Bursting Blueberry Crumb Cake! Think – blueberry crumble meets warm lemon cake with a crunchy buttery streusel topping and melty scoop of vanilla ice cream. It tastes even better than it sounds! 

Bursting Blueberry Crumb Cake

I’ve done my fair share of blueberry desserts but I’ve always wanted to do a cake with an outrageous amount of blueberries in it. As in, BURSTING with blueberries. Not just studded. I dreamed of a blueberry crumble, except in cake form. (Yes, these are the thoughts that occupy my mind at night).

The question really was just how much blueberries I could bake into a cake without weighing down the sponge so much it became dense.

I peaked out at 500g (1lb). That’s almost double the typical amount used in most Blueberry Crumb Cakes.

And with extra blueberries comes extra streusel, that crumbly crunchy caramel top. I guess sometimes dreams can come true!!

Ingredients in Bursting Blueberry Crumb Cake

Here’s what you need to make this.

The blueberries

The blueberries are tossed in a little flour and sugar so it forms a jam-like layer that mostly suspends on the surface of the cake. The lemon is used to provide wetness to make some of the flour stick to the blueberries.

You will find that not all the flour sticks to the blueberries. Be sure to scatter it all across the blueberry layer. We need the full 3 tablespoons of flour to ensure the blueberries don’t sink. Initial versions of the cake only used 1 tablespoon and the blueberries dispersed a little too much for my liking.

Frozen blueberries will work too! Use frozen because they bleed a lot when thawed.

The Crumb Topping

This is called a streusel in baking. It’s a mixture made with flour, sugar and butter combined to make a lumpy mixture that is used to add a terrific crunchy topping on the surface of cakes, muffins, bars etc.

No unusual players here. The only one worth noting is sugar. I prefer using caster sugar (superfine sugar) because the grains are finer so I can be confident that I won’t end up with sugar grains in the streusel. However, if you don’t have it, just substitute with regular sugar.

Lemon Cake

The Lemon Cake is adapted from the batter I use for my classic blueberry yogurt cake. However, the batter is a little sturdier built to withstand the combined 700g / 1.4lb of blueberries and streusel that we pile on top and still come out lovely and springy at the end.

PS I know that 700g/1.4 lb sounds like an insane amount of blueberries and streusel, but we do lose weight in liquid evaporation as it bakes.

• Flour – just plain / all purpose flour. It’s best to use plain flour and add baking powder rather than self raising flour. Cakes just never rise as well.

• Baking powder – This is what makes the cake rise. If yours is old, it’s best to check it’s still active! 

• Sour cream – This helps make the sponge lovely and moist because it adds wetness into the batter but it’s thicker than milk. So we can use less flour for the same volume of batter. Ensure the sour cream is at room temperature, ie not fridge cold, else it will not incorporate properly into the batter (eg it can make the melted butter solidfy. Yup, been there, done that!).

• Milk – Full fat is best though low fat will work fine too. As with the sour cream, ensure it’s not fridge cold. Take it out 30 minutes prior, or microwave for 10 seconds.

• Eggs –  Use large eggs which are ~55 – 60g / 2 oz each (they come in cartons labelled “large eggs”) at room temperature. See here for what this means, and a quick way to de-chill fridge cold eggs!

• Melted butter – Once melted, let it cool for a bit. It can still be warm, we just don’t want it to be super hot.

• Lemon zest – Zest the lemon before you squeeze out juice to coat the blueberries! It’s impossible to properly zest a lemon once it’s been squeeze of juice. We only use the zest because it adds lovely lemon flavour. The juice, on the other hand, mainly just adds sourness.

• Vanilla extract – Better flavour than imitation vanilla essence. I personally don’t use vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste in cakes because I think it’s wasted. Save it for things like Crème Brûlée and Flan Pâtissier!

• Salt – Just a touch, to bring out the other flavours in the cake. Standard baking practice these days.

How to make Blueberry Crumb Cake

Streusel first (it’s a quick mix), then toss the blueberries, then make the batter last.

1. How to make Streusel

1. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt). Then add the melted butter and vanilla, and mix using a fork just until all the flour is wet but the mixture is still clumpy.

2. This is what you’re after. Lots and lots of lumps!

2. zest lemon fiRst, then toss the blueberries

1. Zest the lemon then keep it for the batter. Do this before juicing the lemon for the blueberries because it’s impossible to zest a lemon that’s been squeezed of juice!

2. Toss the blueberries in lemon juice first to wet the surface. Then toss with the flour and sugar. Then set aside until required.

3. The lemon cake batter

1. Line a 20cm / 8” springform cake pan with baking / parchment paper. See here for my easy way of doing it – no pencil required!

   It needs to be a springform pan so the cake can be removed without inverting (which would cause the crumbly topping to fall off!)

