Harry's French Silk Pie Cake

 

I'll qualify this recipe name, Harry's French Silk Pie Cake, as it's an -ish, as in the premise is accurate.  While the cake is outstanding, I think the frosting needs a smidge of work.

Why present you a recipe that's short of perfect?  I know.  It's my goal to share only the best of the best, the never-fail, the always spot-on stuff.

To be frank, these recipes were from two different sites.  The cake came with its own French Silk buttercream recipe; I'm personally just not into raw eggs.  I'm sure it's fine and delicious and if you'd like to use that particular version, the link is in the recipe card.

Additionally, I had found other versions of French Silk buttercream/frostings but to be honest again, as I have monster struggles with Swiss Meringue types and I had one shot to get this cake baked and done in the day available, I didn't want to risk it being sad over that too.

Because this cake was for my dad's birthday.

Because my dad passed away last week on a Wednesday in the early morning hours, peacefully at home asleep.

His birthday was a few days later.

My dad had Parkinson's Disease and if you don't know what it is, it's awful.  Tremendously terrible, cruel, and it takes everything from you.  It's beyond heartbreaking.  Years of heartbreak and struggle.

This has been a tough year.  And now it's tougher.

I wanted to celebrate him with a chocolate cake as chocolate cake was without fail his birthday request from me.  Celebrate, honor, and think of him on the day of his birth.

Why did I pick this particular cake and not just make something out of my repertoire?

I wanted it to be special.  As special as him but that, that's impossible as he was an exceptional man, one no cake could ever measure up to.

Ya know, I have so many memories.  Obviously.  Of course.  In thinking about a birthday cake to pay tribute to him, somehow I immediately remembered going to Poppin Fresh, the pie joint which later became Bakers Square.  He'd order French Silk Pie or if he didn't, I knew it was a top choice.

How could it not be, right?

Oh, too there was this frozen cake my mom would buy when I was a kid.  My dad always told me there was spinach in it so it would be all his to eat.  There wasn't and he shared.  Heh.  Neither my mom nor I can remember the name which is odd for me to not remember.  Possibly Sara Lee?

A loaf cake.  Similar to Vienetta but I could swear it was whipped cream, not ice cream.  If anyone knows what I'm talking about, please, please let me know, it's making me nutty.

Sigh.

Anyway.

Why not just make a French Silk Pie?  Well, he was a serious cake lover and I wanted to combine the two.  I mean, he was an equal opportunity dessert lover but so I combined.  I hope he would have loved what I made.  Actually, I know he would have.

Why am I asking so many questions?  I don't know.  Things are hard.

Ok, let's make Harry's French Silk Pie Cake.

Both aspects of the recipe are suuuuper simple, mostly toss, mix, and done.

Line your pans with parchment paper and spray with baking spray,* or grease with butter.  If you don't have precut circles, fold the paper into a small pie shape and trim it into a circle.  Hover the point over the middle to judge where to cut.
 

For the cake, throw all the dry ingredients into a stand mixer* bowl, or if you don't have one, no worries, a large bowl* and a handheld electric mixer* or just a whisk* will fix you right up.

My camera must be sad too along with the cloudy day, it was behaving quite weird.  These pictures turned out strangely and out of focus, apologies.

Toss all the wet ingredients except for the hot water into a separate bowl or a large measuring cup, like four cups,* and whisk everything around.
 

Pour the wet in with the dry, stir it up, then slowly stream in the hot water.  Bam.  Done.
 

Split the batter, which will be quite thin by the way, don't panic, between two eight inch baking pans* and bake it off.  Don't forget to rotate the pans halfway through so they'll be evenly done.

Cool them completely, no one needs melting frosting everywhere, then make the frosting.

Again, just toss everything in the mixer except the cream, mix it up nice and smooth.  Pour in about half of the cream when things are looking fluffy and glossy, whip it around, then either add the rest of the cream if it looks a wee stiff, or don't.

To frost, I flip one round top side down on a plate (don't forget to peel that parchment paper* lining), dollop about a cup of frosting on, spread it real nice with an offset spatula* then set the other round on top, top side up.

Pipe* the frosting if you'd like.  I did and I did a horrific job of it but my dad never cared what my baked goods looked like.  He was all about a treat and how it tasted, surely where I learned that from.  Or, just spread the frosting on however you'd like.

Showing off my embarrassing work here for ya.

Despite trimming the amount of powdered sugar in the recipe, I did find the frosting pretty sweet as I typically do, hence why I felt it needed some work.  The link to the original recipe is in the recipe card if you want to bump up the sugar.

It is glossy, silky, and pretty.  Not entirely French Silk Pie-like IMO but a decent enough -ish.

And tada, Harry's French Silk Pie Cake.  An extra special way to celebrate my dad's birthday.

If you are inclined, the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Parkinson's Foundation are working towards a cure.

Happy birthday, Dad.  I will miss you terribly and deeply.

*The baking spray, stand mixers, mixing bowls, electric mixers, whisks, large measuring cups, baking pans, parchment paper, offset spatulas, and piping tools are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.