A Squared: 3-D Pumpkin Cake by [Im]perfectly Balanced

Thursday, November 21, 2013

3-D Pumpkin Cake by [Im]perfectly Balanced

Holly, me & our friend Cody in Dallas

I have something fun for you today: a guest recipe post from Holly over at [Im]perfectly Balanced. Holly lives in Dallas with her husband and their adorable dogs, but she and I know each other because she's one of my  clients at my day job! We bonded when we met in person for the first time and discovered each other's blogs. Holly's lifestyle blog is so fun to read: full of simple recipes, home renovation projects, entertaining ideas, and tons of southern charm! Stop on over to [Im]perfectly Balanced for a visit, but in the meantime check out this adorable cake idea she's sharing here today-- a presentation that's just perfect for Thanksgiving!




3-D Pumpkin Cake

Beginning in October, it seems like the Fall/Holiday parties are underway. And once they start it's like they never stop. I wanted to create a fun dessert that you can take to any Fall party whether it's a hostess gift, your dessert for a potluck dinner, or even an office party. The solution: 3-D Pumpkin Cake! It might sound daunting, but it couldn't be more easier and quick to whip up!

Pull together ingredients for your favorite boxed cake or your top secret homemade recipe. Usually I use my mom's pound cake recipe which I can't give out so I used a boxed cake mix and it tasted delicious! A spice cake would even be perfect for this.

Dust off and polish your Kitchen Aid Stand mixer because she will make your life a tiny bit easier here. Simply put all of the ingredients in your mixer and begin mixing slowly then speed up after most of the flour has mixed in.


You want to be careful and not over mix your ingredients while looking for a creamy consistency. It's okay if there are a few pockets of flour still in the batter, just make sure the butter is evenly mixed throughout. (A good tip is to make sure your butter is softened before beginning this recipe).
 

You'll need 2 bundt pans for this cake. If you really want this to look like the perfect pumpkin then you can use these cake molds. Grease your bundt pans lightly. This is my favorite spray out there for baking (from Williams-Sonoma): Bak-Klene ZT Nonstick Baking Spray.  Then pour the batter into the bundt pans and place in the oven! 
 

Then unfortunately you have to wait, but it's not a long wait and your house will smell amazing!
Once the cakes are cooked, you can place them on a wire rack where they need to cool completely. If they are warm at all the icing will melt right off.


 
Put your icing into a bowl and begin to mix your food coloring. This is the part that's not an exact science. Continue adding drops of yellow and red food coloring until you reach the color of orange you desire. I believe I got up to about 14 drops of yellow and about 12 of red.

 
Now we're ready to ice the cake! Flip over each of your bundt cakes and make sure the tops of them are flat. If not, you may have to cut off a little to make the surface even. Using a long serrated knife, simple trip off a little of the top of the cake at a time until it's even. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect. Next, ice the top of the bottom layer then stack the two cakes.


Then continue icing the rest of the cake. Since I was taking this to a work party the next day, I iced the cake and let it set over night. I took some of the leftover icing and added some more food coloring to create a deeper orange. This will give some more depth to the cake. Once you are at the cake's final destination, take the deeper orange icing and ice vertical lines around the pumpkin. Then you can take some tootsie rolls and mold together to create a stem for your cake. I couldn't seem to find any tootsie rolls so I took a piece of brown felt and cut out the shape of a stem and place in the middle of the pumpkin cake using toothpicks.
And there you have it! 3-D Pumpkin Cake!






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