my cake every five minutes after 40 minutes to see where I was at. Once the knife or the toothpick came out clean – it was good.

The finished cake

Let the cake cool off completely before removing the sides of the pan. It could take about two hours before it's safe to remove the spring form.

The finished masterpiece

Take the sides off from the cake and serve with your favourite topping sauce, whip cream, or ice cream (whatever you like). 

This cake tastes good on its own too. How can it not? It has a PIE inside! It’s own filling.

it was a hit at our Thanksgiving table

Maybe, next time - I'll add more batter to the bottom. Pecan pie is pretty heavy.

Butterscotch sauce (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Sorry, I don't have step by step pictures on how to make the sauce. It got busy at Thanksgiving and forgot to take pictures.. I got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and it’s called Ridiculously Easy Butterscotch sauce. This is so good! The website had pictures if you want to see it.

My cake topped with warm Butterscotch sauce, pecans and vanilla ice cream. 

Ridiculously Easy Butterscotch Sauce (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

¼ cup of unsalted Butter

½ cup of packed Brown sugar

½ cut of Heavy Cream (Whipping Cream)

½ teaspoon of flaky Sea Salt

1.5 teaspoons of pure Vanilla extract or more to taste

Melt butter in a medium heavy bottom saucepan over medium heat.

Add sugar, cream and salt and whisk until well blended.

Bring to a gentle boil and cook for about five minutes, whisking occasionally

Remove from heat and add one teaspoon of the vanilla extract, stirring to combine.

Carefully, take a clean spoon and dip into the sauce and taste the sauce without burning your tongue. I highly recommend blowing on it. Want more salt? Want more vanilla? Tweak to your taste buds. Or if it’s good, leave it alone.

Take off from heat and let it cool a bit to serve. You don’t want you or your guest to burn their tongue. The sauce will thicken as it cools. Give it 5-10 minutes before serving.

Pour over the cake or your favorite ice cream. So good!

The sauce can be stored in an airtight in the fridge and reheated in the microwave (if there is any left!)

Enjoy!

Time to Pucker Up Lemon Cake

Lemon cake with Pudding and Limonata Pop

This cake is my contribution to my families Easter brunch/lunch today. I actually love the taste of lemon, I’ll take lemon over classics like chocolate or vanilla any day. Being Easter, I wanted something on the tart side and was the color of my favorite flower – the yellow daffodil.

This recipe is a take on another cake recipe that uses: cake mix, instant pudding mix and a can of pop. I used in my cake - lemon cake mix, lemon pudding (yes, there is lemon pudding out there) and Limonata pop. 

You can pick up this pop now almost anywhere now. I’ve seen it sold at grocery stores, Italian Centre and even London Drugs. The pop is from Italy and it’s made by San Pellegrino. They have other flavors available (orange, blood orange and grapefruit) I actually prefer this pop over others since it uses real sugar and fruit juice.

The cake is easy and super moist. It’s also very refreshing and great for any spring celebration.

Ingredients:

1 box of Lemon Cake Mix, 432 g

1 box of Lemon pudding Mix, 99 g

1 can of Limonata soda pop. 330 ml

1 cup of Oil (Canola, vegetable or corn)

3 Eggs, beaten

Cooking spray, butter or oil to grease the cake pan

Dash of flour to dust the cake pan

Icing:

1 Lemon, fresh and juiced completely (don't use bottled lemon juice)

1 cup of Icing Sugar

Pinch of Salt

Tools:  Sifter or strainer, large mixing bowl, hand mixer or mix master, wooden spoon, small bowls, whisk, tooth picks, juicer, measure cups, and a Bundt pan/cake pan.

Time:  +1 hour - Cook time 40 minutes, prep time 10 minutes and cooling time.

Preheat oven to 350

Grease the Bundt or cake pan and dust/sprinkle lightly with flour.

In a large bowl, sift the cake mix and pudding. This helps with mixing the batter smoother, since sometimes those packaged cake mixes can be clumpy.

Getting all the clumps out

Beat the eggs in a small bowl. I try to avoid putting eggs straight into the batter for two reasons: 1. beating the eggs separately helps with mixing and 2. If there a bad egg in the group or shell pieces, you can redo it no problem - if it’s in the batter – you lost a lot of ingredients.

Add the eggs, oil and soda pop to the dry ingredients. Stir with a spoon just to incorporate the ingredients. Then use the hand mixer/mix master for 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Don’t over beat the batter.

When the batter is all mixed up well, pour into the greased cake pan. Give the pan a little shake to make sure the batter is evenly spread. I then take a butter knife and run in the batter once or twice around to remove any air pockets in the batter.

Place into the preheated oven and cook for 40 minutes. 

If you are using another type of cake pan, try 30 minutes first and check the cake and determine if the cake needs more time or not. I usually test around 35 mark with a knife. If the knife comes out clean the cake is cooked.

