I often see pie in the face pics where the pie crusts stay intact. Does anyone know how to get that effect? Maybe moisten them somehow?? Any ideas or responses are welcome.
Are you talking baked crusts or graham cracker crusts? Two different things and different methods.
Baked crusts are either thrown or "smushed" with no tin. If you smush them, they will often stay intact on the face, sometimes for a couple seconds and sometimes for a LONG time. (See below.) Eventually, the whole thing does slide off.
Graham cracker crusts can sometimes stay intact if they are applied with singular force. A lot of times this works if the model is good at "self pieing," something about the angle. Also, while shaving cream tends to look fake on camera, it definitely makes it easier for the crust to stay intact. Real cream or Cool Whip is trickier and the crust tends to fall apart upon contact, although occasionally the whole thing will stick. ("Happy accidents" are the bread and butter of pie producing!)
While they don't stay completely intact, I've found that using regular crusts are far superior to graham cracker crusts. We usually use Walmart brand (2 for $5 USD, IIRC), then dock them (use a fork to poke small indentations in the crust all around the bottom and sides) and bake them without filling until they're a golden brown. After that, we use a thin layer of chocolate syrup to improve the cohesion and weight of the pie, then fill it with Walmart whipped cream and pudding or cherry pie filling or such. We then decorate the top with more chocolate syrup.
This composition allows for a good splatter upon impact, as well as some nice cohesion of the pieces of the crust. If you want better cohesion, you'd probably have to look for a thicker crust like a flan. Picture provided for reference.
From a pastry chef point of view, we brush the inside of the pie crust with melted chocolate or apricot jam. Which helps stop leakage and keeps it more stable, however I've only moved them from oven to board to plate, would help you out by experimenting, but if I threw it at head chef she'd nail my testicle to the floor, slice them off, and then put them and me in the wheelie bin
Thanks for the responses. I usually get graham cracker crusts, which seems to be thick and brittle. I guess I'm looking for something softer and gooey to mould and stick around the face.
Well, personally, I always like to see a thrown pie that when it hits, the whole thing explodes. This, in my humble opinion just makes a better mess. LOL! But that is just my opionion.
My profile picture is a store bought banana cream pie. I loved that texture and consistency and how the crust crumbled, but I enjoy experimenting as well.