Darth, I think it is safest to make cheesecake *and* Boston cream pie because the pie-that-is-really-a-cake balances out the cake-that-is-really-a-pie.
I kept getting some email from an organization that auto-added me to their marketing because I paid online trying to get me to buy cheesecake from them. That was a new one to me. Also, no, thanks. Pecan pie or gtfo. 😄😉 I kid, of course.
Both are custard pies, technically (the only kind of right).
I’m making pumpkin and a cranberry chess pie. We took a lemon meringue pie to a family thanksgiving and blew a few minds. It was perfect.
You lost the battle to have just desserts for dinner?! What kind of troll were you battling?! 😳 That’s a wonderful idea. Worthy of its own special day even. Maybe even once a month, just ‘cause! Like every 15th or so, “Oh heyyy, we’re half way through the month! Let’s have a treat dinner!” 🥳🎉
My brother experiments every year with a pumpkin/chocolate/cheesecake combo - they are always tasty! The year he did an individual version in a cupcake tray was super YUM because of all the cronchy edges.
I get Bristol Farms for Thanksgiving and the dessert is a layered spice cake with pumpkin pie filling on top covered by cream cheese frosting. It's delicious!
Though I love pie, cheesecake is my go-to dessert, especially for a big do.
My theory is it has by far the most flavor/texture bang for the baker's energy-buck. The joy to effort ratio always seems off the chart w/ cheesecake compared to any other pie/cake/tart etc.
I am considering making a cranberry trifle, which is cake-adjacent. I also make pounds of gingerbread, which is technically a quickbread, which is also cake-adjacent.
White cake with hand shredded coconut and seven minute icing. I drizzle the coconut water over the cake prior to icing. Let it set for 3 days in refrigerator. Probably the best thing I have ever eaten.
@cdgoldstein.baseballprospectus.com always does Pie Night, which at its height was 18ish pies (this year I think it’s 10). But last night we made a pumpkin basque cheesecake and a cranberry upside down cake, so clearly “pie” has a flexible definition at this point.
Sometimes I make cranberry duff, which is a New England holiday treat that’s basically a cranberry upside down cake. I’ve never really liked more than a bite of pie (the crust mainly is what I don’t like).
Not me but I think the reason pie dominates the time frame of fall and winter is based on agricultural tradition.
Pie filling uses preserves and fruit that were harvested. Cake is just flour and sugar so the traditions that do make it are celebrations of decadence with the exceptions of like
It often overlaps with my older sister’s birthday so I’ve always made her bday cakes to be enjoyed on Thanksgiving. Many years of making a cheesecake (and one coconut cake)! I now kinda like cheesecake for turkey day - add a cranberry glaze and it’s festive and very tasty!
Hi darth! Pie doesn’t have to be hard. I made a cherry-berry crumble pie today. (Crust from Serious Eats’ Stella Parks—there’s a video to talk you through every pastry-making step!). I’ve started baking for the first time this month—working together butter and flour is actually very…peaceful.
There's an "All in One Holiday Bundt Cake" from Dorie Greenspan/J. Moskin with nuts & apples & cranberries in the NYT that's our go to. It's delicious and wildly popular at bake sales and holiday potlucks. Can't go wrong with a Dorirle Greenspan dessert.
We do cookies! Anybody who wants brings one or two kinds, about 2 dozen each, for a Friendsgiving with 17-18 people. I've spent my day making sugar cookies w royal icing and meringue kisses.
i'm not making desserts this year but i got a rainbow birthday cake at the bakery because that's what i wanted. no regrets, which i know because i've already had a piece. 👀
Closest I can think of growing up is mom's side of the family used to have some kind of a spice cake at xmas. Once my aunt took over the holidays on dad's side of the family though, there's usually at least one cake among the dessert offerings.
Some years I make gingerbread. It depends on my mood. This year I made pumpkin custards (pumpkin pie filling baked in ramekins) and chocolate cream pie. In this photo the top of the cake visible on the right is gingerbread sprinkled with powdered sugar.
I just baked a fruit cocktail cake, an old-fashioned recipe that my grandmother used to make. A very easy recipe for a very rich cake made with canned fruit cocktail.
Pumpkin roll! A delish pumpkin sponge rolled with pumpkin spiced cream. This is what I made and served before. A fresh one is baked, rolled and chilling for tomorrow.
