Helpful Hints...

• Keep eggs at room temperature to create greater volume when whipping egg whites for meringue
• Pie dough can be frozen. Rolled dough out between sheets or plastic wrap, stack in a pizza box, and keep the box in freezer. defrost in fridge and use as needed. use within 2 months.
• place your pie plate on a cake stand when ready to flute the edges of the pie. The cake stand will make it easier to turn the pie plate, and you won't have to stoop over.
• When making decorations pie edge, use a spoon for scalloped edge. use a fork to make crosshatched and herringbone patterns.
• When cutting butter into flour for pastry dough, the process is easier if you cut the butter into smaller pieces before adding it to the flour.
• pumpkin and other custard-style pies are done when jiggle slightly in the middle. Fruit pies are done when the pastry is golden, juices bubble, and fruit is tender.
• Keep the cake plate clean while frosting by sliding 6 inch strips of waxed paper under each side of the cake. Once the cake is frosted and the frosting is set, pull the strips away, leaving a clean plate.
• Create a quick decorating tube to ice your cake with chocolate. Put chocolate  in a heat safe, zip-lock plastic bag. immerse it in the simmer water until the chocolate is melted. Snip off the tip of one corner, and squeeze the chocolate out of the bag.
• Achieve professionally decorated cakes with a silky molten look by blow-drying the frosting with a hair dryer until the frosting melts slightly.
• To ensure that you have equal amounts of batter in each pan when making a layered cake, use a kitchen scale to measure the weight.
• Prevent cracking in your cheesecake by placing a shallow pan of hot water on the bottom oven rack and keeping the oven door shut during baking.
• A cheesecake needs several hours to chill and set