Have Your Pie and Eat It Too

Thanksgiving means one thing to everyone I am sure:

Pumpkin Pie!

I love all things pumpkin flavored: muffins, breads, shakes, martinis (oops, did I admit that?).... except for one thing..... pie. I just do not care for it for some reason. But I cannot imagine having a Thanksgiving spread without that iconic pie on the table. So I thought I would try to have the best of both worlds this year, and maybe even play a little trickery on my unsuspecting family at the same time. (devilish  grin)

Oh that beautiful symbol of fall, gratitude, good food, and precious time with family and friends.....

Let's make ours!

Start with a pie tin and line the edge with a strip of ivory fondant. Use some shortening to glue it on or it will not stay in place.

Flute the edges with  your fingers just as you would do a regular pie crust.

Airbrush color gives this "pie" its magic. A little yellow base coat, then followed by ivory (which comes out light brown for some reason). If you do not have an airbrush you can use the color mists in the can as well.

After the crust is dry, then add a layer of pumpkin cake. You can split and fill the cake if you want, but it is a pretty short layer, so I find the icing on the top to be enough for me.

 

Ice the  top of the cake with colored icing. I used orange, brown and a little red to get this color. Some pumpkin pies are more brown, and others more orange, so go for the look you like. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top of the icing. If you get big clumps like you see in this photo, just spread it out with your spatula, let the icing crust, and then smooth it out with your Viva paper  towel.

A little bit more airbrushing on the top. I used a combo of yellow and ivory to give it that  yummy custard-y baked look.

How about some mini meringue "pies" on the side ? (wink wink)

Follow the same process using mini pie shells. Pile on white icing  with a spatula and hit it with a light coat of ivory airbrush color.

They have that beautiful just baked meringue look.

Mmmmm.

Watch your guests' faces as they cut into this pie and find out your secret surprise! (You might want to bring along a real pumpkin pie as back up, just in case. You don't want an angry crowd caused by being deprived of pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.)

This cake was SO easy and fast to do. You can make several and trick all of your neighbors we well. And your coworkers and boss. And the kids' teachers. The fun could go one for weeks!

Here is an easy pumpkin cake recipe I used. It is super moist and yummy:

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package spice cake mix
•  3 eggs
• 1/3 vegetable oil
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1  TBS pumpkin pie spice
• 1/3 cup white sugar

Directions

• Combine everything in mixer at speed two until combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 325 until  done.
• Cool completely. Level off the top, put the scraps in a ziplock bag, and hide them in your office so no one else can get to them.
• Split layer into the height needed to fill your pie pan.

I really hope you guys give this fun cake a try and send me photos so I can post them!

Happy caking!
Sharon
www.sugaredproductions.com