All gluten free bc in this family, we’re #celiacs 😉
Back when we had a big crowd both pumpkin pie and German chocolate poundcake were on the menu. This year I'm still making pie for me, but my husband and son will eat the 4 batches of cookies I made. You do you.
I considered making a pineapple coconut cake I saw on TikTok but my people had already requested pie and I’d already purchased said pies so the cake will be for Christmas. I’m really hoping it turns out.
I’m also making a trifle out of broken pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving 2.0 on Friday.
We do both, as my father-in-law's birthday is always around Thanksgiving. Plus pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and whatever other concoctions my wife (and now my daughter as well) are experimenting with.
My wife makes a 'pumpkin pie cake' which is amazing, but simple to make. Basically canned pumpkin, sugar, eggs, evap milk mixed into a cake pan, covered in dry butter yellow cake mix and then a sinful amount of melted butter poured on top with or without pecans on top and baked.
Making a peach pecan dump cake tomorrow. Learned about dump cakes a few years ago and I've made them every holiday since. I used to make cheesecakes for the holidays, but I'm too old and tired these days. 🤣
I discovered this year that w*lm*rt has tiny little pies for 88 cents each and bought an assortment. Each pie is basically "1 slice worth". I can't eat them, but my roommate pronounced the cherry one "mrph yum om nom" so apparently acceptable.
My sister used to make an apple cobbler cake, and this year I'm coming in hot with a cinnamon cake (recipe from an internet friend) and an apple cake of my own. Cakes and sweet breads are just so much nicer imo 🤷🏽 They go better with that post-meal coffee/tea
y/y I make a limoncello olive oil cake that can be (& is) eaten both as dessert & breakfast with no shame. I just tried it w/King Arthur gluten-free flour & it was approved.
when I was a kid we used to get a yummy ice cream mold from a local ice cream shop. it had a turkey shape in the center of each slice made of chocolate ice cream.
How did you get it not to crack?!? That’s not fair. I’ve tried so many times, careful with heat and making sure the water bath is all good and…well, it never looks as nice as your photo. Yum!
I don't want to make you feel bad but this is literally the first cheesecake I've ever baked in my entire life. I did a lot of research while coming up with a recipe. Two tips: don't open the oven while baking; let cool for 15 minutes and then use a knife to separate the edges from the pan
Mwahahaha! Ok, the not opening the oven is something I can test. The knife around edges is great but mine has always cracked by that point. I’d heard that it’s also possible to overbeat the eggs 🧐
It looks delicious and great baking!
I lightly beat the eggs before adding the mixture slowly to the batter, and then gently folded it in, just barely. I also added some honey to the batter, which is something that I do when baking cookies to help retain moisture.
First, I’m making note of all these recommendations. Second, the scientist in me says that the honey is probably what is helping most in this case. By controlling the rate at which moisture is lost you’re not actually disrupting the egg proteins nor allowing for sudden release that cracks the cake.
I made a pumpkin cheesecake using this recipe and it didn't crack. Probably the pumpkin helps with moisture? I made the crust Monday night, made the batter last night & poured it in the pan & stuck it in the fridge overnight, then baked it today. https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-cheesecake/#wprm-recipe-container-34755
I'm still workshopping toppings. I was gonna wait to see how it looked when it came out, if I needed to hide cracks and whatnot. There's sour cream in the batter but I like sour cream on cheesecake. I'm thinking some kind of hybrid of sour cream/whipped cream.
I love how easy and delicious a little vanilla extract, sour cream, and some sugar come together for such a nice topping. But it truly is so perfect you should show it off!
My cousin made this once and it's so delicious I had to get the recipe from her and now it's a required part of holiday meals. I cannot confirm or deny that it also my Friday post-Thanksgiving breakfast. https://food52.com/recipes/7569-ginger-apple-torte
Instead of? No
Along with? yes, absolutely
My Nana would always bring a pound cake or a rum cake along with her pies. which we always thought was kinda silly. Don't get me wrong, they were delicious. But when you're presented with 12 pies for 15 people, AND chocolate truffles, who has room cake?