2. Whisk dry – Whisk the dry ingredient in a bowl (flour, baking powder and salt).

3. Whisk wet – Then in a larger bowl, give the sugar, vanilla, zest and eggs a good whisk for about 15 seconds until the surface is a bit foamy. Add the melted warm-not-hot butter and sour cream, then whisk until smooth. 

4. Add flour in 3 batches – Add one third of the flour then use a rubber spatula to fold it through. Once mostly incorporated, add half the remaining flour, fold through, then the remaining flour and fold through.

5. Milk last – When you can no longer see flour, add the milk and mix until incorporated. If you see tiny bits in the batter, it will be the zest not flour lumps! 

6. Batter thickness – This is what your batter should look like. Pourable but not super thin like my Chocolate Cake and not super thick like a muffin batter.

4. ASSEMBLING AND BAKING

1. Pour the batter into the cake pan and smooth the surface.

2. Top with blueberries. For the most even spread, start from the outer edge then work your way in. If you start in the middle, the weight of the blueberries pushes the batter out and up the walls of the pan. But, don’t get too hung up on this step! This is a rustic cake, and the blueberry layer is always a bit of a pot-luck situation in terms of spottiness / jammy patches / how neat the line is (it is not, ever!).

3. Use residual flour – Make sure you tip the residual flour and sugar at the bottom of the blueberry bowl over the blueberries. We need all the flour to ensure the blueberries don’t sink (I had problems when I used slightly less flour). 

4. Streusel – Then cover the top with the streusel, using your fingers to make nice big lumps across the surface. Aim for around 85% coverage – it’s nice to have some jammy blueberries peeking through the golden brown crumbly topping!

   TIP: If you have powdery streusel at the bottom of the bowl, just clench a pile of it in your fist to make it clump together. Then break up into clumps and scatter! 

5. Bake for 65 minutes at 200°C/400°F (180°C fan-forced), rotating halfway to ensure the streusel browns evenly. 

   Note on oven temperature: it’s a little higher than the usual temperature for baking cakes because the blueberries and streusel add a thick protection layer so we need an extra blast of heat to cook the cake through. At the typical 180°C/350°F (160°C fan), the cake was taking 75 – 80 minutes and the sponge rose a smidge less.

6. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan to give it a chance to stabilise. Then unclip the sides and use a spatula to slide the cake onto a cooling rack. Cool for a further 10 minutes before slicing to serve warm (so the ice cream melts!), or fully cool and serve at room temperature.

Warm vs room temperature serving

If you want to be a normal, this cake can be served at room temperature, with optional ice cream or whipped cream on the side. That’s the normal way Crumb Cakes are served. It is delicious and the way this cake was originally intended to be.

But, for the ultimate Blueberry Crumb Cake experience, serve it warm with a scoop of melty vanilla ice cream on top. It is just such a comforting combination – the warm blueberries that burst in your mouth mingling with the cool creamy ice cream, the crunchy bits of caramel-y streusel topping and the soft cake (which gets softer when warm!) with the hint of fresh lemon flavour.

I am firmly planted on the warm-serving side. Try it once, and I think you will be too! – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Print

Bursting Blueberry Crumb Cake

Recipe video above. With almost double the blueberries of normal recipes and extra crunchy streusel topping, this Blueberry Crumb Cake is like a blueberry crumble on a soft, warm lemon cake. Melty scoop of vanilla ice cream on top is perfection!

Please ensure your eggs, sour cream and milk are not fridge cold as they will not incorporate into the batter properly.

Course Cake

Cuisine Western

Keyword blueberry cake, blueberry crumb cake, crumb cake

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 12 – 12

Calories 324cal

Author Goh

Ingredients

Crunch crumb (Streusel):

• 2/3 cups flour , plain/all-purpose
• ½ cup caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/8 tsp cooking/kosher salt
• 60g / 4 tbsp melted butter
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon vanilla cake:

• 1 1/3 cups flour , plain/all-purpose
• 2 tsp baking powder (if old, check it’s still active)
• 1/4 tsp cooking/kosher salt
• 3/4 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 2 large eggs , at room temperature (what this means)
• 90 g / 6 tbsp unsalted butter , melted then cooled slightly (don’t use piping hot)
• 1/3 cup sour cream , at room temperature (sub plain yogurt)
• 1/3 cup milk , at room temperature (full fat best, low fat ok)

Blueberries:

• 500 g / 1 lb fresh blueberries (Note 1 for frozen)
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 3 tbsp flour , plain/all-purpose

Cups – Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 200°C / 400°F (180°C fan-forced). Line a 20cm springform pan with paper (here's how I do it).
• Crumb – Put the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl and mix together with a fork. Then add the butter and vanilla, and use the fork to mix until all the flour is wet, then stop mixing. We want it lumpy and crumbly!
• Zest the lemon first and put it aside for the batter before measuring out juice for the blueberry tossing.
• Blueberries – Toss the blueberries with lemon juice to wet the surface. Sprinkle with sugar and flour, toss to coat. Set aside.

