It’s my birthday this week so I made myself a cake. If you’ve hung out around here at all you’ve probably noticed I really like making cakes (possibly more than eating them…), so honestly I was quite excited to do so. Originally I had planned to make a pretzel cake because I LOVE pretzels. But then we went peach picking and ended up with a refrigerator full of peaches; and hence this peach pie cake was born.

I started making Momofuku-style cakes this past spring because my husband really wanted their chocolate malt cake for his birthday; and I can’t stop! Honestly, they are super fun to make and not as horribly difficult as they might appear. As long as you have the right tools and pace yourself (I usually spread the process out over days), they are totally doable for a home baker.

My biggest tips for making a Momofuku-style cake:

• Get the right tools. Two things definitely worth sourcing are a 6×3 cake ring (I found mine at a local cookware outlet) and 3-inch acetate (I get mine by the foot at a baking supply store; it’s super cheap). You *could* probably get away with a similar sized springform pan and parchment paper, but if you plan on making more than one I’d say it’s worth it to get your hands on the real goods. The acetate will give you nice clean lines and will make your cake-stacking more secure.
• Other notes on tools:
  • I bake cake layers in a regular 9x13x2 cake pan.
  • I use ziplock bags with a corner cut off to squeeze out the more liquidy layers (i.e. liquid cheesecake). The first couple times I just used the back of a spoon; but the ziplock is a lot easier, especially getting stuff right to the edges (which is key to getting the cool naked-cake look).
  • I use a small offset spatula to spread the layers as evenly as possible.

Tips for cake assembly:

• Make the cake portion at least a day early and chill it thoroughly in the fridge or freezer before cutting out rounds / assembly. Cold cake is a lot easier to handle.
• Make sure you have enough room in your freezer AND fridge. These cakes are 5-6 inches tall, which is quite a bit of freezer real estate. The cake needs to be frozen overnight and defrosted in the fridge for at least 3 hours, so plan accordingly (I’ve been caught madly reorganizing at the last minute; it’s so stressful).
• Pace yourself for sanity’s sake. The nice thing about Momofuku cakes is that a lot of elements can be made ahead. For this cake, I made the pie crumb on Tuesday; the pie filling and cake on Wednesday; and the liquid cheesecake and frosting on Thursday. I assembled on Thursday, froze overnight, and served Friday night. I’ve never tried to do everything in one day. It’s probably possible, but knowing myself I’d get baked-out halfway through and wouldn’t enjoy the process. Plus, the dishes would be out of control…
• Write out your cake anatomy before assembly. It sounds kinda lame, but I find it super helpful to list out the cake layers and quantities so I don’t screw the order up. Way easier than scrolling on your computer with sticky fingers.

Baker’s Notes:

Momofuku cakes are…intense. This is generally a good thing — the unique mix of crunchy / sweet / salty / creamy is what sets them apart, in my book. But sometimes they are a little TOO intense in the sugar department. Obviously these cakes are special occasion desserts and “treat yourself” and all that, but I actually prefer them a little less sweet. For this cake, I:

• Used a cake base that isn’t too sweet (see recipe below).
• Used half labneh and half cream cheese in the liquid cheesecake recipe. I also cut the sugar to 1/2 a cup, and used just 1 Tbsp of milk (to account for extra liquid in the labneh).
• Reduced the sugar in the pie filling recipe to 3 Tbsp dark brown sugar.

In the end, I was very happy with the level of sweetness and would make these adjustments again.

Hope that helps — go forth and cake!

Momofuku-Style Peach Pie Cake

Follow the recipe for the Momofuku Apple Pie Cake, except…

• Make 1/3 a recipe of this cake for the cake portion.
• Replace apples in pie filling recipe with an equal weight of peeled, diced peaches and reduce sugar if desired (see Baker’s Notes, above).
• Use milk in place of the apple cider soak.
• Add some sprinkles if you want to be extra festive.

In summary, cake anatomy from bottom to top is:

• Peach Cake
• Milk Soak
• Liquid Cheesecake
• Pie Crumb
• Peach Pie Filling
• Peach Cake
• Milk Soak
• Liquid Cheesecake
• Pie Crumb
• Peach Cake
• Pie Crumb Frosting
• Pie Crumb & Sprinkles