Pumpkin Shaped Cake Tutorial

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By Christy

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Halloween has been pretty quiet for me this year. No costume, most likley no trick or treaters (I only got 2 last year), and it has been ugly and rainy in Nashville ALL day today. It almost feels as if Hallween didn't really happen this year which makes me sad because I LOVE halloween and getting all dressed up and going to costume parties! But it definitley feels like fall and this tutorial is the perfect fall addition to your baking list. It is a super easy, semi homeade pumpkin shaped cake. How impressive would this look on your table at Thanksgiving, your next church dinner, book club, etc? Also, if you need a last minute halloween idea this pumpkin would look great if you iced a jack-o-latern face on it to take this dessert to the next level of fun and festive. 

Here is how to make a pumpkin shaped cake.

 

What's needed:

1 to 2 Cake mixes and all ingredients required

2 bundt cake pans

2 to 3 cups of icing

Food coloring

1 snickers bar

 

 

Step 1: You will need to make 2 bundt cakes of the same size. Depending on the size of your bundt cake pans, you may need to make up to two batches of cake mix. I had two small, 6 inch bundt pans, and 1 cake mix easily did the trick. I actually chose a spice cake... it seemed fitting for a cake shaped like a pumpkin. Bake bundt cakes as directed and let cool.  

 



Step 2: The way these cakes are assembled to look like a pumpkin is by placing two bundt cakes, with the bottoms facing each other, together. Most likely your bundt cakes didn't rise evenly resulting in a rounded portion of what is normally the bottom of a bundt cake. Normally since this is the bottom of the cake, it doesn't really matter that this portion isn't flat but since we will be butting the bottoms of the cakes together, we need to the cakes to fit together evenly. This will ensure the pumpkin's shape is more uniform. Therefore, with a cerated knife, cut the rounded area off the cake making the bottom completley flat. 

  

 

Step 3: Make Icing, I made my all time favorite cream cheese icing which paired well with the spice cake. Then dye the icing the color of your choice.

 

 

Step 4:  Place first cake, pretty side down, onto a serving plate. I filled the hole in the very center of the cake with scraps made from leveling the cakes. I then topped the cake with a generous portion of icing. Take the other bundt cake, flat side down, and place it on top of the other bundt cake while lining up the cakes so the lines match.

 

 

Step 5: Take remaining icing and ice the whole cake. I made the stokes going downwards instead of side to side to make it look more like the natural lines that run down a pumpkin. I again filled the well in the middle of the bundt cake with cake scraps and iced over it. 

 

 

Step 6: Take a snicker bar and cut it in half or a little large (depending on the size of your cake) at an angle to represent the stump. Stick the snickers into the center of the top. I stuck the chocolate end into the cake exposing the end with nuts and filling. I thought that extra detail made it look more like a stump that had been cut, just like on a real pumpkin.

 

 

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Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

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by Cindy

Halloween is tomorrow and all the little ghost and goblins will be going door to door for their treats.  My girlfriends and I had a party at one of our houses Saturday night, and I had so much fun dressing up. I went as a pirate.   I borrowed the costume from Christy - thanks Christy - and bought a hat and sword to go with the costume.  It was fun dressing up and being with the girls and a few other guests.  

For the party, I decided to make mini pumpkin cupcakes.  The pumpkin flavor is just right because of all of the spices that are added.  The cream cheese icing has pumpkin in it too, so even the icing tastes like pumpkin.  They were the perfect bite sized dessert for a finger food menu and very delicious.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 t baking powder

2 t ground cinnamon

1 1/2 t ground cloves

1 t ground allspice

1 t ground allspice

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

2 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin (not pie filling)

1 recipe Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

1.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees and arrange rack in the middle.  Line 2 (12-well) muffin pans or mini muffin pans with paper liners.  Coat the liners with non stick spray:  set aside.

2.  Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Set aside.

3.  Mix the sugar and oil in a bowl and beat on medium until sugar is incorporated, about 1 minute, scrapping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.  

4.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, about 1 1/2 minutes total mixing time.  Reduce the speed to medium low and add the pumpkin.  Beat until just combined, about 30 seconds, again scrapping down the sided of the bowl.

5.  On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture, and beat until completely incorporated, about 1 minute. 

6.  Fill the muffin liners 3/4 of the way.  Bake for 12 minutes then rotate the pans and bake another 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.  For mini cupcakes, bake them for about 12-13 minutes or until tooth pick comes out.  

