Pumpkin Cake Graveyard Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 9-by-13-inch cake pan. Line with parchment paper; butter lining. Dust with flour; tap out excess. Set pan aside.
• Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves in a large bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low; alternate between adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Add pumpkin, and beat until completely combined.
• Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until golden and a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Unmold; peel off parchment. Let cool completely on rack, top side up.
• Set cake and rack on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pour warm chocolate glaze over cake. Using a small offset spatula, gently smooth glaze over top of cake, letting it drip down sides. Let stand at room temperature, or refrigerate until set. Arrange 6 headstones on top; serve with the remaining.

Steps:

• Make the Genoise according to the recipe and set aside.
• Bloom the gelatin in cold water to cover. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatin and set aside.
• Place the pumpkin, sugar and spices in a large glass bowl and stir to combine. Place about 1/4 cup of the pumpkin mixture into a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the bloomed gelatin to the pan and stir to combine. The heat will melt the gelatin. Add the warm pumpkin to the remaining pumpkin mixture. Fold in the whipped cream.
• Use round cutters that are slightly smaller than the pumpkin mold to cut the cake. The pieces need to fit just inside the mold.
• Add the rum to the Simple Syrup and place the syrup in a squeeze bottle.
• Add a few spoons of the pumpkin Bavarian to the mold. Place a cake layer on top of the Bavarian and gently press into place. Soak the cake layer with the rum simple syrup. Repeat with another layer of pumpkin Bavarian, cake and simple syrup. Place the mold in the freezer for about 2 hours.
• When the cake has frozen, place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and whip until softened. Use a rubber spatula to fold the cream cheese into the whipped cream. Place the whipped cream cheese into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. To unmold the cake, dip the mold into hot water.
• Put raspberry and chocolate sauces in squeeze bottles. Fill the pumpkins mouth with raspberry sauce and his eyes and nose with chocolate sauce. Pipe the whipped cream cheese around the rim of the cake using any decoration.
• Place a 1-quart saucepan half filled with water over high heat and bring it to a simmer. Make a double boiler by setting a large mixing bowl over the simmering water. Place the whole eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and honey in the mixing bowl and make an egg foam by whisking the mixture to 113 degrees F on a candy thermometer, about 7 to 10 minutes. The egg foam passes through various stages becoming foamy, then smooth and finally it thickens. When it is thick, it will be hot to the touch, tripled in volume, and light in color and the sugar will have completely dissolved. If you dip the whisk into the mixture and pull it out, the batter should fall back into the bowl in a thick ribbon.
• Remove the mixing bowl from the heat and whip the batter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until it cools, increases in volume, stiffens slightly and becomes pale yellow, about 7 to 10 minutes. Take the time to whip it well; if the mixture is underwhipped, the baked genoise will be dense. Very, very carefully, fold in the flour with a rubber spatula until the flour is no longer visible, making sure to fold to the bottom of the bowl. Do not overmix or the batter will deflate.
• Bake the genoise on a baking sheet: Spread the batter over a parchment paper-covered baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven until lightly and evenly browned and springy to the touch, about 10 minutes.
• Let the genoise cool slightly. Unmold and finish cooling on a wire rack to allow the air to circulate evenly around the cake. The baked genoise can be stored in the freezer for 2 to 3 weeks if well wrapped in plastic wrap. Return it to room temperature before using it.
• Recipe courtesy, Jacques Torres Dessert Circus Extraordinary Desserts You Can Make At Home, 1999
• Combine all 3 ingredients in a nonreactive 2-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. All the sugar crystals should completely dissolve. Remove from the heat and pour into a clean medium-size bowl. Let cool completely before using. If you are short on time, you can cool the syrup over an ice bath. Simple syrup can be stored in the refrigerator indefinitely if kept in an airtight container.
• Recipe courtesy Jacques Torres, Dessert Circus Extraordinary Desserts You Can Make At Home, 1999

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter the inside of two 8-inch Bundt pans; dust lightly with cocoa powder.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine granulated sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla, canola oil, buttermilk, and 3/4 cup milk. Slowly add egg mixture to sugar mixture. Using the paddle attachment, mix batter on low speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Divide batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake cakes until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack, and cool for 20 minutes before removing from the pans.
• Place both chocolates, heavy cream, and 1 tablespoon butter in a medium heat-proof bowl over a pot of gently simmering water. Heat, stirring often, until chocolate is completely melted, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, and let cool to room temperature. Whisk chocolate until lightened; set aside.
• Using a serrated knife, trim the bottoms of both cakes so they are both flat. Spread chocolate evenly on the flat side of one of the cakes. Invert the remaining cake onto chocolate so that a pumpkin shape is formed. Place cake onto a wire rack.
• To make orange butter glaze, combine remaining 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of milk and the food coloring until the mixture is a pumpkin color; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar and 1 cup melted butter. Add reserved milk mixture, and continue whisking until smooth. Working quickly, carefully pour orange butter glaze over the cake, tilting the cake as necessary to coat all sides of the cake. Let glaze set completely before garnishing with chocolate leaves. Serve.

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a saucepan, combine butter, water and cocoa; bring to a boil over medium heat. Add to flour mixture; beat well. Beat in sour cream and eggs. , Pour into a greased 13x9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 35-38 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes., Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine butter, milk and cocoa; bring to a boil. Remove from the heat; stir in sugar and vanilla. Pour over warm cake. Crumble chocolate cookies; sprinkle over frosting while still warm. Cool completely. , For tombstone, use icing to decorate vanilla cookies with words or faces; place on cake. For ghosts, make mounds of whipped topping; use icing to add eyes and mouths as desired. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Just before serving, add pumpkins and gummy worms if desired.