Remove from oven and let the cake rest in the pan until it is completely cool. Do not try to remove a warm cake from the pan.  Not a pretty sight.

Making the icing:

In a small bowl, add the juice of the lemon and gently sift in the icing sugar little by little to to get a thick syrup like icing. You might need more or less icing sugar (depending on the size of the lemon or the thickness you like).

Once you get the consistency of the icing you prefer, add the salt and stir. The salt balances the sweet and sour.

When the cake is cooled off, flip it onto a serving platter or plate. I then take a toothpick and do a few pokes on the cake just to get the icing to seep or soak in a little.

Poor or spoon the icing sauce over the cake.

Let it stand either in the fridge or on the counter covered for 15 minutes to let the icing take hold.

Enjoy!

Day of Pi - March 14 (3.14) Banoffee Pie

Banoffee Pie

Yesterday, March 14th was PIE day (3/14).  If you remembered math back in school, pi (3.14) was the number used to calculate equations with circles.  Not an officially holiday, but why not celebrate with a desert rather than a math equation.

My homemade Banoffee pie

In honour of pie day I wanted to make - Banoffee pie.  You may ask what is that?  Take toffee and bananas, with whip cream - and there's your pie.  The history of the pie originated in the pubs of UK. I've always loved pub food.  Lucky for us, it came across the pond.  Plus, as some people who know me, I'm not much of a baker - this is a no bake pie.

Now if you want to try Banoffee pie like it's supposed to be - go to Urban Diner.  As a recommendation by the waitress, I tried a slice and I was hooked. It's delicious! I always get a slice when I'm at the restaurant - plus they make really good comfort food there too.

With all due respect to apple, cherry and pumpkin pie - Banoffee has taken first prize in my personal pie contest.

My first attempt at making this desert turned out very tasty - but runny.  Sad, since I followed a recipe from one of my favorite celebrity chefs and food goddesses: Nigella Lawson (NL) - see the recipe here.  I thought I had found the perfect launch pad to make this desert, but it didn't come out as I hoped for.  (I still think she's a goddess - I heart her) I think Urban Diners' Banoffee is a hard act to follow.

My hubby always mentions I never really follow recipes or directions well (cause deep down I'm a rebel!). I like to look at recipes and think: I wonder what would happen if I added this?...or hum, I bet it'll taste better if I removed this and added this... Though, with this recipe I DID follow Nigella's instructions (I only tweaked the banana part and added Skor pieces to the topping).  So OK, I followed the basics of the recipe - but added my spin. Maybe I just can't help it.

Next time, I'll make it with one can of condensed milk, instead of two (it was too rich and it ran a bit) and I'll cook the milk longer. My condensed milk at 2.5 hours looked like a light tan color, not a rich caramel color. I might even grease the plate to let the crust come off easier. Plus, I'll add MORE bananas. My cooked bananas was tasty, and would be a great topping for any cake or ice cream. 

So, even though this wasn't my best pie/desert attempt in looks only - it still tasted really really good (hubby and I already had two slices - OK, three). We never had a "slice", it was almost a scoop. Maybe, in your kitchen - it will turn out fine.  

In any case I will prevail in making a better Banofee pie. That will be my mission.

Banoffee Pie 
2.5 -3 hours cook time for toffee, and cooling time - Next time I'm cooking longer 3-4 hours
15-30 minutes assembly
set overnight

Ingredients:

Crust:
16-18 Digestive Cookies (plain flavour)
1/2 cup Butter (1 stick)

Filling:
2 cans of Condensed Milk (375 ml)  - Next time, I'm using 1 can
2 Large Bananas, sliced - Next time, more bananas!
2 tbs Butter
Pinch of Salt
1 tea of Brown Sugar
2-3 tbs of Water *only if you need, you can add more or less
1/2 tea of Vanilla 

Topping
1 cup of Whipping Cream
2 Skor bars or 1/2 cup of toffee bits

Tools:  Pie plate, fry pan, food processor, microwave safe bowl, measure cups/spoons, spatula, hand mixer, large bowl (for whipping cream) and a large pot.

Toffee:
Do the night or day before: boil the tins.
*If you are lucky to find a tin of toffee or Dulce De Leche you can use it instead.  They are sold at some stores, but I wanted to follow Nigella's recipe.

To make your own toffee, take the two tins of condensed milk, remove the paper labels and place into a large pot of water.  Do not open the tins.  You are going to boil the milk inside the tins. 

Make sure the tins are submerged in water (at least 3" of water above the top of the tin) Boil the water and the tins for 2 - 3 hours.  

Make sure that the water doesn't evaporate - this is very important.  As noted from NL: "BE SURE THAT THE TINS ARE SUBMERGED IN WATER AT ALL TIMES - OR ELSE YOU WILL BE CLEANING THE CEILING!!!" Her words, not mine. 

