PIE #27 - RED VELVET PIE

I've just returned from a wonderful week spent cruising with the Coco clan. We had multiple reasons to celebrate: My husband Joe's parents have been married 50 years, my brilliant niece graduated with an associate's degree along with her high school diploma, and my brother-in-law was promoted to Lt. Colonel and ranked as best new judge in the Air Force. My golden birthday, the sole inspiration for this pie blog, was also cause for celebration.

Each evening as our party of 19 congregated for dinner on the cruise ship, we gave toasts to Joe's parents for their long-standing commitment to marriage and for their love and sacrifice in raising their four children to become flourishing adults. We capped each gourmet dinner with cake baked in honor of the occasions. Cake has always taken the cake, if you will, as the chosen celebratory dessert. Pie just can't hold a candle, both literally and figuratively, to a showy cake. After indulging in several delicious slices of layered goodness throughout the week, I polled my relatives and discovered that red velvet cake ranked as one of their favorites.

And so this became my inspiration for pie #27. Why should cakes exclusively flaunt their fancy frou-frou at countless celebrations? I think pies, if given a chance, can strut their stuff just as glamorously as any cake.

In searching for a good red velvet recipe, I discovered that this cake got its name because of the chemical reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk against the anthocyanin in the cocoa. Some older recipes incorporated boiled beets, but most recipes nowadays simply use red food coloring which results in a stronger red tinted batter. I opted to use food coloring since beets can sometimes turn the batter purple.

For the crust, I decided upon another Ken Haedrich recipe from his pie cookbook. The cream cheese base nicely complements the red velvet filling and cream cheese icing. This pie looks especially festive baked in a red ceramic pie plate. If you have a birthday to celebrate, the firm filling will support candles, perhaps even fifty!

Crust:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces full-fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the butter, cream cheese, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment. Blend for 30-45 seconds on medium-low speed, stopping once or twice to scrape the build-up from the beater. Stopping, the machine before each addition, first add the powdered sugar and 1/2 cup of flour. With the mixer on low, blend until the flour is incorporated. Add another 1/2 cup of flour and blend. Add remaining flour and blend until dough balls up around the beater. Remove the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

Gently knead the dough 2-3 times and form into a ball. Place on plastic wrap and flatten into a 3/4-inch disk. Wrap well and refrigerate at least an hour.

On a sheet of lightly floured waxed paper, roll the pastry into a 13-inch circle with a floured rolling pin. Invert the pastry over a 9-inch pie pan, center, and peel off the paper. Tuck the pastry into the pan, without stretching it, and sculpt the edge so it is just slightly higher than the rim. Make a decorative border on the pie crust edge if desired. Place crust in refrigerator and prepare filling:

Filling:
1 3/4 cup cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 oz. red food coloring
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. In a small bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste; set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Add it to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Working quickly, spread batter into pie crust and bake for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of pie batter comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature before frosting.

Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt

With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Turn mixer to low and blend in powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla. Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. Spread over cooled pie.