Lemon vanilla cake:

• Whisk dry – Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
• Whisk wet – In a larger bowl, whisk the sugar, vanilla, zest and eggs until the surface is a bit foamy (~ 15 sec by hand). Add the butter and sour cream, whisk until smooth.
• Combine wet and dry – Switch to a rubber spatula. Add the flour in 3 batches, folding in between until the flour is mostly incorporated. Then add the milk and stir until combined. Some small lumps is ok!
• Assembling – Pour the batter into the pan. Scatter blueberries on top. Sprinkle any leftover flour at the bottom of the blueberry bowl on top of the blueberries. Cover with chunks of crumb, aiming for ~85% coverage. If necessary, enclose powdery bits in your fist to press them into clumps!
• Bake for 65 minutes, rotating the pan halfway, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (blueberry smear is ok!).
• Cool 10 minutes in the pan. Remove the cake from the springform pan then cool for at least another 10 minutes before cutting to serve.
• Serving – For the best blueberry crumble-cake experience, serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Otherwise, be normal and serve it at room temperature. Ice cream or cream also welcome here.

Notes

1. Frozen blueberries can be used too. Don’t thaw! Toss with the flour & sugar just before using (if you do it before making the batter it will start to melt). It will take an extra 10 minutes to bake. If the top starts to get overly brown, just cover with foil.

2.  Pan – Best to use a springform pan else you will lose streusel topping when inverting out of a standard cake pan.

3. Storage – Cake will keep for 5 days in the fridge. But always bring to room temp before serving, though best to serve slightly warm! If it’s quite cool where you are it will keep in the pantry too, in an airtight container.

Nutrition

Calories: 324cal | Carbohydrates: 47g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 59mg | Sodium: 122mg | Potassium: 157mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 426IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 1mg

Life of Dozer

Me: in Brisbane, at the final Good Food & Wine Show for the year. Dozer: at the Golden Retriever Boarders’ house. She’s always a little offended because Dozer gives her husband a more enthusiastic greeting than she gets. 

She is a vegetarian. Her husband is a carnivore. Dozer is not subtle.

This is a photo she sent me yesterday of Dozer waiting at the gate to greet her husband when got home from work! 

The post Bursting Blueberry Crumb Cake appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

In this post, I’m sharing my easy way to line cake pans with paper. No drawing outlines then cutting out rounds. Nope! It’s really quick and easy.

How to line a cake pan (easily!)

Here’s how I do it:

1. Tear off a sheet of baking paper / parchment paper.

2. Fold it in half.

3. Then fold in in half again.

4. Then keep folding until you form a long pointy triangle.

5. Measure it against the cake pan with the pointy end in the middle of the pan.

6. Then snip the end off.

7. Unfold and voila! Look at that, a near-perfect circle base for your cake-pan.

8. Grease the cake pan using butter (sticks best) or oil spray (works but paper will slide a bit).

9. Press into the base. 

10. Then tear off strips of paper and stick to the walls. My 20cm / 8” cake pan requires 2 full length strips plus a scrap to patch up a gap.

There you go! I hope you find this useful.

And here’s a video tutorial so you can watch me do it:

Pre-cut paper rounds

Though, if you are an avid baker, did you know you can buy pre-cut paper rounds in varying sizes? I have 20cm/8” ones and 23cm / 9” rounds. Super handy! I purchase mine online.

Though to be honest, weirdly, I default to cutting my own. It’s just habit!. – Nagi x

PS Just to share a little anecdote about this method: At the time I figured out how to do this, I really thought I was the first person in the world to discover this. I thought I was so clever, and I applauded myself for coming up with this handy hack.

But a quick search online showed it’s been done by professionals and home cooks “forever”.

Ah well. In my mind, I was the pioneer of this!! 

The post How to line a cake pan with paper appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

Pumpkin makes cakes soft and tender with a glowing orange colour in a way nothing else can! This Pumpkin Cake is perfectly spiced and comes with a tangy cream cheese frosting. The only thing that could make it better? Maple syrup. So I added it!

Pumpkin cake

This is a pumpkin cake recipe for people who want:

• an easy, foolproof recipe (just wait until you see how simple it is!);

• a cake with excellent pumpkinness* that’s not overwhelmed by the use of excessive store-bought spice mixes;

• a crumb that’s springy, soft and moist, rather than tight/dense or airy/delicate (like angel cake);

• a big cake to feed lots of people without the deft required to cut tall layer cakes into 16 tiny slivers; and

• a cake with excellent frosting-to-cake ratio. Specifically, a cream cheese maple frosting. A dreamy combination with pumpkin!

So if all that sounds good to you, read on!

* I am not sure that’s a word but it seems fitting here.

Ingredients in Pumpkin Cake

Here’s what you need to make this cake.

Pumpkin puree options

I use fresh because it tastes better and takes 8 seconds to puree. Plus, canned pumpkin isn’t readily available here in Australia. But canned works perfectly fine!

