Every now and then I browse the internet searching for new and unique recipes. I was in a mode where all I could think of is baking pies. While searching for new pie ideas I came across something that I never heard or seen before. Piecaken- a genius idea and kudos to whomever thought of it.  Piecaken is when a pie is baked within a cake. The outside it looks like a typical cake but when you slice a piece you get pie within it.

     There were all sorts of pie/cake combinations that I immediately thought of. In my search the most popular ones were lemon blueberry piecaken, chocolate cherry piecaken and vanilla apple piecaken. I thought of many other combinations and the time was perfect because I had to make my best friends birthday cake. Being that it was late fall I thought it would be fitting to bake something seasonal. So I made a pumpkin pie baked into a spice cake with a maple buttercream frosting, coated in pecans. (Spice Cake Recipe I used http://southernfood.about.com/od/spicecakerecipes/r/bl31221g.htm)

Beginning to assemble

Half of the cake batter followed by the pie

Cake flipped upside down

Decorated cake

Cross section view

     Reading the blogs I was already aware of the process of making a piecaken. First you have to make the pie. Like the recommendations said I baked the pie the day before I was to bake the entire cake because the pie has to be completely cool. The next day I made a spice cake batter and was ready for assembly. In a greased 9 inch springform pan I poured half of the batter. Carefully, I placed the pie on top of the batter- upside down. You need to put the pie in upside down because once the cake is done you flip it over to frost & serve. On top of the pie, pour remaining batter making sure it is fully covered. Now its time to bake. I baked my piecaken at 350 degrees for about 1 hour & 20 minutes. Baking times vary so I recommend testing the cake after 50 minutes in 15 minute increments. Also, the perimeter of the cake cooks faster so halfway through I wrapped it with foil to protect it from over cooking while the middle finishes. Once it was completely cool, I frosted and decorated it. 

Chocolate Cherry PieCaken ready to be baked

Foil to protect outside from over-cooking

Finished product in half the time

      Now if you don’t have the time here are some tips to make a piecaken within a couple of hours. For thanksgiving this year I had many dishes to make so my time was limited. I still wanted to make a piecaken but didn’t want to go through the whole process. I bought a box chocolate cake mix, a ready to bake cherry pie and chocolate frosting. I know I cheated being that I usually bake from scratch but time was of the essence. I followed the same steps as above and had a baked and frosted piecaken within hours. So if you want to wow your family and friends, this is a great dessert thats intricate but can take minimal effort. Now go ahead and try to make one!! Let me know your results. Its as easy as pie…cake.. 🙂 

Cross Section View