Jack O Lantern Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Prepare and bake cakes according to package directions using two 10-in. fluted tube pans. Invert cakes onto wire racks; cool completely. Meanwhile, tint frosting orange using red and yellow food coloring., Cut thin slice off bottom of each cake. Spread one cake bottom with frosting; press flat sides together to make a pumpkin shape. Place a foil ball in the center to support the "stem"; top with an ice cream cake cone. Frost cake with remaining frosting. , To decorate face, roll out fondant to 1/8-in. thickness; cut into desired shapes for mouth and nose. Remove tops from two Oreo cookies; cut half-circles in filling for eyes. Press cookies and fondant into frosting to make the face.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour 2-quart round casserole or 2 1/2-quart ovenproof bowl. Make 1 box cake batter as directed on box. Pour into casserole.
• Bake 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes. Remove cake from casserole; place rounded side up on cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Make, bake and cool remaining cake mix using same casserole or bowl.
• With sharp knife, carefully slice piece from top of each cake to make flat surface where cakes will be placed together to form pumpkin shape. (Cake scraps can be saved and added to another recipe such as pudding or trifle if desired.)
• In medium bowl, place frosting; tint with 9 drops yellow and 6 drops red food color to make orange frosting. On plate, place 1 cake, rounded side down. Spread 2/3 cup of the orange frosting over cake almost to edge. Place second cake, rounded side up, on frosted cake to make round shape. Spread a thin layer of frosting over entire cake to seal in crumbs. For easier handling, refrigerate or freeze cake 30 to 60 minutes. Frost entire cake with remaining orange frosting.
• Trim ice-cream cone to desired height for stem; place upside down on cake. Cut out eyes, nose, mouth, vines and leaves from fruit snack rolls. Place on frosted cake to form face. Store tightly covered.

Steps:

• Beat together the shortening, sugars and the egg until fluffy. Stir in the molasses. Sift together the flour, spices, baking soda and salt, and blend into the sugar mixture. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 3-4 hours.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. This is a tender dough, so work quickly to roll the dough 1/4-inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut out pumpkin shapes using a pumpkin cookie cutter, or freehand using a small knife. If you're cutting your pumpkins freehand, don't make the stem too thin or it will break off after baking. Use a spatula to lift the pumpkins onto lightly greased baking sheets and bake for about 10 minutes. Don't overbake. Cool completely on wire racks before decorating.
• To decorate the pumpkins, set aside 1/3 cup of the royal icing and color it green. Color the remaining icing orange by blending in red and yellow food coloring. (Start with 5 drops of red and 6 drops of yellow and add more coloring as desired to make the color more intense.)
• Spread orange frosting over the pumpkin, avoiding the stem. Allow to set, then use a toothpick to dab green frosting on the stem.
• You can press on candy corn or chocolate chips to make a face on each pumpkin, or you can pipe a face on with melted chocolate using the following method. Melt 1/2 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave in a heatproof bowl for 1 minutes. The chips may look unmelted, but stir them with a spoon to see if they have actually softened before putting them in for another minute, if necessary.
• Spoon the melted chocolate into a zipper-lock bag. Seal the bag, pressing out any air. Use a toothpick to make a very tiny hole in one corner of the bag to release a thin stream of chocolate. Pipe eyes and noses and jagged grins as desired. Allow the chocolate to set before stacking the cookies.
• With beaters or a standing mixer, whip the egg white and lemon juice until frothy. At medium speed, beat in the confectioners' sugar, a little at a time, until the mixture is thick but still liquid enough to beat. Then beat on high until the mixture is thick and glossy, about 3 minutes. Cover the surface with plastic wrap while waiting to use it. Royal icing will set to a firm, glossy finish when applied to a cookie. The icing can be stored, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Steps:

• Side Bar: Before you start, set your cream cheese and butter out for several hours, so it can warm up to room temperature. Set rack in middle of oven and preheat to 300 degrees. Cut the tops off the pumpkins and set aside, With a teaspoon or grapefruit knife, scrape the fibrous pulp and seeds out of the pumpkins. Scrape some of the meat off the inner walls so they are no more than 3/8-inch thick. Put the cream cheese, butter, sugars, cornstarch, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a large mixing bowl and beat at medium speed until blended. Take care not to mix too much air into the batter. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, until each is incorporated. Reduce the speed and beat in the sour cream, vanilla and pumpkin puree. Fill the pumpkin shells with the batter and bake, on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes. Turn the pan and place the tops next to the pumpkins. Bake for 10 more minutes, until barely set and firm. If, at any time, the cakes start to puff up, turn the oven down or remove them. Let cool, in the pan, then refrigerate.;
• Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes until the berries have popped and form a thick sauce. Let cool. To serve, spoon cranberry sauce on top of filling. Place the pumpkin lid on a jaunty angle. Stick the birthday candle and mint sprig into the top.

