This post is sponsored by Duncan Hines. All opinions are my own!
A few weeks ago I got to spend a very quick weekend at the Duncan Hines test kitchen in Parsippany, NJ. A group of bloggers attended along with some contest winners for Duncan Hines’ Spring Bake-off. It was a quick, whirlwind of a weekend but we were able to learn from Duncan Hines’ head pastry chef, a professional cake decorator from Wilton, and each other.
We were spoiled with good food and lots of treats all weekend! 10 pounds gained, easily. And well worth it:)
Here’s a peek at the weekend….
This is where we slept.
This is the star treatment we received upon arriving at Duncan Hines (inside Pinnacle Food Group headquarters) Red carpet and all.
Inside headquarters, a little store showcasing all of the Pinnacle Food Group products including Duncan Hines cake mixes. Cute right?
Cool wall art displaying the Pinnacle group brands.
The fun people I got to hang out with!
This is how I gained 10 pounds…
Cake decorating demo with Wilton. It gave me hope:)
And this would be Chef Joe- Duncan Hines’ head pastry chef. He taught us all kinds of cool tricks and had us laughing all day long.
Learned how to make these fancy desserts and how to decorate with chocolate!
And he taught us how to make a pie crust out of cake mix too! Yep, you heard me. You can make a pie crust out of cake mix! All of your pie-crust-making fears have been put to ease with a cake mix.
Simply take a cake mix, one egg, three egg yolks, and a tablespoon of butter to make a basic pie dough. One cake mix will make two pie shells so divide the dough, roll it out flat, and press each into a pie pan.
Bake and voila! You have pie crust. It’s meant to be used as a pre-made crust!
You can see I made a chocolate crust, and filled it with chocolate pudding, peanut butter whipped cream, and some hot fudge.
A little slice of heaven with a chewy, chocolaty crust. Thank you Chef Joe, you’re a genius.
And thank you Duncan Hines for an incredible trip!
- 1 Duncan Hine's chocolate fudge cake mix
- 1 egg
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 (4 oz) package instant chocolate pudding
- 1 pint whipping cream
- 1/4 cup peanut butter (add more to taste)
- 2-3 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- hot fudge sauce
- 1. In a mixing bowl beat cake mix, egg, egg yolks and butter together until a dough is formed.
- 2. Divide dough into two equal parts. Roll each out on a piece of parchment paper, then press into two 9" round pie pans. Let chill for 1 hr.
- 3. Bake at 350 for 18-25 minutes (don't over cook)
- 1. Prepare the pudding according to package directions, whisking in 3 cups cold milk. Place pudding in the fridge to set up.
- 2. Beat whipping cream until slightly thickened but not quite soft peaks. Whip in peanut butter, powdered sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form.
- 1. Once the shells have baked and cooled, divide chocolate pudding between two pie shells. Spread peanut butter whipped cream over the top of each.
- 2. Drizzle with hot fudge. Chill for another hour before serving. Store in fridge, covered.
- Thanks Chef Joe for the pie crust recipe!
Very clever idea. I can see the potential for a lot of variations here. Pumpkin pie with a spice cake crust, etc. Thanks for sharing the tip. Looks like a fun time at DH even if you did gain 10 pounds.
Great idea with the pumpkin!! Might have to try that…I have a pumpkin lust cake that would convert great into this!
It was such a fun weekend. I am glad we got to hang out again there!!! And this pie…yummo! I love all that ooey gooey filling in the fun cake mix pie crust!
What a super fun trip! I am definitely lusting over this pie!!
It was so awesome to meet you!! 🙂
I say this and said humm this sounds great, well not at all it didn’t turn out like dough it was nothing like it at all. So I though to my self how can I get this to spread into a pie plate so I use a little icing sugar that work and as it was baking it puff up so that didn’t work.
So what is it is there more stepps on how to do this that is not on this page.
Sorry it didn’t turn out for you! All steps are there!