This easy tutorial will show you how to decorate a pumpkin pie with cream cheese frosting and just a few simple tools. It’s fun, festive, and a great way to make your pumpkin pie stand out this holiday season!
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need to Create this Pumpkin Pie Design
- Pumpkin Pie. You can use my Perfect Pumpkin Pie recipe if you’d like, or your own, or a store-bought one! Whatever you use, ensure it’s baked and fully cooled before decorating!
- Small Batch Cream Cheese Frosting. The recipe for this small-batch cream cheese frosting is below. You will have leftover cream cheese frosting, so if you have multiple pumpkin pies to decorate, this should work for 2 of them. You can also use store-bought cream cheese frosting from the baking aisle of your grocery store.
- A Fun Design to Use as a Guide. I went with a simple design I found on Pinterest, but feel free to use what you like. I would not go too crazy with the design, though!
- Small Round Decorating Tip. I used Wilton’s No. 2 decorating tip, but you can also use No. 1 or 3. Ateco’s equivalent is very similar, but I would stick with either their size 1 or 2 tips. With either brand, you must use a coupler with the piping tip.
- Small Piping Bag. A 10-inch or 12-inch bag will work perfectly here. Use the brand you feel most comfortable using.
- Revolving Cake Stand. My cake stand comes from Ateco, and I love it. Wilton also makes one, but it is not as tall. Using one makes it easy to rotate as you work.
How to Make a Small Batch of Cream Cheese Frosting
This small-batch cream cheese recipe will make plenty of frosting to pipe a design on two, maybe three pumpkin pies. If you only need to make one pie, then half the amounts listed below.
Use your hand mixer or your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons, 31 grams) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 2 ounces (44 grams) of Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup (115 grams) Sifted Powdered Sugar
Beat the unsalted butter and cream cheese on medium-high speed until well blended. Add in the vanilla extract. Switch the mixer speed to low and add in the sifted powdered sugar.
Don’t skip sifting the powdered sugar! You can end up with lumps in your frosting, which will clog your small, rounded piping tip.
Recipe Helpful Pumpkin Pie Decorating Tips
- Cooled pumpkin pie. Make sure your pumpkin pie has completely cooled before you add your cream cheese frosting design.
- Keep your design simple. This tip is more for beginners and people like me who don’t like overly complicated cake- and pie-decorating methods. If you are an experienced cake decorator, however, then a more advanced design would be fine!
- Practice before piping. Practice on a paper towel or plate before starting your actual design.
- Start with the larger shapes of your design first. You’ll be able to fill the space around them with smaller shapes after.
- Rotate the pie as you decorate it. Continually rotate your pie on the revolving cake stand as you decorate to create the illusion of movement.
- Don’t stress if you mess up a little! You can either cover it with more frosting or carefully lift the cream cheese frosting with an offset spatula. I did both when piping another pumpkin pie I made!
- Have fun!
How to Decorate a Pumpkin Pie with Cream Cheese Frosting
This easy tutorial will show you how to decorate a pumpkin pie with cream cheese frosting and just a few simple tools. It's fun, it's festive, and a great way to make your pumpkin pie stand out this holiday season!
Equipment
- Small Rounded Piping Tip
- Small Piping Bag
- Revolving Cake Stand
Ingredients
- 1 Pumpkin Pie, baked and cooled
- 1 Small Batch Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 Small Rounded Piping Tip, Wilton or Ateco sizes 1-2
- 1 Small Piping Bag, 10 inch or 12 inch
- 1 Revolving Cake Stand
- Design to Use as a Guide
Instructions
- Fill a small piping bag fitted with a small rounded piping tip with your cream cheese frosting.1 Small Batch Cream Cheese Frosting, 1 Small Rounded Piping Tip, 1 Small Piping Bag
- Place your pumpkin pie onto a revolving cake stand.1 Pumpkin Pie, 1 Revolving Cake Stand
- Begin by piping the larger shapes from your design, rotating the cake stand after each piped shape.Design to Use as a Guide
- Fill in the open areas with smaller shapes from your design until the top of the pumpkin pie is completed to your liking. You can also add in dots or tiny circles as filler shapes.
- Place the decorated pumpkin pie in the refrigerator to chill until ready to serve.
Video
Notes
For the small batch cream cheese frosting you will need:
- 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons, 31 grams) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 2 ounces (44 grams) Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup (115 grams) Sifted Powdered Sugar
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