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Last week a student at school waited for me to come in her class in the morning, excited with what she had to show me. She had gotten a cookbook from the school library that she was dying to show me. How cool is that?
She had earmarked several recipes she thought I would like, which I absolutely loved. I may not have a lot in common with the average 11-13 year old girl, but one thing most of them like to talk about is cooking. At least the girls I spend the day with do ????
One of the recipes she thought I would like was a spin on the traditional Hoosier favorite-The Sugar Cream Pie. I have a family treasured recipe that I make that was given to me from my late Grandmother. Read the funny story behind this pie HERE.
I was willing to give it a try but I did make some changes. I made this in 2 tart pans as opposed to the recipe as shown. I also omitted the Anise because I didn’t have any in the pantry. I also used butter pound cake because that is what I had and the author, Warren Brown, suggests the use of an 8 inch round of butter cake. I think that is best. It gave such a rich flavor to the crust. When I made the tarts I just split the recipe into 2 pans. What I am sharing today is his recipe as it states in the cookbook. There is an addition of rum in the pie batter, but that is optional. I made this twice. Once with, once without. I prefer with!
This is phenomenal.Really.
Ingredients
- Crumb Crust:
- 1 8 inch cake round or one loaf of butter pound cake
- 2 tsp cinnamon, ground
- 1 tsp nutmeg, ground
- 1/4 tsp anise seed, crushed
- pinch Kosher salt
- 2 TB super fine sugar
- For the Sugar Cream Filling:
- 1 C super fine sugar
- 1/2 C dark brown sugar
- 6 TB all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground
- 2 1/2 C heavy cream
- 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp rum
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place rack in middle position.
- Grease a 9×2 springform pan and place parchment in the bottom of the pan.
- Break the butter cake into chunks and place in a large bowl.
- Add the spices, salt and sugar and mix on low speed until combined and like sand.
- Press the crumb mixture into the base of the pan and up the sides roughly 1/2 inch.
- Bring 1 qt of water to a boil, remove from heat.
- Set aside to use for the water bath.
- Meanwhile, combine the sugars, flour, salt and nutmeg in a bowl.
- In a heavy-bottom saucepan, heat the cream until steaming, stirring gently with a whisk, about 3-5 minutes.
- Do not let this boil.
- Remove from heat and gently whisk in the sugar mixture until smooth.
- Quickly whisk in the egg, yolk, vanilla and rum.
- Strain through a fine mesh sieve if necessary.
- Pour the filling into the crust.
- Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet or in a baking dish.
- Pour in as much water around your cake as will go up half way.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees then reduce oven temperature and bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.
- It is done when it does not jiggle when the pan is touched.
- Allow to cool 1 hour or overnight.
- To remove from pan, immerse the pan bottom in warm water, unhinge the pan sides and carefully slide onto a serving plate.
- I served this with a compote of fresh blackberries and Burton’s Maplewood Farm Maple Syrup.
The blackberry compote with the Burton’s Maplewood Farm Syrup really finished off this dessert
