There's a cake masquerading under this pie's name. Pie tins were commonly used as cake pans by New England colonists in the late 1800s, and the name stuck. Make sure you preheat your oven for this cake – if it's not up to temperature, the cake won't rise.
Saffron is said to have arrived in England with the Phoenicians, who traded it for Cornish tin. In the past, when ingredients such as eggs were expensive, saffron was used to give rich yellow colour to this bread, once traditionally served at Easter.
Here's a quick summer fruit sauce that's great over ice cream, sorbet, pound cake or angel food cake.