Steps:

• Make and bake cake mix as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan, using water, oil and eggs. Cool. Line cookie sheet with waxed paper. Crumble cake into large bowl. Add frosting; mix well. Shape into 1 1/4-inch balls; flatten tops slightly. Place on cookie sheet. Freeze until firm; keep refrigerated.
• In microwavable bowl, microwave orange candy melts and shortening uncovered on Medium (50%) 1 minute, then in 15-second intervals, until melted; stir until smooth. Dip tip of 1 lollipop stick about 1/2 inch into melted candy and insert stick into rounded bottom of 1 cake ball no more than halfway. Repeat. Return to cookie sheet. Refrigerate 5 minutes. Remove from refrigerator a few at a time. Dip cake balls in melted orange candy; tap off excess. Poke opposite end of stick into foam block. Immediately attach licorice to look like handle, holding in place until set. Let stand until coating is set.
• Spoon melted black candy into resealable food-storage plastic bag; seal bag. Cut off tiny corner of bag; squeeze bag to pipe jack-o'-lantern face onto each cake pop. Use melted orange candy to attach candies to tops of pops.

Steps:

• For Candy Core and Exterior- In a medium sauce pan or double boiler, heat candy melts until just liquid. 110 degrees is their ideal temperature in a liquid state.
• Blow up several balloons and make sure you have ample room in your freezer. Slowly dip or paint candy melts onto balloon working in small sections until completely covered. Once ready, set on flat plate and place in freezer.
• Here are TWO helpful hints to avoid trouble at this stage: The balloon should be slightly under inflated and the temperature of the candy melts being too warm can cause the balloon to pop and splatter difficult to clean candy all over you and your kitchen. I can't guarantee this won't happen anyway, which is why I mentioned you should blow up several and make your peace with disaster before it happens. Layer the balloon several times and keep frozen until ready to use. When desired shape is achieved punch small hole in balloon and slowly begin to remove using your fingers to separate the balloon from the frozen candy. If any large pieces of your pumpkin core break, simply heat the edges and put it back where it broke from. Keep remaining candy melts to brush on final cake to create delicious seal.
• For Pumpkin Cake- Pre-heat oven to 350. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, set aside. In stand mixer, combine 4 cups white sugar. 2 1/2 cups vegetable oil, 2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 4 cups canned pumpkin. Beat until smooth and then add one egg at a time. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients into the wet. Butter and flour six 7" round cake pans and pour two cups batter into each. Bake three at a time at 350 for 30 minutes. Some cakes are finicky, but these are pretty foolproof and so delicious!
• Once removed from oven, wait 10 minutes, then remove from baking dishes, wrap loosely in wax paper and refrigerate until ready to use. At which point you will slice the rounds into thin moon-like crescents with a serrated blade and any additional pieces can be used later for pumpkin cake pops or just eating fresh.
• For Buttercream- In a stand mixer, beat room temp butter until light and the gradually add confectioners sugar. Beat until fluffy, then add 2 tbs heavy whipping cream, 4 tbs canned pumpkin, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp Pumpkin spice, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp Orange food coloring, 3/4 tsp brown food coloring and taste to ensure the flavor is to your liking.
• Remove cake crescents from fridge and candy core dome from freezer and frost and apply in two layers. Initial layer should start horizontal and the last layer should be vertical. Keep in mind pumpkins are somewhat irregular, so don't worry too much about imperfections. Refrigerate often to ensure cake is structurally sound and never work in a warm kitchen.
• Once built, frost with remaining buttercream and pipe stripes from top to bottom and blend for added dimension and flavor. Seal with leftover candy melts and finalize by painting additional shadows and highlights. Use a flame-heated blade to carve the jack-o-lantern. Cut a small mouse hole in the back and light with either a candle or a plug-in light. This cake has no supports, so know it must be kept cold as it could collapse if left at room temperature.
• Note: You'll need 3 batches of buttercream for this cake.