7.  Cool on a wire rack about 5 minutes and then remove them from the pans to completely cool.  Frost with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

6 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t ground nutmeg

12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

8 T butter (1 stick) at room temperature

1/3 cup pumpkin (not pie filling)

1.  Whisk together the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl and set aside.

2.  Mix together the cream cheese and butter on medium until smooth, about 1 minute.

3.  Add the pumpkin and beat until blended.

4.  Slowly and on low add the powdered sugar until the desired consistency is acquired.  If it's too soft, add more powdered sugar. 

recipe adapted from

chow.com

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Rodan + Fields Giveaway Winner

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Congratulations to Melanie M. for winning the amazing Rodan + Fields Hand Treatment Regimen!

We appreciate all of the entries from our readers! Also, a big THANK YOU to Caryn for giving away such an awesome product to our readers!!  Don't forget to check out Caryn's site for all of her wonderful products! Keep your eye out for more giveaways in the next few weeks!

Sincerely,
The Buttercream Bakers

Please check out our sponsor, Caryn Hammond, of Rodan + Fields Dermatologist's amazing site for life changing products!

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Chocolate Dipped Cupcakes with Marshmallow Cobwebs

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By Sarah

Cupcakes are my favorite kind of desserts to bake. Compared to making a detailed cake, cupcakes are relatively quick to make and decorate.  They are also so much easier to serve and I feel less guilty when I eat 1 or 2 cupcakes.  Because they are pretty quick to whip up, I like to experiment with different flavors and decorating techniques.

Last year, I came across a picture of a cake on Pinterest that looked like it had spider webs on it.  I thought it was so cool and I've been waiting for Halloween to come around so I could try it.  But making a cake takes too long, so I decided I would try it on a cupcake.  However, I thought it would look a little funny drizzling the melted marshmallow on a plain cupcake, I decided it would look much better if the cupcake was dipped in chocolate first!! You can tell I love everything chocolate dipped since I made chocolate dipped apples last week.  I did tweak my tempered chocolate recipe though! I like this one the best because while the chocolate got hard, it was still soft enough to cut through easily.

As for these techniques, they were super easy! The hardest part of tempering the chocolate was having the patience to let it cool down before dipping the cupcakes.  Making the cob webs were also super fun and easy, but very messy! The cobwebs would be a lot of fun for kids!

Chocolate Dipped Cupcakes with Marshmallow Cobwebs

24 iced cupcakes

1 box melting vanilla chocolate

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 bag mini marshmallows

24 spider rings

1. Make your favorite cupcake and buttercream icing.  Ice the cupcakes really high, using about 1/2 cup of icing on each cupcake.

2.  Place completed cupcakes in refrigerator to chill while tempering the chocolate.  Combine chocolate and oil in a small saucepan set over a medium saucepan of simmering water.  Don't let the water get too hot and boil because the chocolate will overheat.  Stir constantly until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Transfer into a small, but deep bowl and let chocolate cool for 15-20 minutes.

3.  Once the chocolate is cool to the touch, dip a cupcake into the chocolate by holding the cupcake by it's bottom.  Let the excess chocolate drip off and then transfer to a cookie sheet.  Place cupcakes in the refrigerator to speed up the setting process.

4.  In the meantime, take 1 bag of mini marshmallows and put in a microwaveable bowl.  Microwave for 30 seconds.  Stir until the marshmallows are completely melted and continue to stir until it is cool to the touch.  It take about 5 minutes.

Before

After

After microwaved for 30 seconds

5.  Remove cupcakes from the refrigerator once the chocolate has hardened.  Using two fingers & two hands, string the melted marshmallow all over the cupcakes. Decorate as desired.  I stuck a plastic spider ring into the cupcake as the final touch or you could use Christy's spider technique she posted last week and pipe it on the cupcake!

Here are few pics of the finished cupcakes!

Please check out our our sponsor, Caryn Hammond, of Rodan + Fields Dermatologist's amazing site for amazing products!

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Spider Chocolate Chip Cookies Tutorial

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By Christy

 

Trick or treat!!!!I love this time of year! I love a great reason to dress up in costume, clearly from writing a baking blog, I love a good Treat, and if you know me personally you know I LOVE a good Trick! lol I love little pranks and scaring people. It's actually a daily challenge for me to jump out and scare Big Cat! LOL If you are like me and love being a prankster I will let you in on my favorite "Trick".... While driving down the road, and there is no one behind you, wait until your passenger is not paying attention to the road or your driving...SLAM on your breaks and SCREAM like you're about to hit something!

