Monday, October 15, 2012

Pumpkin Cake and Recipe

I have a confession.

I'm not a huge Halloween fan.

I know. I feel like I just uttered the words that might make the craft blogger police come knocking.

But honestly? I can totally live without the creepy, scary, gross you out stuff that's become popular. I don't like to be scared. Or grossed out. I like my food to look like, well, food - not witch fingers or worms. Is that so wrong?

But I still love Autumn. And one of the number one reasons is pumpkins. I looooooovvvveeee pumpkins! So much cuter and family friendly than a zombie brain don't you think? So if I show up at your party with a pumpkin cake instead of something looking like it had a bad run-in with the undead, I hope you'll still be my friend.

I made this cake for a Halloween party last year and it was deceptively easy. And also nutritious (it has 2 cups of pumpkin in the mix!).  Here's how I did it:


Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:
Cake
  • 1 box chocolate cake mix
  • 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree*
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp ground all spice
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 3 eggs (or however many called for on the box)
  • 1 Tbsp organic canola oil
Decorations
  • 3 green "Airheads" candys (for stem)
  • 1 container prepared frosting, colored orange (Sur la Table is one place you can get Natural Decorating Colors if you're avoiding synthetic food dyes)
*I used the technique I taught here to make my fresh pumpkin puree (it's actually really easy). If you don't have afresh pumpkin on hand to puree, use a 14 ounce can of pumpkin instead.

Extras Needed:
Directions:
  1. Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Prepare tall glass bowl for baking by greasing and flouring it. Set aside.
  2. Combine all cake ingredients using a hand mixer. Pour into prepared bowl. 
  3. Bake for about 1 hour, 10 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Run knife around edge of bowl and turn out onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool at least two hours or until completely cool to the touch
  4. Decorate cake by frosting with the orange frosting. Use up and down strokes to simulate pumpkin ridges with the frosting
  5. Make the stem and leaf by putting airheads in a glass bowl and microwaving in 5 second intervals until pliable. (Be careful not to heat it too hot or it may stick to and burn your skin!) Mold candy like playdough to make a stem and leaf shape. Lay over top of cake.

I'm sharing this with:
* Get your Craft on at: Today's Creative Blog*


(links to products within this post are my affiliate links and I may receive a portion of any sales resulting from your click. I promise to only link to products I personally recommend. Thank you for supporting Carissa's Creativity Space) 

2 comments:

Comments make me happy! Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Pumpkin Cake and Recipe

I have a confession.

I'm not a huge Halloween fan.

I know. I feel like I just uttered the words that might make the craft blogger police come knocking.

But honestly? I can totally live without the creepy, scary, gross you out stuff that's become popular. I don't like to be scared. Or grossed out. I like my food to look like, well, food - not witch fingers or worms. Is that so wrong?

But I still love Autumn. And one of the number one reasons is pumpkins. I looooooovvvveeee pumpkins! So much cuter and family friendly than a zombie brain don't you think? So if I show up at your party with a pumpkin cake instead of something looking like it had a bad run-in with the undead, I hope you'll still be my friend.

I made this cake for a Halloween party last year and it was deceptively easy. And also nutritious (it has 2 cups of pumpkin in the mix!).  Here's how I did it:


Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:
Cake
  • 1 box chocolate cake mix
  • 2 cups fresh pumpkin puree*
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp ground all spice
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 3 eggs (or however many called for on the box)
  • 1 Tbsp organic canola oil
Decorations
  • 3 green "Airheads" candys (for stem)
  • 1 container prepared frosting, colored orange (Sur la Table is one place you can get Natural Decorating Colors if you're avoiding synthetic food dyes)
*I used the technique I taught here to make my fresh pumpkin puree (it's actually really easy). If you don't have afresh pumpkin on hand to puree, use a 14 ounce can of pumpkin instead.

Extras Needed:
Directions:
  1. Pre-heat oven to 325°F. Prepare tall glass bowl for baking by greasing and flouring it. Set aside.
  2. Combine all cake ingredients using a hand mixer. Pour into prepared bowl. 
  3. Bake for about 1 hour, 10 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Run knife around edge of bowl and turn out onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool at least two hours or until completely cool to the touch
  4. Decorate cake by frosting with the orange frosting. Use up and down strokes to simulate pumpkin ridges with the frosting
  5. Make the stem and leaf by putting airheads in a glass bowl and microwaving in 5 second intervals until pliable. (Be careful not to heat it too hot or it may stick to and burn your skin!) Mold candy like playdough to make a stem and leaf shape. Lay over top of cake.

I'm sharing this with:
* Get your Craft on at: Today's Creative Blog*


(links to products within this post are my affiliate links and I may receive a portion of any sales resulting from your click. I promise to only link to products I personally recommend. Thank you for supporting Carissa's Creativity Space) 

2 comments:

Comments make me happy! Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

 
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