Why don't you ship your full range of pie flavors? As much as I would love to ship all of my pies, certain fillings, such as puddings and custards, simply do not freeze well. In order to insure the safe arrival of shipped pies, they must be frozen for transit, so that means that cream pies are for locals only, I'm sorry to say!
How do you come up with your flavor ideas? For some pies, like the Root Beer Cream or the Peanut Butter Pretzel, I'm just riffing on pie versions of my favorite flavors. A number of the pies I make are based upon very classic recipes. The Shoo-Fly, for example, is an old Amish pie recipe. However I can't resist making each recipe my own, so even very traditional pies taste a little different when they come out of my oven!
Who are some of your influences? Without question, my first and main influence is my mother, Rhonda Kave. She opened her shop Roni-Sue's Chocolates in 2007, and her approach to creating and layering flavors has been hugely educational for me. I am also constantly learning from my brother, Corwin Kave, who is the executive chef of Fatty Crab. He approaches food with such creativity and enthusiasm, and I'm always running new ideas by him. Lastly, when I was younger my mother and I took a class with Carole Walter - the guru of pie - at the Institute of Culinary Education. I learned so much about the fundamentals of pie crust from her, and I still think about that class every time I roll out a ball of dough.
How did you come up with the name of your company? I wish I could take the credit, but it all goes to my boyfriend Jay Horton, without whom I never would have entered the pie contest that started me on this road to all things pie.