Canned pumpkin is a convenient option if you can get it and it works perfectly for this cake. But if you use pureed fresh pumpkin, you’ll be rewarded with a better tasting cake! It’s just a plain fact that freshly cooked pumpkin tastes better than something that’s been sitting in a can for months / years. Yes, we made and compared them side by side.

Use what works for you!

To make your own pumpkin puree, just boil chunks of pumpkin for 10 minutes or until very tender. Then blitz – it literally takes 8 seconds.

Pumpkin cake batter

Here are the other ingredient you need for the batter:

• Flour – Plain / all-purpose flour. Self raising flour (also called self-rising flour) will work but it won’t rise as much. I haven’t tried this cake with gluten-free flour.

• Oil – Any neutral flavoured oil like canola and vegetable oil. Using oil instead of butter keeps this cake moist. Why? Because butter firms up at room temperature whereas oil does not. So cakes made with oil are more moist. However, the trade-off is that butter tastes better than oil. In this cake, we’ve got other flavours at play here – the pumpkin and cinnamon. So I don’t miss the butter!

• Baking powder – This is what makes the cake rise. As a side note, the original version of this cake used a combination of baking soda and baking powder. However, over the years, I’ve found that using only baking powder gives the cake a softer crumb. Plus, we cut out one ingredients.

• Cinnamon – Flavour! Classic combination with pumpkin.

• Sugar – Regular white sugar, or caster sugar / superfine sugar.

• Large eggs at room temperature, which means eggs that are 55-60g/2oz each sold in cartons labelled “large eggs”. They need to be at room temperature, not fridge cold, so they blend into the ingredients better. More information on the right eggs for baking here!

• Salt – Just a touch, to bring out the other flavours in this cake. Standard baking practice these days.

Cream cheese frosting

There is no better frosting for pumpkin cake! Here’s what you need:

• Cream cheese – use BLOCK, not the spreadable cream cheese in tubs (too soft). If you can only get the spreadable cream cheese, add extra icing sugar to correct the consistency.

• Softened unsalted butter – softened but not super soft / borderline melting.

• Icing sugar aka powdered sugar – 🇦🇺 Australia, use soft icing sugar, NOT pure icing sugar (which is used for things like royal icing ie sets hard).

• Vanilla extract – For flavour.

• Maple syrup – UGH, forgot to put it in the photo! This is for drizzling on top. I wanted to put it in the frosting but it made the frosting too loose.

How to make Pumpkin Cake

WHY CAN’T ALL CAKES BE THIS EASY???!!

1. Whisk wet – Whisk the eggs, oil, sugar and pumpkin puree.

2. Add dry – Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt then whisk until combined. Batter. Done!

3. Bake in a 23 x 33 / 13 x 9″ lined pan (or thereabouts) at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced) for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. See the video for my easy way to line the pan!

4. Frosting – While the cake is cooling, make the frosting! Just beat the cream cheese and butter for a minute on high until creamy. Then add the icing sugar (powdered sugar) in 3 batches, starting the beater on low to avoid a snowstorm. Once it’s incorporated, crank the beater up to high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until the frosting is fluffy!

5. Slather the frosting on the cooled cake, and use the back of a spoon to make swirly dents for maple syrup to pool in.

6. Drizzle with maple syrup, as much as you want / dare, then sprinkle liberally with roughly chopped pecans.

And now it’s time to dig in!

Making this cake might be the best decision you make in October. It’s totally straight forward. Your kitchen will smell amazing. It’s big enough to share with those you deem worthy.

And that moment when you take the first bite of that soft cake loaded with beautiful pumpkin flavour, mingling with that tangy cream cheese frosting mixed with rivers of maple syrup and the littering of soft pecans….

I challenge you to stop at one piece. (Even if you cut yourself a very, very big one). – Nagi x

Watch how to make it

Fresh or canned pumpkin? I’m in the fresh camp!

Print

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe video above. Beautiful moist pumpkin cake with maple cream cheese frosting! A very easy, very forgiving recipe. Nothing gives cakes colour, texture and flavour like pumpkin!

Makes a generous amount of fluffy frosting. Feel free to reduce – some reduces have cut by half!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Western

Keyword pumpkin cake

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Servings 12 – 20

Calories 431cal

Author Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Ingredients

Pumpkin puree options

• 1 2/3 cups fresh pumpkin puree , I use this (Note 1)
• 15 oz / 425g canned pure pumpkin , 1 can (Note 1)

Other cake batter ingredients

• 4 large eggs 55-60g/2oz each), at room temperature
• 1 2/3 cups white sugar (or caster/superfine sugar, Note 2)
• 1 cup vegetable or canola oil (or other neutral flavoured oil)
• 2 cups plain/all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp cooking / kosher salt (Note 3)

Frosting

• 6 oz / 180g cream cheese block, at room temperature (Note 4)
• 1 cup / 225g unsalted butter , softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 cups soft icing sugar / powdered sugar , sifted (Note 5)

Finishing

• 1/3 – 1/2 cup maple syrup (don't be shy!)
• 1/2 cup pecans , roughly chopped

Cups – Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced). Spray and line a large pan around 9 x 13" / 23 x 33cm with baking paper with overhang. (Note 6)
• Batter – In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
• Bake – Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto cooling rack to cool completely (~ 2 hours) before frosting.
• Frosting – Spread frosting on then use the back of a spoon to make swirly dents. Drizzle over maple syrup, concentrating on the dents to create maple syrup pools! Sprinkle with pecans. Then serve.

