When life gives you yellow cake, scrap it in favor of pie!

For some reason I cannot bake a yellow cake. Chocolate cake? Yes. White cake? Yes. Red Velvet? Bring it on. But yellow? No. Every time I try to bake a yellow cake disaster strikes. When I was in college I made a yellow cake to take to some colleagues (in this case the colleagues were literally a bunch of chimps) and one thing led to another and the cake ended up upside down in my parents’ driveway. Yellow cake: 1. Ellen: 0.

Since then, things have not gotten any better. Just in the last few months I have ruined at least 3 (THREE) perfectly innocent yellow cakes. Just the other day I decided to try to make this beautiful lemon layer cake from cooks illustrated. So delicious. Yellow cake with lemon curd filling and a light fluffy frosting! Things were going to be great! And then it fell sideways. No amount of icing would save it. Yellow cake: 2. Ellen: 0.

So then, this weekend I decided I would defeat this cake. I would finally bake a yellow cake worth eating. I would bake it in jars. Jars provide so much structure that they don’t let cake fall sideways. Jars fix everything. I made the lemon curd. It was delicious. Things were off to a great start. I made the cakes in jars and… well… Yellow cake: 3. Ellen: 0.

I wasn’t going to allow the yellow cake to ruin the rest of my day. And I had a beautiful lemon curd that I had to do SOMETHING with. When life gives you failed cake, make pie! Pie never lets me down. Pie is always there for me. Pie is the best. So I made lemon meringue pie. In jars. I know, I’m obsessed with the jars. Take that yellow cake. Take THAT.

Lovely Lemon Curd!

I made two crusts using the butter crust recipe described in the derby pie in jars recipe and half pint jars (all my 4 oz jars were otherwise occupied… derby pies, crème brulee, pots de crème, oh my!). This made 15 crusts, but maybe could have made more if I smooshed them better. But I was having a rough day.

Lemon Meringue Pies in Jars!

I made these lovely lemon meringue pies, and they turned out fabulously! However, my lemon curd only lasted for 9 pies. I had 6 pies left. 6 empty pie shells waiting for something amazing to happen to them. Namely, chocolate pie. It became a 2 mixer day! I love 2 mixer days!

Two Mixers!

Then this happened.

Yes. That’s chocolate, all over me. All over me and my dorky math shirt (also a hole in my sock. Don’t tell my mother). I blame the yellow cake... that spiteful jerk. The chocolate pie did not turn out so deliciously (perhaps because almost all the chocolate ended up all over me), so I will just give you my improvised lemon meringue pie recipe. Best of luck. I hope you have better kitchen karma than I.

Improvised Lemon Meringue Pie (much of this comes from the Cooks Illustrated lemon cake recipe) 

Ingredients:

1 batch of the butter crust recipe (see the derby pie page) 

Lemon Curd:

• 1 c fresh lemon juice (6-ish lemons, depending on the size; plus 1 T for the meringue) 
• 1 t unflavored gelatin powder 
• 1 ½ c sugar 
• pinch of salt 
• 4 large eggs 
• 6 large egg yolks (hold onto 2 of the whites!) 
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch cubes and frozen (you can put it in the freezer before you start the rest of the recipe, it works just as well)

Meringue:

• 2 egg whites 
• 1 c sugar 
• ¼ c water
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 T corn syrup 

Start by making a dozen 4 oz jar pie crusts (or probably 1 regular size pie would work). Stick them in the fridge while you’re making the lemon curd. 

Measure 1 T lemon juice into a little cup, sprinkle gelatin over top and set aside. Heat the remaining lemon juice, sugar and salt in a pan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves and mixture is hot (but not boiling).

Whisk eggs and yolks in a bowl, and while whisking constantly, pour lemon-sugar syrup into the eggs and return to pan.

Cook over medium-low heat and stir constantly with a spatula or spoon (not a whisk, which is what I have a tendency to do) until the mixture has thickened and reaches 170 degrees (about 5 minutes).

Remove from heat and stir in gelatin/lemon juice mixture until it’s thoroughly dissolved. Then add in the frozen butter until it’s incorporated.

Pour through a strainer into a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Bake your pie crusts at 350 until golden brown. I think it took about 10-15 minutes. Give or take.

Cool the crusts to room temperature, then fill about ½ to ¾ of the way with lemon curd mixture. Again, I like to use a cookie scoop for this to make things easier.

Then, make your meringue topping. Combine all meringue ingredients in a bowl of a mixer and place in a double boiler (or a pan with an inch of water in the bottom). Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 160 degrees (5 – 10 minutes). Remove from heat and beat on medium speed until soft peaks form (5-ish minutes) and then turn speed up to medium-high and beat until mixture has cooled and stiff peaks form (another 5 minutes).

Use your trusty ice cream scoop to scoop meringue on top of the pies, and torch with a kitchen torch!

Enjoy!  

Pre-Torched

Post-Torched