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You might see the name Colonial Innkeeper’s Pie and think that this is an old traditional recipe dating back a couple of centuries. It’s not. It is old, if you consider a late ’50s Betty Crocker recipe to be old. So vintage, but not quite colonial. To be fair, it’s not really all that much of a pie either… It’s actually vanilla cake baked into a crust that’s lined with chocolate and then it’s all topped off with chopped pecans. You might have seen it called Pennsylvania Dutch Funny Cake, you might have seen it called just Innkeeper’s Pie, or you might have never even heard of it at all but no matter how familiar you are with it, you can be sure that it’s one absolutely delicious dessert!
There was a time when the terms pie and cake were used interchangeably, so maybe it doesn’t matter all that much where this one falls in dessert categorization. This “pie” made its debut in the 1959 Betty Crocker’s Guide To Easy Entertaining: How to Have Guests and Enjoy Them. It’s unique in that it’s really more of a cake, but it’s paired with a pie crust so you still get to enjoy some flakiness.
You start with a basic single-crust pie dough and you don’t need to blind bake it. You do want to chill it while you start to work on your filling, but that’s not too much trouble. There are two fillings here – one is more or less a cake batter and the other is a thin layer of melted chocolate. Contrary to common sense, the chocolate layer goes on top of the cake layer but as it bakes, it sinks down to the bottom so you have a fudgy layer of chocolate right on top of your pie crust.
It’s really quite a pie. Or cake. Flaky crust, but filled with a soft and moist cake crumb, and plenty of crunchy pecans and fudgy goodness. Colonial or not, it’s a delicious dessert!
Colonial Innkeeper's Pie
Watch How It's Made
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Ingredients
- 1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked
For the chocolate layer:
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
For the cake layer:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
- Whipped cream, for serving, if desired
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line a 9-inch pie plate with pie crust, fold edges under, and flute as desired. Place in refrigerator to chill while you work on filling.
- In a medium saucepan, heat the 1/2 cup water to a boil. Turn off heat, then add chocolate and stir until melted. Add the 2/3 cup sugar and bring to a boil once more. Once boiling, remove from heat and stir in the 1/4 cup butter and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Stir and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt for the cake layer. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for one minute. Add egg and mix until combined. Alternate adding milk and flour mixture, then add the vanilla and mix until combined.
- Transfer batter to chilled pie crust, then smooth out the top with a rubber spatula.
- Stir melted chocolate mixture, then pour over cake batter layer.
- Sprinkle nuts over the top, then bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
- Let cool, then slice, and serve with whipped cream, if desired. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Hershey's.