Pumpkin shaped cake with buttercream frosting and fondant accents.

Pumpkin shaped cake with buttercream frosting and fondant accents.

I’m primarily a buttercream broad, but when I was designing the Dr. Horrible Party Cakes, I knew I was going to be using a lot of fondant.

I decided a pumpkin-shaped cake would be an excellent place to experiment with shaping fondant — it’s easy enough to make a lovely pumpkin cake with just buttercream frosting, but fondant is a great way to add some pumpkin leaves and curly vine details.

If I had it all to do over again, I would have rolled the fondant quite a bit thinner and I would have added some painted details to the leaves with liquid food coloring (a process I used a lot on the goggles cake).

But for a primarily buttercream broad, I was pretty satisfied with the pumpkin’s fondant accents.

Pumpkin Shaped Cake Supplies

• Enough batter for three cakes (3 standard box mixes)
• Buttercream Frosting (enough for approximately 3 cakes)
• Fondant
• Wilton’s Gel Food Coloring: Green, Orange, Yellow, Royal Blue (the Yellow and Royal Blue are optional colors)
• Pumpkin Leaf Pattern
• Toothpicks
• Specialty Pans: Bundt Pan

Using the bundt pan in ways it was not intended.

The foundation of the pumpkin-shaped cake is almost always the bundt pan. The contemporary bundt pan was originally designed for baking “bundkuchen”, a type of German coffee cake. Today the bundt pan is used for baking just about any type of cake — even pumpkin.

For the pumpkin cake, bake two bundt cakes. The size of your bundt pan will determine just how much batter is needed, but for the average pan, one box mix will do. Bake time will be considerably longer than when baking two layers from one box — close to twice as long, but start checking the cake early and make sure not to over-bake.

When I started this cake, I thought two bundt cakes were the answer for the perfect pumpkin shape.

I was wrong.

In order to keep the cake from collapsing, I knew I was going to use this stacking method and when I put the cake together, well… just look at the pics:

Looking for the perfect pumpkin cake shape.

The first picture is of two bundt cakes stacked on top of each other. I like the curved edges on the top and on the bottom, but the curves in the middle are not making me happy.

So I leveled off what would traditionally be the “bottom” of each bundt cake and put the cake back together — and that’s the second image.

I now had a more traditional pumpkin-shaped cake — a very short, kind of flat, pumpkin-shaped cake.

And this is when the third box mix comes into play. I baked two 9″ layers (the size should match the size of your bundt pan). One would be used for the stem of the pumpkin and one would be the middle layer of the pumpkin cake — and that’s the third picture.

Now that I had a shape I was happy with, it was time for the frosting.

Tip: I use disposable chopsticks as my primary source of “dowels” for stacking cakes — not your good chopsticks, but those cheapo break apart ones that always accompany takeout and splinter your lips.

Smooth buttercream frosting.

If you squeeze one batch of buttercream frosting, you can frost this entire cake, but if you apply frosting with a pastry bag and frosting tip (which tends to put the frosting on thicker), you might need 1.5 batches.

Before you add the orange coloring, set aside 1/2 cup of frosting (this will be the frosting for the stem).

I colored the frosting with Wilton’s Orange gel coloring, but because I wanted a more natural orange (and not cartoon orange), I added a tiny amount of Royal Blue. This just dulls down the orange and is a completely optional step. Once the cake is frosted, use the paper towel method to smooth the frosting.

Making grooved on side of the pumpkin cake.

Allow the smoothed frosting to “rest” for 10-15 minutes.

Place a paper towel on the frosting and gently drag the back of your finger along the cake to make the grooves of the pumpkin.

Stem made from cut out cakes circles.

Using a cookie/fondant cutter, cut circles of cake from the second 9″ layer of cake. Stack those layers (you’ll likely need to use toothpicks to stabilize the stack) and carve to your satisfaction. Make sure you don’t carve the stack so skinny that it will fall through the hole in the center of the top bundt cake.