Steps:

• also use: empty toilet paper roll (or empty papertowel roll) OR 1 large lite brown frosted cupcake green crepe paper, or fake leaf garland or if using the cupcake,,pipe on green colored vine and leaves Bake 2 bundt cakes (using 1 bundt pan twice or using 2 bundt cake pans according to box instructions).
• put one bundt cake upside down on serving plate.
• frost the top and place 2nd bundt cake on first bundt cake-- right side up-- this is your pumpkin Make your favorite buttercream frosting and tint pumpkin orange (or use 2 cans prepared frosted either orange or you tint it orange) Frost entire'pumpkin' to decorate wrap the empty toilet paper roll (or papertowel roll cut in half) with foil or wax paper.
• put covered roll in the hole on top of cake cut a dozen or so strips from green crepe paper and put in hole in top to look like vines.
• Or, us artificial leaves& vines.
• Or, place a brown or tan frosted cupcake upside down in hole on top and using green frosting, pipe stem and leaves down and around cupcake for eyes, nose, and mouth on pumpkin, arrange the candy corn to your liking Put additional candy corn around bottom of cake, alternating one up, the next upside down, etc all round cake.

Steps:

• Prepare cake batter and bake as directed on package for 24 cupcakes, blending dry pudding mix into batter before spooning into prepared cups. Cool completely.
• Beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla and food colorings in medium bowl with mixer until blended. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until blended.
• Arrange cupcakes on large platter to resemble a stemmed pumpkin as shown in diagram; frost with cream cheese mixture. Use colored sugar to fill in the stem. Add 2 cookies for the jack-o'-lantern's eyes. Crush remaining cookies; sprinkle over cake for the mouth. Arrange marshmallow halves in mouth for the teeth.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Stir baking mix, milk, sugar, and butter together in a bowl until a soft dough forms. Smooth dough gently into a ball on a floured cloth placed over a cutting board. Knead dough 8 to 10 times only, as dough will get tough very quickly if overkneaded.
• Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness on the floured cloth. Cut dough using a floured 2-inch circle cookie cutter. Cut circles to form pumpkins; cut stems from scrap dough using a knife. Attach stems to the underside of the circles using a dab of milk and pressure. Place cookies on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden around the edges, about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool 10 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely, 15 to 30 minutes.
• While cookies cool, cut licorice in 3 different sizes: 1/4-inch pieces in sets of 3 to form triangle eyes, tiny dots for the pupils, and 1- to 2-inch curved or straight segments to form mouths.
• Mix confectioners' sugar, milk, and orange extract together in a small bowl for frosting. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the frosting to dye with green food coloring in a bowl. Use orange food coloring to dye remaining frosting as desired.
• Frost green stems and orange pumpkin faces onto cooled cookies and decorate with cut licorice and candy corn while frosting is still wet.

Steps:

• 1. Heat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour 2-quart round casserole or 2 1/2-quart ovenproof bowl. Make 1 box cake batter as directed on box. Pour into casserole.
• 2. Bake 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes. Remove cake from casserole; place rounded side up on cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Make, bake and cool remaining cake mix using same casserole or bowl
• 3. With sharp knife, carefully slice piece from top of each cake to make flat surface where cakes will be placed together to form pumpkin shape. (Cake scraps can be saved and added to another recipe such as pudding or trifle if desired.)
• 4. In medium bowl, place frosting; tint with 9 drops yellow and 6 drops red food color to make orange frosting. On plate, place 1 cake, rounded side down. Spread 2/3 cup of the orange frosting over cake almost to edge. Place second cake, rounded side up, on frosted cake to make round shape. Spread a thin layer of frosting over entire cake to seal in crumbs. For easier handling, refrigerate or freeze cake 30 to 60 minutes. Frost entire cake with remaining orange frosting.
• 5. Trim ice-cream cone to desired height for stem; place upside down on cake. Cut out eyes, nose, mouth, vines and leaves from fruit snack rolls. Place on frosted cake to form face. Store tightly covered.