I tried the famous ‘PieCaken,’ a 6-pound cake stuffed with 3 different pies. It was a huge hit at my Friendsgiving.

Kelly Ripa once said that the Thanksgiving dessert — which can be purchased for $110 on Goldbelly and ships across the US — was the “greatest thing that happened to me, besides the birth of my children.”

There’s a pecan pie on the bottom, followed by a pumpkin pie layer, and then spice cake on top. If that’s not enough, there’s apple pie filling in the center, and everything is held together by cinnamon buttercream.

Young first came up with the idea in 2015 while working as the executive pastry chef at David Burke Fabrick in New York City. The restaurant’s executive chef was serving a Turducken special (a chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey), and Young decided he wanted to make a sweet version. 

He was just planning to make a dessert to serve by the slice. But when Young posted a photo on Instagram, the PieCaken immediately took off. 

To mark this year’s milestone 10th anniversary, Young is also releasing a limited-edition $160 DecaCaken featuring 10 layers, including chocolate cream pie, coffee cake, and New York cheesecake.

The PieCaken was shipped with dry ice. Per the instructions, I stuck it in the fridge the night before I planned to serve it and let it sit out on the counter for two hours before digging in. 

Unlike many desserts, the PieCaken can actually be stored in the freezer for up to three months if it’s tightly wrapped in its original packaging. It also lasts in the fridge for up to seven days.

The 5-inch cake is covered in an oat crumble, and the colors pair well with the pale-pink cinnamon buttercream.

I brought the PieCaken to a Friendsgiving dinner, and its appearance wowed everyone at the table.

For a cake that had been sitting in a box with dry ice just a day before, I was surprised by how fresh and juicy the apple pie filling looked.

I could smell that warm and comforting combination of cinnamon, apples, and nutmeg from the moment I unwrapped it. 

As you can see, the four layers are perfectly separated and easily distinguishable throughout the cake. The pecan pie glistened on the bottom, the pumpkin pie in the middle had a pretty orange hue, and the spice cake looked fluffy on top. 

With so many different pies incorporated into one dessert, I wondered if the PieCaken would turn into a big mess. But each slice looked beautiful with its clean lines and autumn colors. 

The pecan pie was definitely my favorite layer. I loved that it had a classic pie crust on the bottom (you can’t have pie without the crust!), the filling was a knockout, and the pecans gave everything a great crunch. 

The pumpkin pie layer was beautifully creamy and had a nice, subtle spice. Like the pecan layer, it had its own deliciously flaky crust, and all the flavors paired well with the cinnamon buttercream frosting. 

It was the spice cake that surprised me most. Just by looking at it, I expected the cake to taste quite dense — almost like a pound cake — but it was actually light as air. I couldn’t believe how fluffy it tasted, and the layer was a great vessel for the heavy apple pie filling on top. 

I tasted the individual layers before trying a big bite of everything together, and I was surprised that none of the different pies clashed with each other. It’s really a cornucopia of holiday flavors all coming together. 

I should note that this dessert is definitely sweet. The different pies, combined with the cinnamon buttercream, were just a bit too much for some of my friends, although they all loved the individual layers.

But if you’re looking for the ultimate holiday indulgence, the PieCaken fits the bill. 

The PieCaken serves 12 to 16 people, making it perfect for either a Friendsgiving or a large Thanksgiving dinner. I brought my leftovers to another party the next day, and it was so fun watching everyone get excited about all the different pies in the cake. 

And as someone who doesn’t follow Thanksgiving dessert traditions, I thought the PieCaken was a great way to sample different holiday flavors at the dinner table. 

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a skeptic when it comes to desserts that seem like they were made more for Instagram grids than our stomachs. But the PieCaken is the real deal, and I’m not surprised that it’s brought holiday cheer to so many people — Kelly Ripa included — for so many years.