Get the frosting you set aside earlier and color with Wilton Gel coloring (I used Kelly green). Frost the stem and then place the stem in the center of the cake — use toothpicks to hold the stem in place. Drag the tines of a standard dinner fork through the frosting to make it rough.

Pumpkin shaped cake with all buttercream frosting.

For you buttercream freaks, your work here is done! If you want some fondant extras, continue reading.

Download the pumpkin leaf pattern PDF

If you’re new to fondant, you can either purchase “rolled fondant” (ready-to-use) or make Pix’s Marshmallow fondant. They’re similar to work with, but Pix’s is reportedly yummy. Most ready-to-use fondant is… an acquired taste.

I say Pix’s is “reportedly yummy” because I’m a fondant weenie and I bought ready-to-use.

Once you have the fondant of your choice, color it green with Wilton’s Gel Coloring (check Pix’s tutorial on Coloring Fondant).

But before you do all that, download this pattern and cut out the leaf patterns.

Cutting fondant leaves.

Use the downloaded leaf patterns to create the green fondant leaves.

Fondant leaves draped over plastic containers.

To give the fondant leaves some interest, drape them over small plastic containers or bowls or whatever else you have in the kitchen that seems suitable. I used a mixture of plastic containers and chopsticks.

Fondant snakes wrapped around chopsticks.

For the pumpkin vines, roll out some snakes of fondant. I wanted some variety, so I added some Golden Yellow in varying amounts to little bits of the already green fondant. Once you have the snakes, wrap them around chopsticks, lolly sticks, or the round handle of a wooden spoon. Allow the fondant to dry for approximately 30 minutes.

Vine curls removed from chopsticks and shaped.

Once the vines have dried (but aren’t completely hardened), slide them off the chopsticks and stretch them out. You can also “bend” them so that they will fall more gracefully along the sides of the pumpkin. Allow the fondant to harden fully. If you try to drape the curls on the pumpkin too soon, the weight of the dangling fondant will stretch out the curls completely and/or cause the curls to break.

Pumpkin shaped cake with buttercream frosting and fondant accents.

Once all of your fondant pieces have dried, attach them to the cake. For the curls, I just stuck one end in the buttercream. For the leaves, I just placed them on the pumpkin and allowed them to rest naturally against the stem and sides of the pumpkin.

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Cheeseburger and French Fries on a Plate Cake

Would you like fries with that? This fun food-shaped cake features a cheeseburger and french fries on a cake shaped like a plate. It was made from two pound cake mixes, buttercream frosting, and a batch of marshmallow fondant.

For the plate I baked a 9″ round cake, scooped a small amount of cake out of the middle to create a plate indentation, frosted it, and covered it in white fondant to give it a smooth porcelain appearance.

Cake Cut into French Fry Strips

For the french fries, I baked a small rectangular pound cake. I cut it into strips and placed the edges that had become golden after baking face up on the fondant plate. A few dollops of red buttercream frosting complete the look.

Cheeseburger Cake

The cheeseburger is a bit more complicated, but it is still fairly simple to create. I used a three inch round pan and added a few drops of brown food coloring to the cake mix for the hamburger patty. For the top and bottom bun, I used a mini ball pan and only filled one of the half round sections with batter. After baking, I cut it in half to create a top and bottom bun. I then frosted each part with buttercream and covered them in ivory fondant. The sesame seeds are flattened, white fondant balls, and the cheese is fondant (colored orange and bright yellow) rolled into a square shape.

Hamburger or Cheeseburger and French Fry Cake

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White chocolate Parmasan completes the authentic look

These Spaghetti pasta and meatball cupcakes (aka Fairy cakes) are absolutely delicious. The recipe can also be made as one large cake but I find it is easier to do the decoration and serve the cakes as individuals.

The quantities of ingredients are variable depending on the amount of cupcakes or size of whole cake you choose to use. This recipe is made to decorate 4 full sized cupcakes.

