Yesterday was raspberry cream pie day and the day before was raspberry cake day. I kind of cheated and combined the two and well, it’s not cake but pie is like cake and I made the pie on raspberry cake day so the spirit was there.
A close up of my un-photogenic raspberry cream pie:
What it lacked in looks it made up for in personality!! Though it’s that kind of personality you absolutely love but can only handle in small doses. This was a learning lesson and next time I’ll be prepared to make the most charismatic pie.
To start with a pie meaning well: I used this recipe for a Raspberry-Chocolate Tart from Epicurious. I don’t believe in tarts with a chocolate-crumb crust – it’s really a pie. The filling was made with pureed raspberries, whipping cream, and mascarpone cheese. I had never used mascarpone before but it’s an Italian cream cheese that gaves the filling a light, velvety texture with a bit of cream cheese sourness, enhanced by the tartness of the raspberries, but with none of that cream cheese rubber/process-y-ness if that makes sense.
After chilling overnight, the pie got a little too excited. I had visions of 3 layers of brown, pink, and white perfectly holding each other together like a neopolitan cloud. Instead of following the recipe topping of fresh raspberries and raspberry preserves, I made whipped cream and spread it on top. That was probably my first mistake. Freshly whipped cream is probably at its best dolloped onto dessert immediately before serving.
Then I went further and figured that chocolate sauce should be drizzled over the pie to balance out the chocolate bottom. I made a sauce that was probably more a ganache and dripped/globbed/mixed it over the whipped cream. Then there was the dipping of raspberries and the placement of more raspberries and the drizzling of more sauce and then ooooh…the pie was just messy.
Next time I may or may not include the chocolate sauce. If I do, it will be drizzled onto the raspberry filling. That will be stored in the fridge and immediately before serving I will place a dollop of whipped cream and bouquet of raspberries on each individual serving.
That whole lesson being said, it was still an incredibly tasty way to learn.
Pie was followed by Blocus and I think while I slept raspberry, chocolate, and cream Blocus pieces danced in my head.
