Happy Birthday! Pie

9" pumpkin pie, pie crust letters

Techniques Used-cutouts

Focus-playing with alphabet cut outs and pie crust

There isn't really anything special about the pie, except that it was really good!  I just wanted to post this because I know there are plenty of people who would rather have pie for their birthday.  Using these alphabet cut outs, which are generally used for fondant, you can make whatever message you want with your leftover pie crust.

This pie was decorated January 2012.

Flower Lattice Apple Pie

9" apple pie, pie crust flower

Techniques Used-lattice top, fondant/gum paste Lily

Focus-making fondant/gum paste Lily out of pie crust

 

 

I wanted to know if the flowers made with fondant or gum paste could also be made with pie crust.  I think the hardest part about it was making a form for the oven.  There are plastic formers out there made by Wilton and other companies, but I needed to bake the flower, and the former wouldn't be able to handle the heat.  All I did was take a strip of aluminum foil and mold and shape it to be a ring the size I wanted.  I didn't take a picture of it, but you can see it underneath the flower.

I cut out six petals; they look like stretched tear drops.  I then thinned out the edges of the petals to make them look more realistic (this also makes the edges brown slightly for a neat effect).  Here's a video of how I thinned the edges, although the video is about making an anemone.  I then made a line on each petal using a veining tool.  Next I started placing the petals.  As you can see, there are two layers of three petals, so I just divided the ring in thirds for the bottom layer, and then placed the next layer of petals in the spaces.  I didn't want the tips of the petals to just droop down, so I made aluminum foil balls to lift them.  The picture above shows some of the petals pointing upward.  Then it's just baking it and placing it on your pie. 

I wanted to show you the pie without the flower.  I really like this design, how it gives the pie some texture without adding more pie crust.  If anything, there is less pie crust, or at least that's how I do it.  I like the strips to be fairly separated, but the strips can vary by size and distance between them. 

 

 

For those of you that want to learn this technique, I found some videos and written instructions for you to follow.  This first video is the way that I do it, except my pie recipe doesn't require egg whites.  Here are written instructions with pictures as well.  I also wanted to show this video, because it's another way to do the lattice top, so you can choose which way you prefer.  I also like it that he cuts his own strips without using a ruler, and they look really nice. 

 

 

Here are some more ideas for the tops of pies.  This first site shows a few different borders as well as the lattice top.  The second site is more focused on borders, but also shows pie pops, which are pies on a stick.  I hope this has gotten your creative juices flowing, or at least gotten you to crave some pie!

 

 

This pie was decorated January 2012.

Fleur de lis Cake

8" round yellow cake, buttercream frosting

Techniques Used-Fleur de lis, rope border, rosettes, reverse shell

Focus-side garlands, using one tip

I saw this one video on how to measure out the side garlands and I wanted to try it out.  He took a plastic cup and made an imprint on the sides.  He was a little bit sloppy with his piping, but I still liked his idea and thought I would try it out.  For my imprint, I used tip 789 (as seen below).  I wasn't sure if they would be evenly spaced, so I first made an imprint on north and south, then roughly checked to see how many would fit in between.  There was enough room to have 12 imprints altogether, so I then proceeded to make an imprint on east and west, and then two between each. 

Here are some pictures of the imprints before the piping.  This made piping the rope border very easy and look really nice because I wasn't having to eyeball it while in the process. 

I also used the same method for the top of the cake.  I don't think it would've turned out as nicely if I tried to eyeball a perfect circle.

Lastly, I thought you would like to see close-ups of the different techniques.  When learning a technique, it's nice to have as many pictures and examples as possible. 

Rope garland with rosettes, reverse shell borders

Rosettes

Top view of reverse shell border

This cake was decorated September 2011.