Houston bakery offers the turducken of desserts

Thursday, November 13, 2014
Houston bakery offers the turducken of desserts
If you're in charge of hosting Thanksgiving and you want a new way to wow your guests, meet the Pumpecapple Piecake.

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- If you're in charge of hosting Thanksgiving and you want a new way to wow your guests, meet the Pumpecapple Piecake.

The cake is famous worldwide for its size and flavor, and the bakery that created it is in Houston! It stands 11 inches tall and weighs 23 lbs. It's known to foodies as the "turducken" of desserts, and it is so big that you need a machete to slice it!

"It's a pumpkin pie in a pumpkin spice cake, a pecan pie in chocolate cake, an apple pie in an apple spice cake," said Bobby Jucker, chef and owner at Three Brothers Bakery.

Three Brothers Bakery is the only place you can get the Pumpecapple Piecake. The price is $175 and you must order it at least five days in advance, but Jucker let Eyewitness News into the kitchen to and gave us the secret recipe.

If you want to try your hand at baking the whopper of a dessert, the first tip is to maybe not make the 11 inch version.

"If you want to try it at home, some of the best ways are just to do individuals," Jucker said.

Steps to making a Pumpecapple Piecake:

  1. Start with the one apple pie, one pecan pie and one pumpkin pie. These can be store-bought or homemade. You will also need cream cheese icing, pecan bits, and caramel for the topping.
  2. Additionally, have chocolate cake batter and spice cake batter mixed and ready to pour. (Spice cake batter can be made using white cake mix, with pumpkin spice flavor added if you're making the batters at home)
  3. The apple pie will be baked inside the spice cake batter, the pecan pie baked inside the chocolate cake batter, and the pumpkin pie will be baked inside spice cake batter.
  4. Pour about 1/3 of the batter into a 3" deep cake pan. Take the pie and place it into the cake pan, and remove the pie pan. Cover the pie with the remaining cake batter. Repeat for each pie.
  5. Put the batter-covered pies in the oven to cook, at 350 degrees, for about 40 minutes, or until golden and done all the way through. Let the piecakes sit until fully cooled, or place in the refrigerator to cool.
  6. Once cooled, remove each piecake from its pan by turning it upside down and tapping it out. Don't worry if a few pieces of the edge fall off.
  7. Begin with the apple pie spice cake. Place this layer on a thick, sturdy pie board. Cut off any edges that are sticking out so that the edges are smooth. Cover the top of this layer with buttercream icing, enough to create a layer of filling and a "glue" to hold the layers together. You will want the icing to be cool enough to work with, but not so warm that it melts.
  8. Place the pecan pie chocolate cake on top of the iced apple layer. Make sure these layers are centered, and cut off any excess pieces. Cover the pecan layer with buttercream icing.
  9. Place the pumpkin pie spice cake on top of the iced pecan layer. Again, make sure all layers are centered and cut off any excess. Cover this layer with buttercream icing.
  10. Smooth out the icing on the sides of the piecake. Use the remaining buttercream icing to cover the outside of the piecake, and smooth out all sides, as well as the top. We recommend using a cake turntable to easily access the whole piecake.
  11. Once all of the icing is smooth, put along the bottom portion of the piecake. Finally, create a caramel drizzle by putting melted caramel in a piping bag (or a sandwich baggie with a hole cut in the edge), and drizzling along the top.

Here you have your Pumpecapple Piecake! For more information, visit www.3brothersbakery.com.