Halloween Pumpkin Cake

 

One of the first things I ever baked for blogging was Halloween treats. In addition to petits fours I made a Jack-O-Lantern surprise inside cake.

People liked it.

I was hooked.

Hence, my baking blog was born.

So in the upcoming one year anniversary of my baking blog, I am not only sharing with you my Halloween Cake That You Can Bring to Church, I am going to give you a really poorly organized tutorial.

Are you so excited? 

Yeah.  I can feel it.

I dont know if you follow my other blog, but I have been pretty sick lately with some pregnancy related symptoms and some concerns, and baking has been at the bottom of my priority list.

 

For some reason the other day, making a cake with my kids just seemed like the right thing to do.

So we made this.  It may look pretty ho-hum and boring but you know there is a surprise inside. 

The reason I am telling you this... its because I had no energy to make it from scratch.  Everything in this recipe is from a box or can.

If you want to duplicate this recipe with your favorite from scratch recipes and frostings please, by all means, do just that.

You will need:

2 boxes Devils Food Cake

1 box white cake

3 cans white frosting (you can choose flavor)

1 golf ball sized portion of fondant

Orange, Green, Yellow and Black food coloring

Small round cookie cutter

I started out by making the white cake mix.  I am going to need only two cupcakes for this recipes, but I usually make four just in case I make a mistake along the way.  I do that a lot.  I used the remaining batter and make little cuppies.  

But!  Before you use all that white batter, save about 1/2 cup.  Add 1-2 drops yellow food coloring and then make two yellow cupcakes.

I then baked four 8in (you can do 9in as well) round devils food cakes.  I stacked THREE of the layers, frosted between each layer and then frosted the outside.

You do NOT have to frost the outside.  I do not know why I did.  I was so, so foolish.

 
Put it in the freezer for 15-30 minutes or in the refrigerator for a couple hours, or up to overnight.

Then get out your handy dandy small round cookie cutter.

 I think a good size would be just slightly smaller then the base of a cupcake.

Using your cookie cutter, find the center of your cake and press the cutter all the way to the bottom.  You will need to remove the excess cake, and I usually just use a spoon. 

I then take the fourth devils food layer and cut out a V shaped potion out of the top.  This will be the 'flame' to our candle.

Then take two white cupcakes, cut off any brown edges, and carefully insert them into the center of the devils food cake.  This is going to be the candle.

Now, place the fourth devils food layer on top.  Grab a yellow cupcake and shape the top in a V pattern.  Then just plop it onto the top!  The V part will be our 'flame" and the base of the cupcake will be our pumpkin stem.

Now throw that in the freezer for a few minutes or in the fridge for an hour to get nice a firm.  Your next step is to carve your pumpkin shape!

I have seen this cake baked with casserole dishes to get the perfect shape for the pumpkin, but I sorta enjoy the carving process.  

 Plus its super easy to do.  You can't screw it up!  

You can either chill your cake again (I did) or start with your crumb coat.  This is a layer of frosting that is used to help keep all the crumbs from showing on your final coat.

Take two or two and a half cans of frosting and place in a bowl.  Add a few drops of orange food coloring until you get the desired color.  You are now ready to frost!

Can you see all those black specks in there?  We dont want that on the final product.  So now just chill this cake and take a break.  Baking aint easy girl! ;)

 And here it is after I have added another layer of frosting.

I also grabbed about a 1/2 cup of frosting and added green food coloring.  This is for the stem and all the swirly vines I love to add.

To get the perfect jack-o-lantern face, I have found that using fondant works really well.  I just took a small amount, added black food coloring, then rolled it out on a non-stick surface. (you can always add some corn starch below the fondant to ensure it doesn't stick)

Now, find your ideal jack-o-lantern face!  (you can do a search on google and find thousands) Print one off the internet and just trace onto your fondant or freehand one.  If you screw up, just re-roll your fondant and start over!

Place the fondant on the cake, no glue needed, and gently press in place.  

I had so much fun creating a face I made one for the front and the back of my cake! 

If I can find the energy (or if anyone is interested) I will do a mini tutorial on how to do these adorable pumpkin cuppies for my next post. 

And here is the inside of our candle lit jack-o-lantern cake!  Fun huh?  And pretty simple to do.

 

Hope you enjoyed seeing this cake made, and more importantly, I hope you will make one yourself!

Happy Halloween!

Comments

[lisa]

that is SO cute! I may have to make that for my son's 1st birthday....so with all the cooking and chilling...how long do you think it actually took you to make? And would love the mini cuppies tutorial too! :)

[Deborah]

Super cute!!

[Lisa@ Tarte du Jour]

This is really inspiring!

[Kathryn]

What a fun treat! That would be the perfect entry for our Halloween Recipe Contest! You can read all about it here. I hope you decide to enter it!

[Kathryn]

Oops! The link didn't show up- here it is! http://www.recipe4living.com/articles/ghoulishly_good_halloween_recipe_contest.htm

[Carolina Moore {Expect Moore}]

The outside is cute, but the middle just blows me away!

I linked to this project over at Pumpkin Week:
http://www.alwaysexpectmoore.com/2010/10/pumpkin-week-daily-dozen_04.html

[Cathy]

Just found your post through Craft Gossip and love it! Do you think if I baked in 2 bundt pans or angel food cake pans, I could then stuff the pre-made hole for the candle?

[christy]

omg. i sooo love this!!

[amy h :)]

i love this cake and was wondering if i would have an occasion to make it for (first baby due on november 5, so not really planning any big halloween celebrations this year!). but my sister-in-law is being baptized this weekend, so i thought the "surprise" part would be perfect, although probably not the pumpkin shape on the outside! thanks for the inspiration. you have a lovely blog!
*amy :)

[grace]

great idea, amanda! i like the winker. i'll take cake carving over actual pumpkin carving any day. :)

[Lauren E.]

This is brilliant! I'm going to make it for a "pumpkin carving" contest. No one will see this coming!

[Danielle]

Oh what a clever idea with the candle inside!! You're so creative!

[Jaqui]

What a fantastic cake. I love the candle. The mini pumpkins are so cute too. Jaqui x

[Amanda]

Thank you SO much for the tutorial! I have assignment for my English class to create a piece of art based on a soliloquy for Macbeth, and one of the lines is "out out, brief candle," so this cake is perfect for it! It's also a very tasty form of art. :)

[Strawberry CAKE]

this is awesome
ainslie johnson
age 12

[Jaime]

I have Wilton's Icing color, do you think I could use that for the yellow cupcake?

[dining room table]

This is so pretty! I love it. The whole idea is really awesome. Happy Halloween.

[Rebecca in TX]

WARNING: This cake does not travel well .... with the core filled with a different cake, the layers have been compromised and break apart easily.

My coworkers loved it .... but we had to call it a "smashing pumpkins" cake. I just had to laugh as I carried the wreckage into my office. :)

[Nutmeg]

This is fabulous!!! Thanks for the tutorial!!!

[Cathey Bell]

Ooooooh.....I can't wait to make this. Thank you so much for sharing this and your petit fours.