This is kind of evil but if you need a good laugh it is certain to make you cry in laughter when the passenger gets so scared. Just make sure you see their facial expression. It will be priceless. (Also, be prepared for your passenger to possibly punch you in the arm after. haha) But if you are short on cash but love a good haunted house this time of year, tide yourself over with this prank because it is pretty equivalent in the fun factor but much friendlier on the budget!

Now on to the "treat" part of Halloween. Our Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe has been a hit for years! This year I decided to give our cookie recipe a costume to wear for your next Halloween party!


This is a tutorial on how to make A Chocolate Chip Cookie covered in chocolate spiders.

Step 1:
Buy premade cookie dough or make a homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe. I whipped up the best ever chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Step 2: Portion out your cookies on a silpat or parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Before putting the cookies in the oven,  add chocolate chips to the top of the cookie to represent the "bodies" of the spider. Make sure the point of the chocolate chip goes into the cookie and the flat side is facing outwards. I preferred the cookies that had 1 to 2 spiders on them. Then bake cookies as directed by the recipe you use.

Before chocolate chips were added to top

Adding Chocolate Chips to represent the "bodies" of the spiders

Step 3: While cookies are cooling, you will need to temper chocolate that will be used to decorate the cookies with. If you don't have a double boiler you can easily temper chocolate using 2 sauce pans of 2 slightly different sizes. In the larger of the two saucepans add a few inches of water. Then put the smaller pan on top resting in the water and add the chocolate chips to the top pan. Turn the heat on high (turn down once water starts to boil). Stir chocolate chips constantly until they are melted and immediately take off heat. This method will slowly melt the chocolate in the top pan ensuring you don't burn or over heat the chocolate. (please ignore how dirty my stove top is in the below pictures, so embarrassing!!)

 

Step 4: Let chocolate sit 10 minutes to cool. In the meantime, prep your decorating utensils. I used a disposable icing bag, coupler, and  the #1 tip from Wilton. If you don't have these, use a zip lock bag and cut the tip of 1 corner off. Make sure the corner you cut is a SUPER tiny hole because you will need a pretty fine tip line to make these look real. Fill bag up with melted chocolate.

 
Step 5: Create the spiders. Please look at the picture below for each step of the spider. This step includes putting a dot connected to the chocolate chip to represent the spider's head and adding 8 legs (4 to each side). To get a good idea of the shapes I felt looked the most realistic refer to the picture below.

Step 5: Let sit until chocolate is hardened or chill in the refrigerator until hardened. Serve!

 

 

 

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Candy Corn Peanut Mallow Bars

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by Cindy

 I  love fall - the red and yellow leaves, the  pumpkins, and all the kids dressed up in Halloween costumes.  I love the cooler weather.  I love waking up in bed in the morning and being toasty warm.  I love this time of the year because all of the great family holidays are coming up.

I got a little taste of Halloween last weekend when I went to visit Sarah and her family.  The grand kids dressed up in their costumes, and we went to the zoo for trick or treat.  Of course, they were adorable.  I don't usually get to see them in person with their costumes on, so it was a treat for me.

My friend, Karen, told me about this recipe and I had to have it.  It's perfect for a Halloween treat, with the candy corn as the star ingredient.  It tastes very much like a Payday candy bar.  It's super quick and easy and no baking involved.  I took some to work today and they have disappeared.  I think a ghost must have eaten them. lol

Candy Corn Peanut Mallow Bars

2 cups peanuts, divided

1 1/2 cups candy corn, divided

1 bag peanut butter chips

4 T butter

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (10 oz) bag mini marshmallows

1.  Spread 1 1/2 cup peanuts and 1/2 cup candy corn on the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan.

2.  In a small saucepan, melt peanut butter chips and butter over medium heat.  Stirring frequently. After it is melted, add the sweetened condensed milk. 

3.  Put marshmallows in a large bowl.  Add melted peanut chip mixture and combine until marshmallows are coated.  Drop spoon fulls of the mixture over the top of the peanut and candy corn in the pan and gently spread it out evenly.