4 ready made plain/basic flavoured cupcakes(fairy cakes)

These can be home made with the easy sponge cake recipe, using a cake mix or ready bought. Because of the rather rich tasting decoration I recommend using a very basic vanilla flavour

White chocolate ganache spaghetti pasta
1 amount of chocolate ganache made with white chocolate and using 2:1 chocolate:cream allowed to cool to a piping consistency and can hold it’s shape.

Jelly/jello pasta sauce.
This sauce can be made with strawberry/raspberry Jelly or jam (jello/jelly).
Make up jelly/jello following the packet recipe but using half quantities of water. If using Jam it is best to heat and strain to remove fruit chunks and pips.
I added a few drops of red food colouring to enhance the vibrancy of the sauce colour.

Meatballs
100g of milk chocolate- melted
2 heaped teaspoons of desiccated coconut
The middles from the cupcakes -crumbled

Parmasan cheese garnish
White chocolate

Prepare white chocolate ganache and allow to cool down.

Prepare the jello and allow to set to a consistency that can still be poured but not runny.

Scoop out centre of Cupcake

Score circles into the cupcake tops using a knife and scoop out around ¼ inch of cake. Reserve removed cake for later

Seal the centre of the cupcake

Seal the dents in the cupcake centres with a small amount of the chocolate ganache. Allow to set.

When the chocolate mixture has cooled enough to pipe begin to pipe the icing onto the cupcakes in a random fashion to imitate pasta. If you find the chocolate is losing shape because it is warming up place in the refrigerator for a short while and pipe the icing in short time batches.

Pipe Ganache to make Spaghetti Pasta

Place cupcakes in the refrigerator to fully set.

Prepare the meatballs by adding the coconut and crumbed bits of cupcake to the melted chocolate and combine.

Make the chocolate meatballs

Form into small balls. I chose to put 3 small balls in each of the cupcakes but you can use your judgment based on the size of your cakes. The coconut and cake crumb create a more realistic texture in the balls so do not over work them.

They also helped to give a fuller flavour.

When all parts of the cupcake decoration are ready it is time to put it all together.

First spoon a small amount of jelly into the middle of the pasta, then add your chocolate truffle balls.

Add sauce and chocolate meatballs

Spoon over the balls a small amount of the sauce and finish off with some grated white chocolate to represent Parmesan cheese. I used my fine cheese grater to get the exact effect. Sometimes it may be necessary to place the chocolate in the freezer for 5 minutes first.

Then there we have our Spaghetti pasta and meatball cupcakes!

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Dessert Pizza Cookie Cake

This has to be one of the easiest and most fun shaped cakes to make.  It’s great to create with children, and there’s very little chance of doing anything that can’t be fixed.  It incorporates both buttercream and fondant, but there are many variations that can be introduced.  Instead of buttercream cheese, grated white chocolate can be used.  A fruit pie glaze would work as tomato sauce instead of buttercream cookie frosting, and a variety of candies and cookies can be used as toppings.

To keep things simple for this recipe, a refrigerated sugar cookie dough was used.  You can use a cake mix instead; just keep in mind that you’re using a pizza pan with a much larger surface area and will need less cooking time for your cake.  For sugar cookie dough,  be sure that your dough is soft enough to easily spread across the entire pan using either your fingers or a spoon.  Bake the cookie at 350 degrees for about ten minutes, and you should end up with a nice edge that is high on the outside, looking very similar to pizza crust.

Next comes the fun part. After your cookie has cooled, use a cookie buttercream frosting in red to make tomato sauce. Let it firm, and then use buttercream (in a shade of ivory) coupled with a straight decorating tip to create strands of mozzarella cheese.

Buttercream Mozzarella Pizza Cheese

Pizza Cake Tomato Sauce

Let the buttercream cheese dry and form a crust (at least an hour) so that it will better hold its shape when you add your fondant meats and veggies. Color and cut out fondant pizza toppings (this pizza cake features black olives, pepperoni, green pepper, and onions), place them on the pizza, grab a pizza box from a local pizza place to use for presentation, and you’re done.

Fondant Pizza Toppings

Completed Pizza Cake

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