For several years, I’ve made a caramel cake, because that is my favorite and my birthday is usually right on or near thanksgiving, so I make what I want. This year I’m making a butterscotch trifle that has a spice cake component. Someone else wanted pie, so I guess we’ll have pie too.
Hi Nigella, huge fan, I'm hosting an entirely Spanish new year's eve dinner party and I have a gluten-free guest. Planning a Santiago almond cake as dessert, and wondered if you did a recipe?
Husband made a Tiramisu cake this year: thin layers of sponge cake, filled in between layers with whipped cream, cocoa infused cream, coffee infused cream, and topped with chocolate ganache. Everything is homemade; he took an entire semester of cake making in culinary school and likes doing this.
Aside from pudding pie in a graham cracker crust, I’ve never made pie. I just… don’t particularly care for it. I’d rather have apple crisp and no other pie really does anything for me, I guess.
I absolutely love baking. Cookies, cakes, quick breads, breads, muffins, whatever.
here's the recipe - https://www.bakeat350.net/2010/05/peanut-butter-chocolate-love.html - bridget & i have never actually met, but we live in the same area and her recipes are pretty amazing. the only thing i do differently was i sprinkled some sea salt & coarse sugar on them before baking 😋
Pretty much every holiday regardless of season someone makes my aunt Maizie's/my nana's (origin of cake hotly disputed in somewhat spiky terms) sour cream coffee cake with chocolate cinnamon swirl and topping. Traditionally a Bundt. Great for breakfast the day after too. Great with ice cream.
Comments
https://smittenkitchen.com/2006/11/bourbon-pumpkin-cheesecake/
I’m making pumpkin and a cranberry chess pie. We took a lemon meringue pie to a family thanksgiving and blew a few minds. It was perfect.
My theory is it has by far the most flavor/texture bang for the baker's energy-buck. The joy to effort ratio always seems off the chart w/ cheesecake compared to any other pie/cake/tart etc.
But frosted cake of any kind should be off the table.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017758-sticky-cranberry-gingerbread?smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share
I haven't been interested in making cakes since I took a cake decorating class years ago ( sooooo many cakes), but MY GOD, this sounds delicious.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/j6x49zdfb79ysda7vrsxf/Apple-Crumb-Cake.pdf?rlkey=k9xstwqeggb3pt4im46rh8n1g&st=2wcaf00e&dl=0
Pie filling uses preserves and fruit that were harvested. Cake is just flour and sugar so the traditions that do make it are celebrations of decadence with the exceptions of like
We should do more cakes though.
I'm also making Patricia Wells' apple cream tart, but I'm not a pie person and half our guests aren't American.
And it's so easy!
Heaven.
I do love other pies though 💖
https://bsky.app/profile/truther-dare.bsky.social/post/3lbx5fhizws2l
Cake > pie
https://www.mamaknowsglutenfree.com/gluten-free-apple-dapple-bundt-cake/
No desire to make pie crust.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013919-all-in-one-holiday-bundt-cake
A cardamom, ginger, allspice etc. spice cake with cream cheese frosting would be lovey, but I’ve not had one for Thanksgiving.
All gluten free bc in this family, we’re #celiacs 😉
I’m also making a trifle out of broken pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving 2.0 on Friday.
He wants me to make my own birthday cake.
Sour cream pound cake and German Chocolate cake.💗
I’m in the midst of Thanksgiving cooking but will share the recipe soon!
It looks delicious and great baking!
https://www.mybakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-cheesecake/#wprm-recipe-container-34755
Along with? yes, absolutely
My Nana would always bring a pound cake or a rum cake along with her pies. which we always thought was kinda silly. Don't get me wrong, they were delicious. But when you're presented with 12 pies for 15 people, AND chocolate truffles, who has room cake?
Having Thanksgiving Cake is just too greedy (because calories) but
the sin of pi is always -0-
https://www.nigella.com/recipes/clementine-cake
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/spiced-and-super-juicy-roast-turkey-recipe-1953981.amp
I absolutely love baking. Cookies, cakes, quick breads, breads, muffins, whatever.
Not pie.
I'm making 28 pies personally (MOE +/- 3). Not a joke.
and going to gym 5 times a week!
https://www.goldbelly.com/restaurants/the-piecaken-shop/the-piecaken
(actually, i typically bake pumpkin whoopie pies for thanksgiving instead of pie)