4.  Sprinkle the rest of the peanuts and candy corn over the marshmallow mixture.  Press into the marshmallow mixture.  Try cutting them but if they are too sticky, they can be refrigerated and then cut.  I found them very hard to cut when I took them out of the refrigerator.  I had to use a lot of pressure with my cutting utensil.  If they had been taken out of the refrigerator for about 10 minutes, I think they would have been easier to cut.  

recipe adapted from

julieseatsandtreats.com

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Rodan & Fields Giveaway

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Caryn, our 4 tiered cake sponsor of the month, has graciously offered to giveaway a Rodan and Fields Hand Treatment Regimen to one of our sweet loving readers! 

Caryn also shared a little secret with me about an upcoming special.  Their best selling AMP MD System is coming back for a FLASH SALE for Preferred Customers (PCs) at the end of the month.  The time to buy is now because it won't be available to the general public until 2014!!  Also, right now Caryn is refunding the one time fee of $19.95 to become a PC! It's a win-win!!

We will announce the winner here on Sunday, October 27! Best of luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Caramel Chocolate Candy Covered Apples

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By Sarah

A few years ago, way before kids, my husband and I went to the St. James Court Art Show in Louisville.  I don't get to go every year and I was disappointed that I didn't get to go a few weeks ago. This festival is amazing and if you are ever in the Louisville area when it's going on, you have to go! This art show was first started in 1957 to help raise money for the Saint James Court Association as well to bring local artists and residents together.  In 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, & 2011 the St. James Court Art Show was voted best art show in the nation. According to their site, they now have nearly 750 exhibitors and more than 300,000 attendees!

Anyway, Nick and I found ourselves walking the streets of artists and vendors amazed at all of the talent that surrounded us. I looked through hundreds of paintings, browsed handfuls of homemade necklaces and earrings, yet I didn't fall in love with anything.  Finally, we turned the corner and I saw it! I had to have it! It was perfect for me! What was it, you say? A caramel, chocolate, & candy covered apple of course!!! Yes, out of the entire art fair, the only thing Nick and I bought was a dessert! It looked so delicious with all the yummy goodness drizzled all over it and it tasted event better than it looked.

Since that day I have always thought about recreating my souvenir, so what better time than apple week at BCB! I have to admit, this dessert was a little more work than I expected. I decided to take a short cut and not make homemade caramel, so I melted caramel candies instead.  That process took longer than I expected because it is so easy to let it get too hot and burn.  Another surprise was that the entire 11 oz bag of caramels only covered 4 large granny smith apples.  Making this dessert is also somewhat messy.  However, I was impressed with the way the apples looked when they were done and I think they would make excellent gifts dressed up in a little bag! Also, they tasted even better than I remember!

Ingredients:

11 oz bag of caramels
16 oz of vanilla melting chocolate
candy of your choice (heath bar crumbs, candy corn, nuts, m&m's, etc.)
kabob skewers (trimmed to the length of your preference)
4 large granny smith apples
parchment paper

1. Clean apples and trim stems off.  Stick skewers through the top and push half way into the apple.  Chill apples in refrigerator while melting the caramel.

2. Unwrap all of the caramels and put in sauce pan.  Put over light - medium heat and stir frequently.  Be careful not to let it get too hot because caramel will burn easily.  Once it is melted you are ready to cover your apples.
3.  One at a time, roll the apples in the hot caramel sauce.  Once it is completely covered, place on parchment paper.  The caramel will not take long to set.
4.  Once you have covered all of your apples with caramel it is time to melt the chocolate.  Temper the chocolate in a saucepan sitting in simmering water.  This will keep the chocolate from getting too hot and boiling.  Stir frequently until the chocolate has melted entirely.
5.  Once it is melted, remove from heat and let sit for 10-12 minutes.  Then dip apples into the chocolate covering it entirely.  After the apples are covered in chocolate, let them sit for a couple of minutes and next roll in candy to cover. Once all apples are covered in chocolate and candy, place them back in the refrigerator to let the chocolate harden up.

6.  Pour the remaining melted chocolate in a Wilton disposable icing bag.  After a few minutes, take the apples out of the refrigerator and drizzle the melted chocolate all over the apples and decorate as desired.  Finally, place them back into the refrigerator to let the drizzles harden up. In about 10 minutes the apples are all done and ready to devour!! Enjoy!

Caramel, Chocolate & Nut

Caramel & Chocolate

Caramel, Chocolate, and Candy Corn

Caramel, Chocolate, & Heath Bar bits

Please check out our our sponsor, Caryn Hammond, of Rodan + Fields Dermatologist's  amazing site for amazing products! 

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