Apple Pie Cake – Half pie, half cake, lots of delicious apples.

During this pandemic, many have chosen to spend more time in their own kitchens, whipping up foods they used to enjoy at their favorite restaurants. As a result, those restaurants have been releasing recipes for some of their most famous foods. One of those restaurants is located at Disney World and is famous for their apple pie.

This apple pie is unique because it’s part pie, part cake. Instead of layering the cooked apples with gooey filling, it’s layered with an eggy batter that bakes up into a cakey texture.

When the recipe came out, it was everywhere. People were so excited to make this pie cake for themselves. I, on the other hand, had never heard of the pie before so I didn’t think anything of it when the recipe was released. But because of the hype, I just had to give it a try for myself. I mean, you can’t have too many recipes for apple pie, right?

And let me tell you…this pie was AMAZING. It’s so unique but still has all the comforting flavors that you love in a classic apple pie. My husband especially loved the texture of the cake filling.

So I decided to share my interpretation of the recipe here for you guys to enjoy for yourselves. Without further ado, let’s take a look at this pie, huh?

How is this pie made?

To make this pie, there are three main steps:

1. Make pie crust
2. Precook apples
3. Make batter

Once these steps are all completed, the pie is assembled and baked for about an hour. It’s really not complicated – it just takes some time.

Pie crust

This pie crust is pretty traditional. However, instead of using cold water in the recipe, it calls for cold milk. This makes the flavor a little richer. If you are trying to avoid the extra dairy, however, you can easily swap out the milk for water.

To make the dough, I use a food processor. I have tried making pie dough with a pastry blender or even by hand, but my dough always comes out too dry. When I saw Ina Garten’s technique for making dough in the food processor, I was immediately drawn to it because it require much less effort and ensured the butter and shortening mixed into the flour perfectly.

Once the dough is made, it’s chilled, then rolled, and then lined in a deep dish pie pan.

Apples

To get the apples perfectly tender for this pie, they need to be precooked. To do this, they are steamed for about 10 minutes. I steamed them in a steamer basket but you can also do it in the microwave.

After the apples are steamed, they are tossed with a few spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.

Cake Batter

Finally, we make the cake batter. It’s a thick batter, about the consistency of brownie batter. It’s made with all the traditional ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, eggs, etc so nothing too fancy here, either.

Once the batter is ready, it’s time to assemble the pie.

First, half of the cake batter is spread in the prepared pie crust. Then the apples get layered on top. Finally, the rest of the batter is spread on the apples. The pie is covered in foil and then baked for 40 minutes. This is to prevent the top from getting too brown before the middle is finished.

But don’t worry – the foil is removed and then the pie is baked for 20 more minutes to create a beautiful golden crust on top.

Tips & Tricks

1. For best results, I suggest using a deep dish pie pan. This will ensure all the apples and batter will fit in the pie and not extend too high. It also makes for easier slicing when the pie is being served.
2. You must chill the pie dough before rolling or else it will still to the counter and be impossible to roll out.
3. When spreading the batter on top of the apples, place the batter in spoonfuls all over and then spread the batter. This will make it much easier.
4. If you don’t have a steamer basket, you can easily steam the apples in the microwave. Place water and apples in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Poke holes in the wrap and then microwave for 3-5 minutes or until the apples are tender but not mushy (they should still have a slight crunch).
5. You MUST wait until the cake it substantially cool before cutting slices. otherwise, the slices won’t hold together and they will come out a huge mess.

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Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls

Berry Crumble Pie

Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread