Piecaken

So, what do you have for dessert after a turducken? This year, apparently, the answer is a heaping helping of piecaken. In the spirit of stuffing things into other things, a piecaken is one or several pies baked inside a cake.

They were not only combining doughnuts and muffins, but just about any other kind of food you could think of. There were piecakens (a pie baked inside a cake), brookies (brownie and cookie) and cherpumples (cherry, pumpkin and apple pie).

As Patrick and I carried our desserts back to our table, I said, “Seeing that you scored the last piece of piecaken, I hope you plan on sharing. Do you even know what all the layers are?” “I think the placard said lemon cake, strawberry swirl cheesecake”—he dipped his pinky in the frosting—“with lemon frosting, and on top . . .” “Strawberry pie,” I finished for him.

In the premiere, “The South,” Hall starts the rivalry by tasking the bakers with creating a Kentucky May Day “piecaken,” with bourbon as the featured flavor.