It's Pronounced "Ka-Pike" and Spelled "Capieke"

Several years ago, I made what might have been a mistake, asking younger son if he wanted a cake or a pie for his birthday. He asked for a pie baked inside of a cake, and it's become something of a tradition. I've done several different pies inside several different cakes. Some have worked better than others. This year's is above; it was a raspberry pie inside a chocolate cake.

Here it is as a work-in-progress. As you can see, the pie is not necessarily pie-shaped. I did it that way the first couple of years, using frozen pie crusts. They don't work as well as homemade crust in terms of actually baking inside the cake, but it's hard to shape the homemade crust around the pie filling and have it really be pie-shaped. When it comes right down to it, though, shape doesn't matter. With the cake baked around it,  you don't really see a pie shape in the cut slices. Even if it doesn't look like a pie inside a cake when it's sliced into pieces, it tastes like both pie and cake.

A Just Reward

Younger son came to town this past weekend to run the annual Ten Miler. I asked if he wanted a pie. He replied that he wanted a pie laden with calories to offset those he would burn in the race. I suggested Mocha Pie from a recipe I got in the Art of Pie class I took a couple years ago. The crust is chocolate wafers, pretzels, butter, and sugar. The filling contains, among other things, cream cheese, eggs and more butter. The topping is coffee-flavored whipped cream. Here's the pie without it.
And here is it with the topping.
What more could one ask for than energy from fat and sugar as well as caffeine? Younger son's opinion when asked if it met his expectations? Success! By the way, he didn't do badly in the Ten Miler, finishing it in 85 minutes.

Pi=3.14, Pie=3 (at least today)

Younger son has moved back to Virginia from Washington (the state), and I promised to make him a welcoming pie. As things turned out, I ended up flying to Denver and driving him back from Rawlins, Wyoming through something that the Weather Channel called Winter Storm Q. I do believe I may be in the running for Mother of the Year this year, though there's plenty of time left in which I can backslide.

I did make the welcoming pie, yesterday, when younger son arrived to leave his dog here while he went skiing with friends. It's a butterscotch cream pie, with walnuts added.


The cream filling is a bit creamier than I had anticipated, and I did not do either of the suggested toppings, meringue or whipped cream. It was pronounced a success and will not go to waste at the same time it goes to waist.

I also made two pumpkin pies, one for us and one for one of our karate master instructors whose favorite pie is, what else, pumpkin.
He got the one on the right, while I kept the one on the left for us. I expect it to be gone before the weekend is out.