This easy homemade pound cake is filled with homemade strawberry pie and fresh whipped cream!
The heat has hit. Well, that is if you live inland Southern Cali. Yesterday was the first time this summer we hit the triple digits and it is predicted to last through Monday. Thank goodness for air conditioning, pools, iced tea, and pound cake to drown our sorrows in.
After spending some time in pool getting my tan on (which is quite a difficult feat for my perpetually pale skin) and killing three black widows–three (which really killed the relaxation mood)–I decided it was time to recreate something I have only heard stories about.
Pie Cake.
It sounds intriguing, no?
I opted to try my hand at the mysterious thing. And the results were quite pleasant! Indeed, it has become my new fascination and obsession to try out various cake and pie combinations.
After a day of heat and binge spider killing because I refuse to swim in a spider infested area, the pake was a wonderful treat and worth the effort in the kitchen. Oh and worth the near heart attack I had when a spider crawled out of my kitchen–so make that four spider kills. I promise you I live in a suburban area where spiders are not normally this common, but apparently it’s the season? Either way the house has been sprayed to get rid of these heart-palpitation-creating insects.
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup chilled butter, cubed
- 2-3 Tbsp ice water
- 2 cups strawberries, chopped into small pieces
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 Tbsp strawberry gelatin
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/4 sticks butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Mix flour and salt together, then add in the cubed butter gradually 'til the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
- Next, add a ice water a little bit at a time until the dough is moist and able to be shaped into a ball. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Once the dough is ready to be worked with, roll it out 'til it's about 1/8 inch thick and with a small circular biscuit cutter, cut circles out of the dough.
- Place dough in a mini muffin tin. Use a fork to poke holes in each crust.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes in a 400 degree oven or until lightly golden.
- Bring cornstarch, water, and sugar to a boil and then continue stirring until the mixture has thickened (about a minute more after it has started boiling).
- Next, take it off the heat, and add in the gelatin and stir.
- Place strawberries into each mini crust. Then spoon the gelatin mix over the strawberries. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes so that the pie will set up.
- Cream butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time. Lastly add in the vanilla.
- Mix flour, salt, and baking powder. Alternately mix flour and milk into the sugar mixture starting and ending with flour.
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Spoon a little bit of batter into the bottom of a regular sized muffin tin. Place the mini pie in the center, then spoon batter directly over it so that the pie is covered and no longer visible.
- Cook in oven for 30-40 minutes. Keep your eye on the cakes because it is a slow bake, but cake is temperamental and can brown very quickly!
- Top with whipped cream, if desired.
Betsy Verkade says
I got to beta test these ~ delicious and uniquely innovative!