A Birthday Pie?!

Birthdays are always a special occasion and for my family, its celebrated with a specially done homemade cake that lends a personal touch to the occasion! It used to be my mum's responsibility to make the cake but she's now passed things on to me so I'm in-charge of carrying on the tradition! A month before a birthday, the birthday person is asked nicely/interrogated/grilled by me until he/she comes up with a favourite flavour and any other special requests.

August is when my sister gets a year older and this time she wanted something else entirely - a birthday pie! I had no idea if a birthday was celebrated anywhere else in the world with a pie but she was adamant about it and so a pie it was going to be!

She specifically wanted a peach pie complete with a lattice top and I have to say I was dreading to start working on it. I've never really had much success in working with sweet pie dough; it's always too crumbly and cracks when I'm rolling it out. I can never seem to achieve that "drape rolled dough over rolling pin and unfurl it over the pie dish" thing that you always see on the telly.

This time was no different unfortunately. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong...maybe the butter isn't cold enough, maybe I'm over working the dough, maybe I'm adding too much water, maybe, maybe, maybe...sigh.

Somehow, the pie bottom was rolled out and placed into the dish and the lattice was carefully arranged over the top of the pie. I couldn't manage to do the traditional lattice design as the dough was just too soft to weave. It wasn't a very neat looking lattice in short...

My mum also had plans for a small cake that she was waiting for the opportune moment to try and it would be perfect for the occasion - The Handbag Cake!

I was skeptical at first as to how the overall look would be like but I must say I was extremely impressed! Intricate and precise piping work all over meant that alot of effort and planning went into the cake although it look particularly complicated. Shows that my mum still has it in her!

I was extremely glad everything turned out well in the end and my sister was happy she got what she wanted! Happy birthday Sis!

Probably should have taken that picture with the candle lighted though...