Giveaway + Cherry Pie Stuffed Chocolate Cake
You guys, I am so super-dooper jumping-up-and-down excited for this giveaway!!
One of my very favorite food bloggers and good friend Dan – from the awesome blog The Food in my Beard – has finally released his cookbook. It’s called Stuffed: The Ultimate Comfort Food Cookbook
I’m giving away a copy of this cookbook to one lucky reader, plus sharing a ridiculous recipe for… Cherry Pie Stuffed Chocolate Cake.
That’s right: chocolate cake that has a cherry pie inside.
Only Dan can think of making a pie then stuffing it inside a chocolate cake, then covering the whole thing in frosting. He’s crazy like that, the kind of crazy that leads to delicious. Dan and I have shared plenty of food adventures together (one of my favorites is going to a sushi making class where he was easily an expert, while I… just ate.) He is definitely a kindred spirit; we share the same passion for meat and spicy things and just really good food. (He wrote a guest post for me for Shortrib Chocolate Risotto and people went crazy for it.) He has such a creative mind, and his cookbook showcases that! Here’s one of my favorite recipes from Stuffed (of course I chose the one that features chocolate cake.)
Cherry Pie Stuffed Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
Cherry Pie
6 cups (930 g) pitted cherries
3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup (30 g) cornstarch
1 box refrigerated pie crust
Chocolate Cake
4 cups (480 g) flour
2 cups (400 g) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (90 g) cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup (235 ml) milk
½ cup (120 ml) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (235 ml) hot coffee (I usually use good-quality instant)
Frosting
3 cups (360 g) confectioner’s sugar
3/4 cup (90 g) unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup (112 g) butter, softened
1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Make the Pie: Preheat the oven to 425˚F (220˚C, or gas mark 7). Mix together the cherries, granulated sugar, vanilla, salt and cornstarch. Line your pie tin with one of the pie crusts. Fill with the cherry filling, and top with the other pie crust. Make a few slits in the top crust to allow the steam to escape, and be sure to cut any excess crust off and seal the edges.
- Put the pie into the oven with a pan underneath in case any of the filling boils over. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375˚F (190˚C, or gas mark 5) and bake for another 40 minutes, until everything is browned and bubbly. Remove from the oven and let the pie cool completely in the fridge for about 2 hours.
- Make the Cake Batter: Grease and line your cake pan (see above for pan sizes). Mix the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until well combined. Pour the hot coffee over the batter and mix well.
- Stuff It!: Pour the batter into the cake pan, reserving about 1 cup (235 ml). Being really careful, flip your pie upside down onto a flat cookie sheet or cutting board. Slide the pie off of the board and into the cake batter. If it doesn’t quite sink enough, gently push it down, and then pour the remaining cake batter on top to cover any exposed pie.
- Cook It: Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C, or gas mark 4). Bake the cake for almost 1 hour, but start checking in on it at about 40 minutes, using a wooden skewer to test for doneness. When it is done, allow it to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then flip it and let it cool for at least an hour before frosting.
- Make the Frosting: Put all the frosting ingredients in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Frost the cake after it has cooled
Notes about Equipment: This amount of filling works great with a 9-inch (23-cm) pie dish, but if you have a smaller pie dish you should use that instead. The 9-inch (23-cm) pie is really unruly to work with, and you need an extra-large cake pan later when you are baking the pie inside the cake. I did this once with this exact recipe in a 9-inch (23-cm) pie dish, then I baked the cake in a parchment-lined Dutch oven.
If you happen to have a rare 5½-inch (14-cm) pie pan, I would suggest using that and then using a normal size 9-inch (23-cm) cake pan (as long as it has higher edges). If you do this, you can reduce the recipe by one-third.
Recipe from Stuffed: The Ultimate Comfort Food Cookbook by Dan Whalen
(Page Street Publishing; August 2013) Printed with permission
RecipeDisclaimer: a copy of the cookbook and the photo above were provided to me.
I am so proud of Dan and I can’t wait to try more recipes from his new cookbook. For the giveaway, one of you will win a copy of Stuffed
To enter the giveaway, follow the prompts below:
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You must live in the United States to participate in this giveaway.
The contest is open until 11:59 pm EST on Friday, February 14th (Valentine’s Day!) I’ll randomly pick a winner and you’ll receive a copy of Stuffed in the mail. Congrats again to my buddy Dan and good luck to all of you entering the giveaway!