German baker Karin Pfeiff-Boschek has become a sensation in Germany for her design-savvy, American-style pastries.
The pastry designer makes three pies each week, then she posts pictures of those pies on Instagram and after that she gives most of them to her friends and charities.
Her Instagram pastry portfolio gathers thousands of likes and comments. She is an artist, who artistically give her pies an amazing look, she is known for giving stunning appeal to her dough decorations.
She creates wonderful pies, making sure that the pies look good both pre- and post-baked. After baking she embellishes them with intricate patterns of cutouts and edible appliques. Karin doesn’t follow the traditional baking technique.
In a statement she said, “To do anything as well as possible is labour-intensive, and my aim in life is to do whatever I do as well as I can. I find inspiration in nature, in all kinds of objects, I do also look at graphic patterns, historical, Persian, Moorish, and find inspiration in many of those designs. The possibilities are limitless.”
Sometimes, Karin uses the fruit filling to create the pattern, however, for making dramatic purple pastry she experiments with color by incorporating powder made from freeze-dried blueberries.
She believes in giving a beautiful look to her vision. She even got a toolbox, which includes 100-plus cookie cutters (some antique, others purchased on Amazon, eBay and at her local kitchen shop) and a sharp knife for freehand work.
She says, “I use scalpels with replaceable blades because they are very sharp and thin and cut dough very smoothly and cleanly. One could use so-called hobby knives, like the X-Acto knives used by model builders, too. The only important thing is that they are sharp and thin.”
Besides round slab pies, she also produces a square and rectangular slab pies.
Her sweet obsession dominates most of her personal time, as she is working full-time as secretary to a department head at a German university.