David Eaheart of Kansas City, Missouri, won professional Best of Show in 2019, from 145 entries, with Iceland’s Café Loki-Inspired Rye Bread Cream Pie, entered in the new My Favorite Vacation category, as the APC’s 2019 results table prints it; the APC’s press release heads the category “Best Vacation Pie.” Seaboard Foods lists earlier placings: first in the professional 6-inch Chicken Pot Pie category in 2017 and second in 2018. He placed first in Florida Beef Council Savory Beef in 2024 and in Savory in 2025.
The winning pie
Rye bread is steeped in a pastry cream seasoned with cinnamon and coriander, layered with toasted rye bread tossed in brown sugar and cinnamon. Caramel sauce is drizzled over it and a Swiss meringue rims the pie. The APC’s recipe gives a crust of shortening or lard.
“I think what makes my pie unique is the flavor combination, as well as the mixed texture of creamy and crunchy.”
Sources
- 25th NPC Overall Press Release (archived), American Pie Council
- Icelandic Vacation and a Unique Ingredient Inspire Professional Best of Show Pie At 25th Annual APC National Pie Championships (April 30, 2019), Perishable News
- Iceland’s Cafe Loki Inspired Rye Bread Cream Pie, David Eaheart (2019), American Pie Council
- 2019 APC Championship Winners (archived), American Pie Council
- Seaboard Foods’ Eaheart Wins Category in 2024 American Pie Council National Pie Championships Using Daily’s Bacon, Perishable News
- 2025 National Pie Championship: Amateur and Professional Winners, American Pie Council