Once the time has passed, let the tins cool off completely. 

As I mentioned above, I think I'd use one can of condensed milk instead of two and I'm going for 3.5 hours next time. Goal - I want my toffee to look like Urban Diner's.

Boiling the tins

Crust:
*You can use a ready made graham crust. No judgments here.

Place the cookies in the food processor and pulse until they are sandy crumbs.  In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and mix with the crumbs.  Press onto the bottom and sides of the pie plate. 

Next time, I might lightly grease the pan and I placed the pressed crumb plate in the freezer for 5 minutes to harden and set the butter. 

Filling: 
NL used raw banana's (you can too) - but my rebel heart I did this:
In a fry pan, melt the butter in medium heat, add sliced bananas, vanilla, pinch of salt and the brown sugar. Stir, if it gets sticky - add a few tbs of water just to help out. Don't add too much water. Once the bananas start to soften more and turn a bit creamy (about 2-3 min) remove from heat. Make sure it's not runny. Let it cool.

Yummy bananas!

Open the can(s) of cooked condensed milk, and poor into the crust. Spread with a spoon or spatula. (I should have seen that one can was enough - but I was following instructions).

Then spread the bananas and on top of the toffee.

Topping:
In a large bowl add the whipping cream and whip with the hand mixer until it's thick and peaks form.
Spread on top of the bananas.

I use a chilled stainless steal bowl to make whip the cream and I place a large piece of parchment paper around the mixer to reduce splatter.  I'm glad that that their isn't any additional sugar added to the whip cream, the toffee is rich enough.

Place the broken pieces of Skor bar into a food processor and pulse until it its crumbs. Shake over the whip cream.  (This is my contribution - how can you not like Skor on top of anything?)

Cover the pie and serve or refrigerate until serving.

A bit runny - but still yummy

Even if this pie ended up runny and a little messy - it's still really good.  Maybe in the next couple of months I'll attempt this again from what I learned yesterday.  That is what's great thing about cooking.  You are always learning, even if you end up with a runny pie as long as it tastes good - enjoy it.  People are always looking for perfection - even at the first attempt. I see cooking, as in everything else in life - it's progress that counts, not perfection.  
My hubby an I had a runny pie - no big deal.  It hit the spot after dinner, (and again as a midnight snack).  

Enjoy and see you next time.  And Nigella - I still idolize you!

Valentine's Dessert - Chocolate and PB heaven

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Tart

Do you like peanut butter and rich chocolate together?
Then this tart is for you.

This recipe is actually two recipes that I merged together.  The peanut butter crust comes from Kraft Canada – from their Peanut Butter Cookie recipe located here.  Instead of making cookies, I used the dough and made the crust for my tart.

The chocolate decadence comes from Rachel Ray, she made Pots de Creme recipe on the Oprah Show years back, but you can find it here.  Instead of pouring the chocolate into small cups, I pour it into the cooked peanut butter crust.

Here's my merge of the two recipes:

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 cup Peanut Butter, smooth is best
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tea of Vanilla
1 large Egg (room temp, lightly beaten)

Filling:
2/3 cup of Homo Milk (don’t use 2% or nonfat)
1 large Egg (room temp) lightly beaten
2 Tbs Sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup of Good quality Semi Sweet Chocolate chips
2 Tbs of either Frangelico or any chocolate Liqueur (optional)

Topping: (optional)
2 cups of Whipped Cream or cool whip (optional)

Tools:  Mixing bowl, small bowl, measure cups and spoons, stir spoon, 9” spring form pan or pie plate, blender or food processor, sauce pan/pot.

Step 1:

Preheat oven to 325.  In a mixing bowl, mix all the crust ingredients together with a spoon.  

Take the dough and press on the bottom of the pan to make the crust.  Make sure the dough is pressed evenly throughout the pan and up the sides about ½   ¾” to hold in the filling.  Take a fork and pierce the bottom only a 2-3 times to release steam.

Bake, for about 10-15 minutes until it’s golden brown.  Remove and let it cool completely before going to step 2.

Step 2:

Heat the milk in the sauce pan until it almost comes to a boil.  Must be hot, too hot to drink but not boiling.  Don't let the milk separate.

Put the rest of the filling items in a blender or processor.  
Add the hot milk slowing as you slowing whip together.  Go in stages. The hot milk will cook the egg and melt the chocolate.

Once all the milk has been used and the chocolate is melted, take the liquid and pour over the cool crust.  Make sure the liquid is spread over the crust equally.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 – 2 hours to set.

Step 3:
Remove the sides of the spring form (gently) and place onto a serving dish.  If you can remove from the bottom, try but don't force.  You can cut into the tart using a dull edge.

Serve with whip cream on the side, or on top if you wish (optional).

This is the chocolate I used.  It's delicious!

Enjoy!