The Cherpumple.

As I alluded to in yesterday’s Sweater Thursday post, I made an epic dessert this Thanksgiving.
Friends? I made a Cherpumple.

The Cherpumple
The Cherpumple

What is the Cherpumple? The Cherpumple is Charles Phoenix’s Americana dessert creation that flirts with the ridiculous. It is a three-layer cake. Within each layer of cake is a pie.

I think we need an infographic.

Cherpumple infographic
The Cherpumple, demystified

That’s right! The Cherpumple is a three layer cake with each layer having a pie as its core. Now, Charles Phoenix, in his internet how-to video found here, recommended the following layerage:

Top Layer: White cake with Cherry Pie
Mid Layer: Yellow cake with Pumpkin Pie
Bot Layer: Spice cake with Apple Pie

However, on his recipe site he recommends:

1 8″ frozen pumpkin pie
1 box spice cake mix

1 8″ frozen apple pie
1 box yellow cake mix

1 8″ frozen cherry pie
1 box white cake mix

We followed this recipe, though modified the order of layering. You see, Vivienne’s friend Cam (her experience here) recommended a slight modification: the pumpkin pie on the bottom. Apparently the structural integrity of this cake is far superior than the others, so the Cherpumple holds its form better with the pumpkin on the bottom and the apple in the middle.

INGREDIENTS:

Ingredients for the Cherpumple
Cherpumple Ingredients!

I was expecting it to be a little tricky to find 8 inch pies. So when I originally purchased my pans, I opted for 9 3/4 inch spring form pans instead of your typical nine inch cake pan. This turned out to be a bad idea. We’ll explain why later.

Large Spring Form Pans

As it happens, it was extremely easy to find 8 inch pies. The actual making of the Cherpumple was amazingly easy. Vivienne decided she wanted to participate in the hilarity, so the two of us prepared the cake mixes, de-boxed the pies, and floured/lined the spring form pans.

Cherpumple Prep
Ready to be Cherpumpled.

Creation!

Upon pouring the cake batter and placing the pies, we quickly realized that with these larger sized pans, we’d need TWO cake mixes per layer in order to fully cover each pie. DAAAANG. We dashed to the store and purchased three more cake boxes.

Cherpumple in action
Pouring the Cake Mix

Cherpumple pieces
Yellow, White, and Spice Cake

Action Shot!!

With the largeness of these cakes, I had to bake them for an hour instead of the recommended 30 minutes. Thankfully, my oven was plenty large enough to handle three cakes.

BAKED.

The Assembly!

The assembly went fairly well. The double cakes were structurally very strong and they stacked/stuck beautifully with a little cream cheese frosting.

Since my family was having Thanksgiving on Cape Cod, I decided to bring the cakes unassembled to my Thanksgiving destination and then build it and frost it there. This was a wise decision.

Cream Cheese Frosting slathered between each layer

Expert frosting skillz.

The frosting went on fairly well. If I had been on top of my game I would have bought a pastry bag and one of those flowerette things to make a sweet border on the cake. Even without the flashy flares, the Cherpumple looked impressive and beautiful:

Frosted!

The Unveiling!

The following is a Vimeo movie that documents the Cherpumple reveal!

Cherpumple from mikedidonato on Vimeo.

Oh the majesty!

The Layers! The Glory! The Cherpumple!

A few more photos for you:

About 8 inches tall

Look at those Layers!

What an amazing experience! I strongly recommend the Cherpumple to anyone who is looking to inspire awe and astonishment.

Happy Thanksgiving!

14 thoughts on “The Cherpumple.

  • 11/26/2010 at 4:28 pm
    Permalink

    Let’s play categories!
    Category: Things that are the best
    Response: THE CHERPUMPLE.

    Mike D, you are obviously skilled.

    Reply
  • 11/26/2010 at 4:31 pm
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    Mike. How much did it weigh? and can you calculate out the caloric explosion that treat caused.

    Reply
    • 11/26/2010 at 4:32 pm
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      Great Question.

      The cake, in its entirety was over 23,000 calories.

      Reply
      • 11/26/2010 at 4:33 pm
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        I’ll calculate the weight and get back to you on that one.

        Reply
  • 11/27/2010 at 9:30 am
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    It is a very crazy cake ! Looks yummy! Can i have one bite?

    Reply
  • 11/28/2010 at 1:47 pm
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    You are a men among men!

    Reply
  • 11/29/2010 at 10:22 pm
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    I have tasted the Churpumple.
    And let me tell you, it does not disappoint.
    Like…whoa. I thought it’d be a little off, but noooooo sir, it’s solid delicious with frosting inbetween.
    A+

    Reply
  • 11/30/2010 at 12:14 am
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    Cam recommended Apple at the bottom for structural integrity, not Pumpkin. Because Pumpkin is soft and weak. But don’t worry Pumpkin, you are still delicious!

    Reply
  • 11/30/2010 at 12:49 am
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    Pumpkin may actually be the best bet, since it’s the most cohesive of the bunch – being solid instead of pieces together like the cherry and apple. But the cake of each layer really manages to keep things together pretty well. But that might just be my taste buds talking (by which I mean drooling…)

    Reply
  • 12/8/2010 at 12:31 pm
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    so awesome. I wonder how it would do with cheese cake or pecan pie on the bottom…perhaps higher compressive strength or at least a higher yield stress.

    Reply
  • 11/25/2011 at 2:58 pm
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    I liky! :-) When do I get to try it?

    Reply

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