Despite the name this gooey, fudgey and supremely chocolatey slice of bliss is actually a cake rather than a pie, but as it’s an original creation by Ree Drummond I’ll give her a pass. This time.
Bartlesville Cream Pie is a layer of smooth salted caramel pudding sandwiched between two layers of rich chocolate cake and smothered in a decadent cream ganache.
If you have a chocoholic in your life, this will definitely get you in their good books!
Making your own caramel for the pudding might seem daunting but it just needs a little care and attention to make sure it doesn’t burn. If you haven’t had American-style pudding before you’re in for a treat, especially if you’re a salted caramel fan.
Notes
Buttermilk can be hard to find unless you have a big supermarket near you, but really what we want here is just some slightly acidic dairy to activate the bicarb, so a substitute will work fine — I used 3⁄4 tsp malt vinegar and made up to the 1⁄4 cup of milk.
Ingredients
Cake
- 8tbsp (115g) salted butter, plus more for buttering the pan
- 1 cup (125g) plain flour
- 2 heaping tablespoons (15–20g) cocoa, plus more for dusting
- 1 cup (225g) sugar
- 1⁄4 tsp sea salt
- 1⁄2 cup (120ml) boiling water
- 1⁄4 cup (60ml) buttermilk (see notes)
- 1⁄2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, beaten
Pudding:
- 1 cup (225g) sugar
- 2 tbsp cornflour (aka cornstarch)
- 1⁄2 tsp sea salt
- 1 1⁄2 cups (350ml) whole milk
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tbsp (30g) salted butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze:
- 1 cup (230ml) double or whipping cream
- 225g dark chocolate
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 175c (150 fan).
- Butter a 20cm cake pan, line it with greaseproof paper, then butter it again and dust it with cocoa powder (this avoids white patches on your dark cake)
- Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
- Melt the butter on a medium heat, then stir in the cocoa until smooth.
- Add the water, stir until mixed and then let boil for 30 seconds before removing from the heat,
- Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture a little at a time until smooth.
- Mix the buttermilk, bicarb, vanilla and egg. Stir into the chocolate mixture.
- Pour into the cake pan and bake until a skewer comes out clean, approximately 25–35 minutes depending on the oven.
- Rest the cake in the pan for 10 minutes before removing it, then leave it to cool completely.
Pudding
- Preferably in a light-coloured pan, melt half the sugar on a medium heat, stirring from time to time.
- When the sugar is melted and a nice golden colour, remove from the heat — pay attention here as it will burn easily.
- Whisk the cornstarch, salt and remaining sugar into 2⁄3 of the milk, then slowly mix into the hot sugar.
- Put the pot back on a medium heat and stir continuously until smooth.
- Whisk the egg yolks and remaining milk together, then stir into the pot.
- Cook until the mixture thickens, stirring continuously to avoid lumps.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and butter.
- Strain the mixture into a bowl, then press a piece of cling film onto the surface of the pudding — this avoids a skin forming as it cools.
- Leave to cool for a while, then put in the fridge.
Putting it all together
- Carefully cut the cake into two layers. This is best done a little at a time from every angle, eventually meeting in the middle. It doesn’t matter if your lines are perfectly straight but you’ll want the layers as even as possible.
- Spread the pudding over the bottom layer of cake, then carefully put the other layer of cake on top.
- Heat (but don’t boil) the cream over a medium heat, then add the chocolate and stir until smooth before adding the vanilla.
- When the ganache is ready, pour it as evenly as possible over the cake and spread so it drips down the sides and coats the whole pie.
- Refrigerate until set, preferably overnight for best results but I know that’s easier said than done 🙂