21 lb layer cake containing three pies

Chef David Lowery created this "Cherpumple" -- a "dessert version of the turducken," composed of "CHERry, PUMpkin and apPLE pie," baked into three separate cakes, then assembled into an enormous layer cake.

Working in the Grand Geneva Resort pastry kitchen, I had some time to make a Cherpumple and serve it at Sunday Brunch. My Cherpumple weighed 21 lbs 10 oz and was seen by over 200 guests that Sunday. I was very pleased that it stayed standing until the final 1/8 was cut 4 hours after the first slice was taken. Will be doing this again.

Sunday Brunch Cherpumple (via Neatorama)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

MORE: cake • Food • happy mutants • maker • not food • obesity • sweets • wisconsin

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awillett

That is… an obscenity. Probably a tasty obscenity, but still.
thatbob

Ugh, why ruin three perfectly good pies this way? Should have baked them into a giant pie instead!
- Tribune
  
  So would the giant pie stack them or put the three at the same level to maintain the basic pie form? Someone need to research the recursive pie and associated problems.
  - rabidpotatochip
    
    I think the solution to fitting three pies inside a larger pie and allowing for recursion would probably be to create some kind of Menger pie. Of course, it would work considerably better if this individual was making a Menger Sponge cake. ;)
John Rust

I think this post needs the shocked cat
snagglepuss

Aaaargh. Immortality could have been mine. This guy beat me to it by FIFTEEN MINUTES !
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Aaaargh. Immortality could have been mine. This guy beat me to it by FIFTEEN MINUTES !
  
  Actually by two years. The how-to video is from 2009. But unlike other holiday pastries, the cherpumple never gets stale!
- Mark Dow
  
  Pics, or it didn’t not happen.
http://www.facebook.com/postelwait Cameron Postelwait

since this would make a great symbol of western decadence, they should probably have a few tastes and then throw the rest away.
http://twitter.com/writebastard Ian Wood

And so it is baked, the great doom of our time.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  In the Shire, that’s a single serving.
neurolux

I just got misty-eyed. If I ever get married, this will be the groom’s cake.
http://grathio.com Steve Hoefer

“…and was seen by over 200 guests…”

I would argue this possibly one of the least suitable metrics for deserts.
http://twitter.com/aesthette my name is aesthette

I mean, Charles Phoenix’s cherpumple is much better. Because I think HE invented it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp4yWTLIPaE

Oh never mind. I figured it out.
http://twitter.com/monitorhead Monitorhead

goes well with turbaconducken http://bacontoday.com/turbaconducken-turducken-wrapped-in-bacon/ and wash it down with a super-sized suicide soda from the gas station. LOL
terrycarroll

Now, if it had layers of ice cream and whipped cream to top the pies inside, it would be a complete dessert.
Eddie Perkins

My first reaction was ‘Oh, Americans…’

But, I can say that because I’m an American and I want one.
William George

Has this been featured on This Is Why You’re Fat yet?
Frank Diekman

As Homer Simpson would say, “Mmmmmmmm…twenty one pound layer cake containing three pies.”
KaiBeezy

good for dessert after a Bacon Explosion (TM)
which is…
.
a bacon mat
(yes, 2 lbs of bacon woven together into a mat)
topped with dry rub
covered in 2 lbs of bulk pork sausage
topped with cooked chopped bacon
and BBQ sauce
rolled together and
thrown on a grill.
bklynchris

I love cake almost as much as I love pie. I love taking a dump almost as much as I love eating. It does not mean that I should do them both at the same time.

In fact, if there was a church of pie I would be its high priestess. I find this pure sacrilege, and no, that the frosting looks as if it might be malted does not make it OK…I think.
phenocopy

I made a variation on this last year (for a turducken party), with a pecan pie (in white cake) on the bottom and an apple pie (in spice cake) on the top, all with cream cheese frosting. It’s difficult to schlep, so I suggest frosting it on site, and you have to put the most structurally sound pie on the bottom. People eat Very Small slices. (This year, my boyfriend has talked me into baking a cookie into a cupcake into a pie into a cake, only one layer. I ran a couple trials of things like “brownie in a pie” but they didn’t work very well.) It is certainly not for every occasion, but it’s an impressive dessert to bring to a party.
pipenta

This frightens me.
Robert Cruickshank

The cake is a pie!
- Guest
  
  well played, sir.
soylent_plaid

The guys at Epic Meal Time would wrap this in bacon and deep fry it. And then polish it off. And then go drink some Jack.
Teller

Is each slice served on a charger?

/ladies love that kind of talk
- chgoliz
  
  Chargers are expensive, totally wasteful items which are placed on the table before you sit down and taken away before you eat.
  
  I only know this because my cousins explained it to me. Some of us “ladies” don’t normally waste our time channeling Martha Stewart.
jeligula

Good lord! This is positively Roman in its decadency.
SomeGuyNamedMark

Tossing every flavor together doesn’t make it tasty. Yuck.
Chuck

How about a chicken pot pie stuffed in a duck pie (of some sort) stuffed in a giant turkey pot pie?
- NTSF
  
  win!
http://imcravingpresidency.tumblr.com/ SedanChair

It’s very beautiful, you did a great job.

(Our culture is doomed)
Mark Neumayer

Who needs bread and circuses when you have pies in cake?
http://www.legrandbazart.com sigismund

YO dawg, I herd you like pies…
http://www.oeilgauche.com/ Ludovic Pessot

This doesn’t make any sense.