Frosting

• Cream butter – Place the cream cheese and butter in a bowl. Beat for 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy.
• Add the icing sugar in 3 batches, starting the beater on low after each addition to avoid a snowstorm. Once incorporated, turn the beater up to high and beat for 3 minutes or until the frosting is light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Use frosting immediately.

Notes

1. Using pureed fresh pumpkin makes a cake with better pumpkin flavour. Use 800g – 1kg / 1.6 – 2 lb pumpkin. Peel, remove seeds, cut into large chunks. Put in boiling water and cook for 10 minutes or until very soft. Drain, leave in colander set over the hot pot on the turned off stove to steam dry and fully cool (around 30 minutes). Then blitz to puree (I use a stick blender) and measure out 1 2/3 cups (400g) and use per recipe.

Canned pumpkin is a popular canned vegetable product in America. You can sometimes find it in the international section of stores that carry American goods. It’s actually very good – it’s just pure pureed pumpkin.While I’d never use some canned vegetable products, I’ll happily use canned pumpkin.

2. Sugar – This can be cut down to 1 1/4 cups if you’d like it slightly less sweet.

3. Salt – I know this looks like a lot but it really brings out the pumpkin flavour in this cake. Be sure to use cooking / kosher salt (coarse salt in the UK). If you only have table salt then reduce to 1/2 teaspoon.

4. Cream cheese – If you can only find the spreadable tub sort which is softer, you’ll likely need to add more icing sugar.

5. Icing sugar – Australia, be sure to use soft icing sugar not pure icing sugar (which sets hard).

6. Cake shape – This cake is so moist and extremely versatile. Make it as a round cake, bundt cake, loaf pan, muffins (25 min).

7. Recipe source – A fantastic recipe received back in 2016 from a regular reader, the wonderful Dorothy from Tennessee!

8. Storage – This cake will stay fresh for 5 days in the fridge. Bring to room temp before serving.

Nutrition assuming 16 servings, including frosting.

Nutrition

Serving: 116g | Calories: 431cal | Carbohydrates: 52.3g | Protein: 3.4g | Fat: 24.3g | Saturated Fat: 10.2g | Cholesterol: 67mg | Sodium: 348mg | Potassium: 108mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 3750IU | Vitamin C: 0.8mg | Calcium: 30mg | Iron: 1.3mg

Originally published in November 2016. Recipe slightly improved (I now only use baking powder as I find it makes the cake rise more evenly), recipe writing improved (I’ve come a long way in 7 years!), sparkling new photos and a brand new video with me IN it!

More pumpkin recipes

Maple Roasted Pumpkin with Chili and Feta

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Soup

Honey-Cinnamon Pumpkin Lentil Salad

Easy Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage Butter Sauce

Thai Coconut Pumpkin Soup

Roast Pumpkin, Spinach and Feta Salad

Pumpkin recipes

Life of Dozer

Today – visiting a local community garden just a few minutes from home called Happy Hens. What an extraordinary oasis! 100% volunteer run in a beautiful location by the water, filled with an abundance of herbs and vegetables. Everyone is welcome – so locals, drop by to see it and say g’day! Might even see you there. ~ Nagi & Dozer xx

And from the original publication date in 2016:

a) Cruel
b) Cute
c) Funny
d) All of the above

The post Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting appeared first on RecipeTin Eats.

A magnificent Chocolate Cream Pie with a chocolate biscuit base, a creamy smooth chocolate custard filling, topped with clouds of cream. Also known as a chocolate pudding pie, it tastes like a cross between chocolate mousse and Chocolate Bavarian Pie!

Chocolate Cream Pie

As a kid, I’d get so excited on the rare occasion my mother would splurge on a chocolate bavarian pie. I’m talking about the kind sold in the freezer section of supermarkets. Not a fancy patisserie cake made with the beautiful French bavarian cream, crème bavaroise.

I thought it was the best thing ever. Just the right amount of crumbly biscuity base. That chocolatey creamy filling.

And it would still be the best thing ever had I not learnt to cook it myself! While the biscuit base isn’t too different, the chocolate layer is absolutely no comparison. Homemade has real chocolate flavour and a mouthfeel that store-bought never will.

