My Pi Day Epic Fail- Cherpumple

Some of my students were having a Pi Day celebration in math class today.  The kids were really excited about all the different pies they were going to make.  Then I joined in the excitement (few things excite me more than baked goods) and I vowed to make them a cherpumple.

What's a cherpumple, you ask?

Because the three-layer cherpumple seemed a bit... unwieldy... to carry to and from school, I decided to aim low-- make one layer made with an apple pie.  

So I greased and floured my pan.  This is always one of my favorite steps.

Prepare your cake mix according to the box directions.  (I chose a white cake instead of the suggested spice cake because I figured most 13-year-olds would be more accepting of boring old white cake.)

Pour enough cake batter in the pan, just enough to cover the bottom.

Then, insert your pre-made pie...

I forgot to photograph this recipe-defining moment.  

But here's the pie I put inside...

 (Make sure to remove the pie tin!)

Then pour batter over the pie to pill the cake pan nearly to the brim.  Make sure you get batter between the pie and the side of the cake pan.

Now.  Here's where things went awry.

I baked the cherpumple at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

The cake looked done.

I toothpicked it.  Not done.  Not even close.

I popped it in for about another 10 minutes.

Not done.

I popped it in for another 10 minutes.

Not done.  But it was really brown on top.

I popped it in for another 10.

Not done.  Even browner.

At this point, the cake had been in the oven for a full hour.

I put it in for another 15 minutes.

Not done.

I threw in the towel.

I explained to my disappointed students that my cherpumple was an "epic fail."

Thankfully, they still had plenty of treats to eat at their party.

Tonight, Mr. D decided he wanted to see what it was like.

(Sorry for the extra-yellow pics.  Bad light at night!)

You can see how sunken and soft the center of the top of the cake is.  But Mr. D claims it tasted really good.

Has anyone out there in Blogland baked a cherpumple?

If so, how did you overcome any bake time issues you might have had?