Mini Pumpkin Cake
What could be cuter than a trompe l'oeil mini pumpkin cake? The cakes are moist and full of Fall spices, which are nicely complimented by the cream cheese frosting in the middle.
Servings 6 Pumpkins
Calories 334kcal
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1 pinch ground cloves
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup plain yogurt
- 1 can pumpkin puree 15 oz
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 large eggs
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Buttercream
- 1 lb confectioners' sugar
- 1 cup salted butter room temp
- 1/4 cup milk add in slowly until you achieve desired consistency
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 10 drops orange food coloring Amount of food coloring will depend on brand used and desired color.
Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour your mini bundt pans.
- Cream the oils and sugar together, then add in the yogurt and mix until combined.
- Mix in eggs one at a time, making sure one egg is incorporated into the mixture before adding the next.
- In a separate bowl sift the remaining dry ingredients together.
- Mix dry ingredients into the sugar/egg mixture in three batches alternating with the pumpkin puree. Mix until just combined.
- Spoon or pipe your batter into the pans, filling 2/3 the way up.
- Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until wooden skewer inserted into center comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in pan for about 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until it is smooth. Add in vanilla and powdered sugar and mix until ingredients are well-incorporated and desired consistency is reached.
- For the Buttercream
- Beat butter until light and fluffy, add vanilla and then slowly add sugar. Add milk a few tablespoons at a time until desired consistency is reached. You will want a stiffer buttercream so you might be using less milk. Finally add in the food coloring.
Assembly
- Cut bottoms off cakes (less if you want tall pumpkins, more if you want rounder ones).
- Pipe or smear cream cheese frosting onto the bottom of one mini bundt cake and sandwich together.
- Cover in orange buttercream and sculpt into a pumpkin shape. (I cut a yogurt container up to make my tools. The best ones were a rounded off "V" to scrape the indents and a straight edge to sooth the sides)
- Top with a stem. I used a real pumpkin stem but you can make one from fondant or even very thick buttercream.
Video
Notes
- If you fill the mini bundt forms about half way up there will be enough batter to make about 10 or so pumpkins. I ended up cutting a lot off the bottom from each cake to get a rounder pumpkin. The excess makes a great snack or can be used to make pumpkin cake pops!
- I used real pumpkin stems for these cakes to give the most realistic appearance. I just bought a "Cinderella" pumpkin because they have a long stem then cut a few segments off with some garden clippers.
- You could also make the stems from some fondant or thick buttercream, but it wouldn't look quite as real and takes more time.
- The KEY to decorating these cakes is to chill them after you apply and smooth the buttercream. Once chilled you can do some sculpting and then chill again if the cake softens up too much.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cake | Calories: 334kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 154mg | Potassium: 120mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 250IU | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 0.5mg