Piecaken 2.0 - The Piecakening
Christmas Eve, 2015

It's been a while since I've done a piecaken - baked a pie inside a cake - I just haven't had the need. Since we are going to be visiting in-laws for Christmas tomorrow, I thought it might be nice to bring a treat.

One of the things I learned last time round was a two crusted pie (crust on the bottom and the top of the pie) makes things a little extra crunchy inside the cake. I decided to go with an open topped pie this time - a Lemon Pie, to be specific. I really (really really) like sour, citrus-y food, and I think a lemon pie inside a vanilla cake sounded pretty damn good.

One of the hardest things about making a piecaken is getting the pie out of the pie pan and into the cake. I've taken to using "spring forms" (available at WalMart for >$10.) To make sure the crust doesn't stick to the form, I sprayed the form with no-stick and sprinkled it flour.

These things puff up when you cook 'em, so poke a lot of holes in the bottom of the crust before baking. Custard pies (like a lemon pie) use pre-baked crusts, so I pushed the pie crust into the spring form and baked it for 15 minutes.

While the crust was baking, I was bubbling the filling. Sugar, corn starch, flour and water. Bubble it for a bit, mix with egg yokes, bubble some more, add the lemon juice, and you have lemon filling.

Once the lemon pie was baked, I trimmed off the excess crust (to reduce the afore mentioned crunchiness.

French Vanilla cake. For 88 cents, it ain't bad.

Getting the pie into the next-size-larger spring form ain't easy, but it ain't that hard, neither.

Cover with cake batter (there's some under it, too.)

While the cake is cooking around the pie, it's time to make the frosting. Betty Crocker has a simple cream cheese and butter frosting recipe. 2 cups of confectioner's sugar? No wonder I am diabetic.

Geez! I can't turn my back for a second. She's like a raccoon!

That's purty.

Even purtier outside the spring form.

OK, so I suck at applying frosting. I don't even like frosting - I do it for other people. Know what's funny? When I was a wee wee tot, I used to ONLY eat the frosting and cry when Mom made me eat the cake part, too. Times change.

Anyhow, that's how you make a piecaken: Bake a cake around an already baked pie. Simple, easy, ingenious.