Pumpkin Patch Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Place paper baking cup in each of 9 mini muffin cups. Grease 9-inch square pan with shortening; lightly flour.
• Make cake mix as directed on box, using water, oil and eggs. Fill paper baking cups 3/4 full. Pour remaining batter into square pan.
• Bake cupcakes 12 to 15 minutes; bake square cake 25 to 30 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool completely, at least 30 minutes.
• Place one-third of frosting in small bowl. Add a few drops of each red and yellow food colors until light orange color is achieved. Frost mini cupcakes with orange frosting. Cover frosting completely with orange sanding sugar. Break pretzel sticks in half; press half pretzel into center of each cupcake. Press vertical lines into sides of each cupcake with toothpick to make ribs of pumpkin.
• Tint remaining frosting with green food color. Place square cake on serving plate or tray. Frost cake with green frosting. Designate 1 corner of cake to become back; cover corner with crushed chocolate wafers. Sprinkle wafers over center of cake, leaving some of green frosting showing at other edges of cake.
• Arrange mini cupcake pumpkins on top of crushed chocolate wafers. Sprinkle green edge of cake with green sanding sugar. Press small mint leaves onto pumpkin cupcakes near pretzel "stem." Arrange remaining mint sprigs between pumpkins to create appearance of vines. Store cake loosely covered.

Steps:

• For the pumpkin cake: Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, combine 2 boxes of the pound cake mix, 1 stick of the butter, 4 of the eggs, 1 can of the pumpkin puree and 2 teaspoons of the pumpkin pie spice. Mix with a handheld electric mixer on high speed until blended, about 1 minute. Pour into the prepared Bundt pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes.
• Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then unmold onto a wire cooling rack. Repeat the process to make a second Bundt cake.
• Once the cakes are cooled, level off the bottoms with a serrated knife so the cakes will sit flat. Place one of the cakes cut-side up and spread the vanilla frosting over it. Place the second cake, cut-side down, on top to form a pumpkin.
• For the glaze: In a medium bowl whisk together the confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, milk and food coloring. (The glaze should be a bright orange color; add a few more drops of food coloring if needed.) The mixture will be very thick but still pourable. Place the pumpkin cake on a baking sheet fitted with a wire rack. Slowly pour the glaze over the top, moving in a circular motion around the top of the cake and letting the glaze drip down the sides. Set aside until set, about 1 hour.
• Wrap some fruit leather around the green ice cream cone and press it into place upside down on the cake to form a stem. Dust a work surface with confectioners' sugar, place some fruit leather on top, and cut out a leaf with a leaf-shaped cookie cutter. Press the leaf into place on the cake near the stem.
• For the graveyard: Spray an 18-by-13-inch baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and line with parchment; spray the parchment.
• Prepare both boxes of brownie mix according to the package instructions and pour into the prepared baking sheet. Bake according to the package instructions. Let cool completely, then remove from the pan and place on a large cutting board.
• Frost the top of the brownie sheet with the chocolate frosting. Slice about 60 of the chocolate ladyfingers in half crosswise. Press the halved cookies, cut-side down, side-by-side around the top edge of the frosted brownie sheet to form a fence. On one of the long sides of the brownie sheet, leave a 3-inch opening in the fence to create an entrance. Place 2 whole ladyfingers on either side of the opening to form the gate entrance. Place another whole ladyfinger on top of the two ladyfingers to make the top of the gate, using a little bit of frosting to adhere it.
• Cover the top of the frosted brownie with the crumbled chocolate cream-filled cookies to make dirt. Place the pumpkin cake in the center of the graveyard.
• To make the gravestones, place the rectangular cookies and vanilla wafer sandwich cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spray both sides of the cookies with the silver spray food coloring.
• Use a knife to cut slits into the brownie to hold the gravestones. Carefully place the gravestones into the slits.
• Place the small candy pumpkins and marshmallow ghosts in the graveyard around the pumpkin. Serve immediately.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray both large and small cake pans with nonstick cooking spray, coat with flour, and knock out the excess.
• For the cake: Combine the cake mix with the pumpkin puree, oil and eggs. Using a hand mixer, beat on medium until well incorporated, about 3 minutes. Using an ice cream scoop, fill 6 of the the mini pumpkin pans 2/3 of the way to the top. Fill the unused cups with water so the pan doesn't burn. Pour the remaining batter into the large pan, 2/3 of the way up the sides. Bake the small pans until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes. Continue to bake the large cake until browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean as well, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and, once cool enough to handle, invert onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• Slice the tops off of each cake so that it is flat. Spread about 1/4 cup of the frosting on the cut side of the large cake. Place the other cake half on top of the icing to form a large pumpkin. The icing will act as glue and hold the 2 halves together. Repeat the process with the smaller cakes using 1 tablespoon of frosting per cake set.
• For the fondant: In a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat together the confectioners' sugar and pumpkin puree. Slowly add water by the tablespoonful until a very thick but pourable consistency is reached. Color the fondant orange with a few drops each of red and yellow food coloring. Put the icing in a resealable zip top bag. Place the cakes on a wire cooling rack fitted in a sheet pan. Snip the corner the zip top bag and start to squeeze fondant over top of cakes, allowing to drip down the sides. Let the fondant dry before inserting the stems.
• For the stems: Wrap the cork with the green raffia. Insert a toothpick half way into the cork. Insert into the top of the large pumpkin. Cut the soldering wire into 6 (6-inch) pieces and fold each piece into thirds to form one thick piece about 2 inches long. Wrap with raffia and insert into the top of each small pumpkin cake.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Prepare cake batter and bake in 13x9-inch pan as directed on package. Cool cake in pan 15 min. Poke deep holes in cake at 1/2-inch intervals, using end of wooden skewer or chopstick.
• Add boiling water to gelatin mix in medium bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in cold water. Carefully pour gelatin over warm cake.
• Beat pudding mix and milk in separate medium bowl with whisk 2 min.; spread over cake.
• Separate cookie halves; scrape off and discard creme filling. Crush cookies finely; sprinkle over pudding. Refrigerate 3 hours.
• Tint frosting with food coloring; spoon into small resealable plastic bag. Cut small piece off one bottom corner of bag, then use to pipe frosting onto top of cake to resemble pumpkin vines as shown in photo. Add pumpkin candies.

