Tweedle-Yum Baking

Well this past week was an exciting one - I got my first commission to bake someone a dessert! I was elated, because I have been considering expanding my baking into a part-time business, so this gave me the opportunity to try it out.

I met the woman who commissioned me at a party a couple months ago, and she asked if I’d be willing to make her a pie for her birthday. I was thrilled at the opportunity and agreed immediately. She then told me all about the wonderful pie she wanted.

It’s called the “Fat Elvis Pie” and she saw it on the Food Network. It consists of a pretzel-peanut-graham cracker crust, a chocolate pudding-type layer, a layer of bananas and a peanut butter cream pie topping. It sounded amazing! And I had never really attempted a pie like this before, so I was ready for the challenge.

 

I did a lot of research: watched clips from the show, looked up recipes for all the components (I couldn’t find a single recipe for the whole pie, so I had to take 3 different ones!), looked at pictures and went to the website of the bakery that originally made the pie – I wanted to make sure I got this at least somewhat right. I wanted everything to be homemade and wasn’t going to cut any corners! Since I couldn’t find an exact recipe, I’m calling this pie my own, except, I decided to call my pie the “Slightly Overweight Royalty Pie”.

So here are the recipes I used. After making the pie once, I realized where I would have changed things in terms of the assembly, so I’ve included them at the bottom.

Graham Cracker Crust

Makes enough for a 10” pie with extra

• 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• ¼ cup butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter or margarine, and cinnamon until well blended . Press mixture into an 10 inch pie plate.
2. Bake at 375 degrees F for 7 minutes and allow to cool.

Chocolate Cream Pie Filling

Makes enough for two 9” pies, so either make two pies, or maybe cut the recipe in half

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream and an additional 1/2 cup, separated
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 egg yolks
• 4 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used a combination of 3 oz dark chocolate and 1 oz milk chocolate)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

Directions

1. In a small saucepan combine sugar, 3/4 cup heavy cream, buttermilk, and cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Place over medium heat, and bring to steaming, whisking from time to time for the sugar and cornstarch to dissolve and the mixture thickens, about 5-10 minutes. Continue cooking at this point for an additional 5 minutes, whisking constantly (This is really important – the mixture can easily start to burn on you so watch it carefully!)
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly. Pour 1/2 cup of the hot mixture into the egg yolks and whisk thoroughly. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan and whisk over the heat until thoroughly combined and very thick, another 5-10 minutes (you want it to be really thick). Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl, and whisk in the chocolate, butter and vanilla. Continue whisking until thoroughly combined. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface and refrigerate until cooled to room temperature, about 45 minutes to an hour.
3. Place ½ cup heavy cream in a chilled mixing bowl and add the granulated sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cool chocolate pudding mixture.

 

Peanut Butter Cream Pie Topping

Makes enough to top one 10” pie

• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Whip cream with 1/4 cup sugar. Mix all other ingredients until smooth and fold in whipped cream until well blended.

To assemble the Slightly Overweight Royalty Pie

1. Make the graham cracker crust – allow it to cool while you make the chocolate filling
2. Make the chocolate filling. It is really important you don’t turn the heat on the stove too high because the mixture can start to burn in no time, so take it low and slow!
3. Once the chocolate filling is done (has the whipped cream mixed into it), pour it into the cooled crust. Let this set in the fridge until firm (or stick it in the freezer for a little bit to speed up the process).
4. While the chocolate firms up, make the peanut butter cream pie topping.
5. When the chocolate is set, take 2-3 bananas and cut them into slices. Place the slices onto the pie, leaving ½ inch or inch of space around the edge.
6. Top with dollops of the peanut butter topping, and smooth to a nice finish. I would suggest putting the first couple dollops on the outer edge of the pie, so you don’t squish any bananas out the side.
7. Sprinkle with peanuts, banana chips, chocolate or whatever you like!

 

From the assembly of my pie, I learned to a) let the chocolate filling firm up before putting ANYTHING on top of it (I had chocolate and banana oozing out the side as I piled peanut butter filling on top of somewhat warm chocolate), and b) to further help with this problem, don’t put bananas at the very edge of the pie (leave more space than I did in the picture). Otherwise, everything on the pie turned out! I tasted all the leftover components after the pie was assembled and they tasted delicious separately, so I could only imagine them better together. It was a little time consuming making all the components, but it all came together in the end!

 

The birthday girl was excited with the pie, and from what she told me, everyone at the birthday party enjoyed it as well! I’m glad it turned out, especially since I had never made any of these components, let alone the entire pie, before. It gave me some confidence that perhaps I can do this whole baking thing, and I might have to look into opening my own shop.