My childhood bavarian pie also evolved with the addition of a generous cloud of whipped cream, which is just heavenly with the chocolate filling, Hence, re-christened as a Chocolate Cream Pie.

I could eat this every day. I predict you will feel the same!

What’s in a Chocolate Cream Pie

This Chocolate Cream Pie is a classic combination with:

1. chocolate cookie base – made from Oreo cookies which gives it an extra intense chocolate flavour.

2. chocolate filling – it’s essentially a pudding, a creamy-but-light custard chocolate filling. If you want to get fancy, it is in fact a type of French chocolate custard called crème pâtissière. Fancy it may sound, but it’s actually a surprisingly simple custard that you see contestants in reality cooking shows frantically stressing about making silky smooth and thick, rather than gritty and runny.

   I’m sorry, but I don’t get it. It’s not hard to make. Not if you follow the very few simple steps required to make it! You’ll see in the recipe video.

3. whipped cream – the pie is topped with a mound of fluffy lightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream.

Dreamy is a word that comes to mind!

Ingredients in Chocolate Cream Pie

1. Chocolate filling ingredients

This custard / pudding is thickened with a combination of cornflour/cornstarch and egg yolks, enriched with butter and cream and flavoured with melted chocolate. It is DIVINE!

• Chocolate – I use a combination of 70% cocoa dark chocolate and milk chocolate for my ideal balance of chocolate flavour intensity (70% cocoa) and creamy chocolatey-ness (milk chocolate).

• Egg yolks – This helps the custard thicken and set as well as giving it a luxurious mouthfeel that frozen Sara-Lee chocolate bavarian pies can ever compare to!

  Also, here is a list of what I do with leftover egg whites.

• Cornflour / cornstarch – This is also used to thicken the custard.

• Cream and milk – The liquids for the custard. Cream is not typical for custards but it adds richness here! You can just use milk, if you’d prefer.

• Butter – This adds yet more richness into the custard.

• Sugar for sweetness (this is not overly sweet), vanilla for flavour and a pinch of salt to bring out the flavours (standard sweet baking practice these days).

**Forget Cool Whip** Shortcut recipes for chocolate pie fillings are pretty common on the internet. Some are made with Cool Whip (Australia, we don’t have this and I hope we never do, it’s an artificial thickened “cream” filling), or boxed chocolate pudding powder, marshmallows (too sweet for my taste), or a simple ganache filling (which is very dense and very rich).

For me, I believe that there are some things that should be done right. And if we’re going to make a homemade Chocolate Cream Pie – let’s make the best one we can! I promise it trumps boxed pudding powder.

2. Oreo Cookie pie base ingredients

I like making Chocolate Cream Pie with an Oreo Cookie pie crust. Made with crushed Oreo cookies, there’s terrific texture contrast with the creamy filling and an extra hit of chocolate. I also like the dark almost-black colour.

Here’s what you need:

• Oreo biscuits – I like using Oreo cookies for the texture and flavour, I find they’re more chocolate-y than most other chocolate biscuits. But any plain chocolate biscuits / cookies will work fine here, such as Arnott’s Chocolate Ripples.

• Melted butter – This is what makes the Oreo crumbs hold together to form a crust.

vanilla Whipped cream

And here’s what you need for the fluffy mound of whipped cream:

• Whipping cream – Make sure you use cream that can be whipped. Not all creams are, some are made for just pouring or dolloping. Read the label to check. And – NO LOW FAT! 🙂

• Vanilla for a touch of lovely flavour.

• Sugar – Not too much. Just a bit, to lightly sweeten.

How to make Chocolate Cream Pie

This is an almost no-bake recipe. The crust is baked for 10 minutes to make it extra crisp. The custard-pudding filling is cooked on the stove, poured into the crust then refrigerated overnight to set.

1. how to make the pie crust

I use a food processor to blitz the Oreo cookies. It takes seconds!

1. Blitz – Roughly break up the Oreo cookies by hand and drop into a food processor. Blitz into fine crumbs (~5 – 10 seconds). Add melted butter then blitz briefly just to mix through. The mixture should resemble wet sand.

2. Press – Pour into a 22.5cm/9″ pie tin. Use your hands / rubber spatula / something flat to press the crumbs firmly into the base and walls.

3. Bake for 10 minutes at 180°C/350°F (160° fan-forced). This makes the pie crust crisper.

4. Deflate – The crust puffs up in the oven. Gently deflate using a rubber spatula or similar – the base and walls. This too makes the pie crust crisper and firmer.

2. how to (EASILY) CUT A ROUND FROM PAPER

Before we get into the fun chocolate filling making part, a quick little tip for how to cut a circle from paper. Do this before you start the custard so you can cover the custard as soon as you pour it into the crust. It prevents a skin from forming on the surface which starts pretty quickly.