Steps:

• Line a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan with waxed paper; grease the paper. In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin, sugars, eggs and oil until well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt; gradually add to pumpkin mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan. , Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. Carefully remove waxed paper., For frosting, in a large heavy saucepan over low heat, combine the syrup, egg whites and cream of tartar. With a portable mixer, beat on low speed for 1 minute. Continue beating until frosting reaches 160°, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Beat on high speed until frosting forms stiff peaks, about 7 minutes. Remove 1/4 cup frosting to a small bowl; tint with green and yellow food coloring and set aside., Cut cake widthwise into thirds. Place one layer on a serving plate; spread with a third of the frosting. Repeat layers. Arrange pumpkins on cake; add vines with the green frosting.

Steps:

• For this cake, you stack two Bundt cakes, making sure that the flat sides are sandwiched together and the ridges are aligned. Orange buttercream frosting and a cupcake 'stem' are the finishing touches.
• To make the cakes and stem: Prepare first recipe cake batter. Scoop 1/2 cup batter in standard-sized muffin tin; pour remaining batter into greased and floured 12-cup Bundt pan. Bake both on middle rack in 350-degree oven until toothpick inserted in center of each comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes for cupcake and 45 to 55 minutes for Bundt cake.
• Cool cupcake in pan 5 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Cool Bundt cake in pan 30 minutes, then turn out onto rack. Repeat with second recipe of cake batter. Let both cupcakes and both cakes cool completely.
• To assemble and frost the pumpkin: Place 1/2 cup frosting in bowl and stir in two drops green food coloring to make frosting for stem. Stir two drops each red and yellow food coloring into remaining frosting, adding more until desired orange color is achieved. Use bread knife to level off domed top of cupcakes and even out bottoms of Bundt cakes. Assemble and frost.
• After placing one Bundt cake flat side up on a cake platter and covering the flat side with 1 cup orange frosting, place the second Bundt cake flat side down on top of the frosting, making sure the ridges on both cakes align. Then place one cupcake cut side up in the hole of the Bundt cake and spread 1 tablespoon orange frosting over the top of the cupcake.
• Using a cake spatula, cover the entire cake with orange frosting.
• Run the back of a small spoon up the sides of the orange frosting every few inches to create pumpkin "creases.".