epic pie cake + diy pie sign

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To me the holiday season is all about family; and I don’t know about your family, but mine loves to eat when we get together. Talking, laughing, eating—there’s few better ways to share joy! Pie is always a crowd favorite, and today I’ve got an epic one for you!

Well, it’s really more of a cake.

No, pie.

Cake.

Pake.

Whatever.

Years ago I pinned this image, hoping to one day recreate it, but like so many of our pins do, it just sat there on my board gathering dust. It’s called a pumpple cake and it is the wonderful concoction of the Flying Monkey Bakery in Philadelphia. A layer consisting of a pumpkin pie baked inside of a chocolate cake and another layer with an apple pie baked inside of a vanilla cake. Oh yeah, and about a ton of vanilla buttercream. It sounds amazing, right? The problem is it seemed a little too intimidating to me. I mean, I had to make two pies AND bake them into cakes?! Plus, where was I supposed to get a cake pan big enough?

Finally, I had a couple epiphanies. First, instead of buying specialty cake pans that would be deep enough, I could simply use my springform pan - perfect! Second, instead of going through the effort to make two pies, why not save some time without scrimping on quality and use some MarieCallender's® Dessert Pies, and of course some Reddi-Wip® on the side. It was definitely my “ah-ha” moment.

Unfortunately, I had a surprisingly hard time finding the two pies (pumpkin and Dutch apple) I would need for my epic pie… cake… whatever. I guess all the delicious Marie Callender pies got cleared out during Thanksgiving? Luckily, I was able to go online and see that they were available at Walmart. Good ol’ Walmart, always has what you need when others let you down.  I went onto Walmart's website and in a manner of minutes had found a location that had the Marie Callender’s pies I needed (and I also drooled over the other flavors offered while I was at it).

Epic Pie Cake:

•          1 Marie Callender's® pumpkin pie
•          1 Marie Callender's® apple pie (I used Dutch apple, but you can also use lattice-topped and peel off the top)
•          1 chocolate cake mix (and the ingredients it calls for)
•          1 vanilla cake mix (and the ingredients it calls for)
•          Your favorite buttercream, twice as much as you would need for a regular sized, two-layer cake

Bake both pies according to package directions. I like to cover my crusts with a little bit of aluminum foil to keep them from burning. I also only used half of the crumb topping for my apple pie and reserved the rest for later.

Once the pies are cooled, trim the exposed pie crust edges off both pies so they can fit in the pans better. Pour about 1/3 of the batter into your prepared cake pan, place the pie (sans pie tin) on top, then cover with remaining cake batter, the entire bowl of batter will go in one cake pan. Do this for each pie/ cake.  Bake according to directions on cake mix box, but at the end you will probably want to lower the temperature about 10 degrees and bake slightly longer to ensure the center is cooked through.

Once each layer is cooled, frost as you would any regular layer cake! I also sprinkled the remaining crumb topping over mine, and then added some delicious, creamy Reddi-Wip®.

On my maiden voyage into the land of pumpple cakes I learned some things that I would like to share with you because I love you and I think everyone should know the joy that is one of these amazing, epic pies. I mean cake. Pie cake?

First and foremost, this is NOT hard. You might be afraid to take it on; it may seem overwhelming. Seriously though, pick up a couple MarieCallender's® Dessert Pies and a couple boxes of cake mix and you will be good to go. This IS, however, time consuming. This is a two-day dessert. I baked my pies one day, then baked them into their layers and frosted the next day. Give yourself plenty of time so you can enjoy the process! Also, you need to give yourself time to eat all the pie crust you’ll be trimming off.

Yum… crust.

Secondly, I liked using the springform pan so I didn’t have to turn the cake pan upside down to get my cake pake out. You will, however, want to cook it extra-long because it takes a long time for the center of the cake to cook thoroughly. I baked according to directions, then lowered the heat, covered loosely with foil, and baked an additional 15-20 minutes for each layer.

This is the perfect dessert to bring to a holiday meal or party this season! Bonus -- you don’t have to worry about anyone else showing up with the same thing! Don’t stop there though; if you know someone that just can’t get enough pie (I know a couple myself) then I’ve got a quick tutorial for a cute sign, perfect for any pie lover! In fact, this would make a great hostess gift to bring along with your pie cake epic dessert.

I picked up an 8" x 10" wooden frame that had a distressed look and that I thought kind of mimicked a vintage window. Then in my Silhouette Studio I designed a sign with the words “Fresh Baked Pies Served Daily” and a little outline of a pie. Using my Cami I cut it out in white vinyl and then applied it to the front of the glass of the frame using transfer tape.

After the adhesive vinyl was applied, then I tried to decide if I wanted to pop in a piece of decorative paper, or if I wanted to completely take the back off; you can easily do either. I really like the green chalkboard paper I used because it looks a little like a vintage chalkboard, but I also like the crisp, simple look with just the glass. If you do want to get the back off just put a little dab of hot glue in each corner of the back of the frame and then press the glass in place!

There you have it - you got a two-for-one today! A cute DIY pie sign, and an amazing, epic dessert that shall henceforth be known as… I don’t know. Any ideas?

Have you baked any Marie Callender's® Dessert Pies lately? What’s your favorite flavor?