Last week I posted about planning to cook some for Thanksgiving, thought this week I’d share some of how it all turned out. I had thought about doing yeast rolls, but trying to get access to the oven on the big day definitely requires timing – after all, who wants a cold yeast roll? Rather than add to the chaos, I decided to just do dessert, planning on a pumpkin pie and a devils food cake. Plan went awry just a little due the pumpkin shortage, so plan B was apple pie. Of course I had shopping list for pumpkin, so had to guess on the number and type of apples (went with 6 Granny Smith). Back home, started by doing the pie dough (you wouldn’t expect to buy it ready made would you?) and the first stage went well, dough came together pretty well. If you’ve never tried pie dough, it’s…finicky. Requires ice cold water and a minimum of touching or it just doesn’t work out right. Put that in the fridge to rest, and on to the frosting.

No canned frosting on something I make! Went with a butter cream, using an entire pound of butter to make it. This is where a stand mixer pays off, nice to get it all combined and just let it run. Looked good when done, to the fridge it went.

Reading about devils food cake the book said the definition was vague, in general referring to something very chocolate, moist, dark. What intrigued me about this recipe was it called for both ‘real’ chocolate as well as cocoa, and then mixing them in boiling water to intensify (through some magic) the flavor. It also used part regular flour, part cake flour, the latter being softer (less protein) and much finer. Missed the part about needing 3 cake pans, so had to buy more, threw out the old ones that had seen better days anyway. Cake making went smoothly, had the kids grease the pans and stick the parchment paper circles to the bottom, in to the oven it went, and the kids off with the mixing paddle and the bowl to have a cake batter treat.

Now time for the apple pie. Peeled the apples and sliced, tossed with some lemon juice and a few spices. The recipe called for mixing two types of apples, but only had one, and wasn’t going back to the store! Now time for the challenge, rolling the pie dough. I’ve got a silicone mat that has a bunch of concentric circles that I use to roll on, the value being that it’s easier to wrap the dough around the rolling pin when time to move it to the pan. Of course I’m not a champion pie dough roller, never seems to come in exactly a circle, thin in some spots, etc. Still, got it rolled out ok and onto the pie pan without destroying it, a better than average start. Added the apples, knowing from experience to mound them up pretty high to allow for cooking down, and then actually got the top crust added without incident.

Out with the cake, in with the pie. Cake looked good, came out of the pans cleanly – parchment paper always works!

So far so good. Pie cooked ok too, though I didn’t get something quite right with the apple distribution, doesn’t look as pretty as store bought:

Of course something had to go wrong, and I tried frosting the cake too soon (feeling the pressure from the kids to finish it didn’t help), there was enough residual heat that the cakes slid, and I wound up with a three layer cake that looked a little more like a stack of large chocolate pancakes! Tried to line back up, kept sliding around, finally just put in the fridge as is. No picture of that one, just know that it was not pretty!

But, the cake itself was really good. Moist, firm, really a good cake. The frosting as expected was rich, maybe too much so for this cake. I’d make this one again, just different frosting. The pie crust wasn’t quite right, maybe not quite enough spices as it was a bit bland, but nice and flaky, held up getting the slices out of the pan. Some of the apples were a bit soft (overcooked), and this is where not having the second type of apple hurt a little, but not much. Good flavor, held together well, not overly sweet or syrupy. A good effort, and I’ve had more than one piece of it!

It was fun even if it didn’t out perfectly, maybe even because it didn’t turn out perfectly. Now time to start working some goals for xmas dinner, thinking maybe a Sacher Torte or baked Alaska, but it’s early, plenty of time to browse some more in Baking Illustrated (highly recommended).