Mrs. Perotti’s Apple Pear Pie Cake

I have never met anyone yet who has eaten an apple pear pie cake. This dessert seems confused about its identity, but it is not exactly a cake and in many ways not like a pie!

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I believe this unique recipe originates from my childhood neighbor, Mrs. Perotti, and I’ve been making it ever since!  The apple-pear mixture combined with the layers of soft dough creates so many wonderful flavors.. I hope you’ll give it a try!

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Birthday Boston Cream Pie

When we are planning for and upcoming birthday in our house, the conversations don’t revolve around where the birthday person wants to go out to dinner or which gifts they desire. For us, the most significant birthday decision centers around the birthday dessert. The selections typically bounce between my Nona’s chocolate cake (my favorite!) and the Boston Cream pie. Other times, we make carrot cake (post coming soon), a trifle, or pound cake with berries, but those first two are the household staples. When you combine cake, homemade pudding, and chocolate, you get one of the most delectable desserts around. There is only one downside of a birthday Boston cream pie – it is tough to insert candles into the hardened chocolate shell. You’ll have to make starter holes with a small knife so that your loved one can blow out some birthday candles, but that is a sacrifice I’m willing to make:-).

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A few words from Sarah: From one glance at this layered treat, I think we can all see that this so-called pie is indeed a cake. And let me tell you, it is not just ANY cake. It wasn’t enough for this cake to get sandwiched in between some loving layers of smooth and creamy pudding. Oh no. Then it decided to be blanketed with a generous coating of rich, chocolate glaze. I’m pretty sure this cake and I are on the same page because chocolate truly makes everything better. Perhaps you, like me, are wondering why on earth this intelligent dessert decided to call itself a pie. Let us turn to Wikipedia for the answer. “Although it is called a Boston cream pie, it is in fact a cake and not a pie… The Boston cream pie is the official dessert of Massachusetts, declared as such in 1996. However, it is not mass-produced in Boston.”

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