1. Baking paper – Tear a sheet of baking paper larger than the pie tine, then fold in half.

2. Fold in half again.

3. Then fold into a triangle.

4. Keep folding to form a long thin triangle.

5. Measure how large your pie dish is by placing the tip of the triangle above the centre of the pie tin. Cut off the end.

6. Then unfold. Voila! Neat circle that covers your pie!

3. how to make the chocolate filling

The chocolate filling ingredients are simply whisked on the stove which thickens into a custard as it heats up. The custard is pourable when hot, then sets so it’s cuttable once refrigerated.

1. Whisk dry – Place cornflour, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk to combine.

2. Add liquids – Add milk, cream and yolks. Whisk to combine. Then whisk every now and then over medium high heat (or medium for strong gas stoves) as the mixture is heating up. Once the liquid is hot (around 3 – 5 minutes, you’ll see steam), turn the stove down to medium low and start to whisk constantly to ensure the base doesn’t catch. You will feel and see the mixture starting to thicken into a custard.

   45 second whisk to finish – When the mixture starts bubbling (around 4 minutes), whisk constantly for 45 seconds then take it off the stove. To see the bubbles, you will need to pause whisking. They will be slow, lazy bubbles! See video at 1:49 here.

   Lumps? Don’t fret! Take it off the stove and whisk vigorously, you should be able to whisk them out. Once smooth, return to the stove and continue. As a last resort, you can strain the custard at step 5.

3. Melt in chocolate – Remove off the stove. Add butter, chocolate and vanilla and whisk until the chocolate melts and the filling is smooth.

4. Thickness – The custard should have a thickness like honey. It will be pourable, but won’t mound.

5. Pour the custard straight into the pie crust.

6. Smooth the surface.

4. Setting and decorating

7. Cover – Immediately cover with a round piece of baking/parchment paper, pressing lightly so it is in contact with the surface. This will prevent a skin from forming. (Don’t use cling wrap, you’ll peel a thick layer of custard off which I know you’re thinking well then I get to lick it all off! But the reality is it’s actually quite difficult to do off cling wrap. Yes, I know from first hand experience. Stick with paper!!)

8. Refrigerate for 12 hours+ – Cool on the counter. Then refrigerate for 12 hours+ to ensure the custard fully sets.

   Don’t try to shortcut it and don’t think that you can cut a slice at the 3 hour mark because it seems pretty set! If you cut out a slice before it’s fully set, you will break the custard in the whole pie and it will never set again. Again, I know this from first hand experience from testing variation iterations of this Chocolate Cream Pie as well as this recipe, this recipe and this recipe!

9. Cream – Carefully peel off the paper then top with whipped cream.

10. Garnish with a sprinkle of grated chocolate, if desired. Then, it’s ready to devour!

Matters of serving and eating

Because it’s a pie, it’s best to serve it out of the pie tin. Removing the whole pie would be risky! Cut in the pie tin and lift (pulling the first slice out neatly is always a little tricky, if necessary, I will resort to a rubber spatula to get right underneath). The Oreo cookie crust holds together when sliced (see video and photos) but it crumbles a bit as you start eating it which makes the whole eating experience even better. Because, imagine this:

A big mouthful of rich, smooth, chocolatey filling with clouds of fluffy cream PLUS little bits of crumbled Oreo cookie…..

It’s just perfection!  – Nagi xx

PS If you want to make this ahead, do it up to 2 days ahead without the whipped cream weeping, then stabilise the whipped cream by adding marscapone. Information about stabilised whipped cream here, recipe is in the notes of the recipe card below.

Watch how to make it

Print

Chocolate Cream Pie

Recipe video above. This is a magnificent yet surprisingly straight forward pie that can be made days in advance of serving. A biscuit base, filled with a creamy pudding / chocolate custard filling and topped with clouds of cream that's made entirely from scratch. No pudding mix around here!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Western

Keyword Chocolate bavarian pie, chocolate cream pie, chocolate pudding pie

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Cooling / refrigeration 15 hours hours

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Servings 10 – 12

Calories 521cal

Ingredients

Crust:

• 25 Oreo biscuits , whole with filling in tact (244g / 8.5 oz) (Note 1)
• 60g / 4 tbsp unsalted butter , melted

Filling:

• 1/4 cup cornflour / cornstarch
• 2/3 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups milk (whole or reduced fat, not zero fat)
• 1 cup cream (pouring or thickened/heavy), or sub with milk (Note 2)
• 4 egg yolks from large eggs (Note 3 for leftover whites)
• 2 tbsp / 30g unsalted butter , cut into 1cm / 0.5" cubes
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g/ 5 oz dark 70% cocoa chocolate or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (Note 4)
• 75g/ 3 oz milk chocolate , finely chopped (Note 4)

Whipped cream

• 1 1/2 cups thickened / heavy cream , for whipping
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Optional garnish

• Chocolate , for grating (optional decoration)

Cups – Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160° fan-forced).
• Cut round paper – Cut a round piece of baking / parchment paper, the size of the pie dish (to prevent skin forming on custard). (Note 5)

Oreo cookie crust:

• Blitz – Break up Oreos roughly by hand and place in a food processor. Blitz into crumbs (~10 sec). Add butter, blitz to mix through. Mixture should resemble wet sand. (No food processor? Bash in ziplock bag with a rolling pin).
• Press – Pour into a 23cm / 9" pie dish. Spread crumbs out and press firmly into the base and up the walls using your hands, spatula or something flat.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven – the crust will be slightly puffed. Press down gently using a rubber spatula (makes it even crustier!) then allow to cool on the counter before filling.

