Last Year's Pumpple

Those of you who knew me in grad school, especially my food science friends, may remember the amazingly-insane Pumpple cake that I made for the Food Science Department's Thanksgiving lunch last year.  (Don't lie, I know you wished I could have been there this year, as well.)  As the original creator made this in honor of Thanksgiving, I figured now was a great time to talk about it.

The original version of this amazingly ridiculous dessert was the Cherpumple.  It was dreamed up by Charles Phoenix as the answer to people wanting a little of each dessert at Thanksgiving.  He came up with a dessert that incorporated Cherry Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, hence the name Cherpumple, along with Spice Cake, Yellow Cake, and White Cake, all covered in a Cream Cheese Frosting.  I mean really, what more could you want from a dessert?

Mine was a bit more simple as it consisted of only two layers: a Pumpkin Pie baked inside a Chocolate Cake and an Apple Pie baked inside a spice cake, with that obligatory cream cheese frosting made with a real vanilla bean.  I love yummy black vanilla specks.

The reality is that it is not that hard to make, it just takes way-too-long.  But last year with the stress of not knowing if I would finish my thesis, I needed to do something moderately insane to blow off some steam.  So... I got out the baking pans.

First, you need to bake and fully cool whatever pies are going to be going into your amazing creation.  For me, that was a pumpkin pie and an apple pie.  Then, you make a half-recipe each of chocolate cake batter and spice cake batter.  Next, you grease two (deep) 9-inch pans, put in half of your chosen batter, carefully put in the whole pie, and cover it with the other half the batter.  For the pumpkin pie I used chocolate cake, while spice cake was a natural for the apple pie.  Bake your layers, cool them, and make the cream cheese icing.  Finally, you frost your monstrosity and take this dessert to an event with at least 20 people, who can help you finish it off.

It was delicious ~ and the most amazingly ridiculous cake I have ever made in my life.  (A close second was your wedding cake, Jessie.)

~ Kim
BTW, the video from the original creator is hilarious and not-to-be-missed!  Check it out here.