Filling (see video, it's helpful):

• Whisk dry, then wet – Place cornflour, sugar and salt in a large saucepan. Whisk to combine. Add milk, cream and yolks. Whisk to combine.
• Heat to thicken – Turn heat onto medium high. As the mixture warms up, whisk every now and then, but not constantly. As the liquid starts to get hot at around the 3 – 5 minute mark (you'll see steam), turn the stove down to medium low and start to whisk constantly. You will feel and see the mixture start to thicken. Got lumps? See Note 6!
• 45 second whisk – When you see slow, lazy bubbles (~6 minutes, you will need to pause whisking to see bubbles), whisk constantly for 45 seconds then take it off the stove.
• Chocolate and butter – Add butter, chocolate and vanilla. Whisk until chocolate melts and filling is smooth.

Assembling / setting custard

• Pour hot filling into pie crust, filling it right to the top, smooth surface. Gently place round baking paper on surface. (Surplus custard? Note 7)
• Cool on the counter for 2 hours then refrigerate for 12+ hours to allow the custard to fully set.
• Whipped cream – Beat whipped cream ingredients in a bowl on high for 2 to 3 minutes until softly whipped.
• Topping – Carefully peel back paper. Pile on the whipped cream, then grate chocolate across the surface.
• Serving – Keep the pie in the pie tin. Cut and serve!

Notes

1. Oreos – You will need 2 standard Oreo packets. There are 14 in each packet so you’ll use all of one packet and all but 3 in the 2nd packet.

Plain chocolate biscuits/cookies, like Arnott’s Chocolate Ripples, can also be used though the colour is not as an intense dark chocolate brown.

2. Cream – I like to add cream into the filling because it makes it just that touch more creamy and rich however, most chocolate custards / crème pâtissières are made with just milk. So you can just use milk if you wish – the filling may take 30 seconds or so longer to thicken.

3. Leftover egg whites – Here’s my list of what I do with them and all my egg white recipes can be found in this recipe collection.

4. Chocolate –I make this with a combination of dark and milk chocolate because the dark provides that intense chocolate flavour and the milk lightens the colour of the filling so it contrasts with the dark crust. You could make this entirely with milk or dark chocolate. 

Australia: For the 70% cocoa, Plaistow from the supermarkets is fine, Lindt is great! US: Ghirardelli is great too.

Chips or melts can be used as well, for a better quality option. However, I recommend using chocolate purchased from the baking aisle, not eating chocolate, as some brands are designed to not melt very well!

5. Cutting round – See recipe video at 55 seconds here. Fold a sheet of baking/parchment in half, then half again. Keep folding to make a long thin triangle with a pointy end. Measure how large your pie dish is by placing the tip of the triangle above the centre of the pie tin. Cut off the end, then unfold. Voila! Neat circle!

6. Lumpy custard? That’s ok! If you get them while on the stove, take it off the stove and whisk vigorously, this will remove most. If you’ve still got lumps after the chocolate is melted through, just strain the custard into the pie crust. 

7. Surplus custard? You might, it depends how high up the wall of the pie tin your crust goes. If you go all the way up you should use it all. If you have spare, just pour into a little ramekin and have a secret custard pot for yourself! (Maybe do this anyway 😈)

8. Storage – This pie will keep for around 3 days, then I notice the base starts softening a bit. Keep in the fridge. 

Stabilised cream – To prevent the cream from weeping, add 100g / 1/2 cup mascarpone into the cream, then beat until whipped. This will stabilise it so it doesn’t deflate for 2 – 3 days. More on stabilised cream here.

Nutrition per serving assuming 12 slices.

Nutrition

Serving: 173g | Calories: 521cal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 142mg | Sodium: 114mg | Potassium: 186mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 1069IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 98mg | Iron: 3mg

Originally published in 2017. It’s such a personal favourite, I really wanted to re-publish it with better photos and a much improved recipe video. My skills have improved over the past 5 years with lots of practice!

Life of Dozer

Normally when I re-publish a recipe, I add a new Life of Dozer photo. But this one from 2017 is so lovely, I don’t want to change it!

From 2017, as originally published:

Not just food photos that Dozer photobombs….. This is a magnificent sun rise we had earlier this week. Once a year thing. Pretty, isn’t it?

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