Monday, October 15, 2012

Pumpkin Cake Bites

These little pumpkins are just as yummy as my pumpkin cake pops, but even easier to make, store and display, because they don't have sticks!

What You Need:
Pumpkin Cake*
Cream Cheese Frosting
Orange Candy Melts
Brown or Green Jimmies Sprinkles
Toothpicks - preferably with one flat end
Optional:
Green Candy Melts
Decorating bottle or disposable decorating bags
Tips #2 & #349


*Note: My pumpkin cake recipe makes about 6-7 cups of batter. That is more than your average cake mix, so this makes about 70 or more cake pops or cake bites. If you don't want that many, use some of the batter to make cupcakes or something. It takes a lot of work to make that many cake balls!

Make the Cake Balls

Bake and cool the cake.
Break the cake into small crumbs. Add about 1-2 cups of icing. (Start with little, you can always add more. Adding too much icing makes the cake balls to mushy, and hard to roll.)
*If you have never make cake pops before, check out my two tutorials:
- How to make cake pops
- How long does it take to make cake pops?

Using a small spoon or a teaspoon-sized scoop, roll the dough into small, compact, smooth cake balls. You can make them many different shapes, if you wish, because pumpkins aren't all fat and round. Make some skinny and tall, some squatty, get creative!

Take a spoon or fork, and make 5-6 indentations around the sides. This helps the pumpkins look more like pumpkins, and less like basketballs.
Now, you have to be patient. These cake balls need to sit at least 3 hours to overnight in the refrigerator. In a pinch, you can put them in the freezer for 30 minutes, then into the refrigerator while you work.

Melt one bag of the Orange Candy Melts with about 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil. I recommend using a tall mug, rather than a bowl. (I melt them at 30% power for about 3 minutes, stir, and recheck every 30 seconds at 30% power until fully melted.)

Using a toothpick - preferably one with one flat end, and one pointed end - skewer a chilled cake ball about halfway through, with the flat end in to the cake ball.

Dip the cake ball into the melted candy. (Be careful just to dip it straight down, and straight back up. If you do a lot of twirling and swirling, it falls off, and you have to go fishing for pumpkins.)

Gently tap the toothpick on the side of the glass, allowing the excess candy to drip off.

Set the pumpkin on waxed or parchment paper to set. (About 5 minutes.)
ps- See how the pumpkin on the top right has a big pool of candy around it? That's what happens when you don't tap off a lot of the excess candy coating. I did that on purpose... yeah, that's it. I just wanted to show you what not to do!

Once the pumpkin is set, remove the toothpick by gently twisting it up and out of the candy.

In the toothpick hole, place a green or brown jimmie sprinkle for a stem.

If you want, use melted green candy to add leaves (with tip #349) or vines (with tip #2).

I usually store cake pops, or cake truffles like these, in the refrigerator, and try to take them out about 30 minutes before serving them. Because I use cream cheese frosting, refrigeration is a must.

Enjoy!

Click the Links Below to See:
Pumpkin Cake Pops
Cake Pop Ideas/Tricks/Tips
Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving Ideas

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2 comments:

  1. They look amazing! I love pumpkin anything and want to try them for Thanksgiving:) Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow!!!.....awesome cakes. I would like try once before our Thanksgiving party. Thank you for sharing with us.

    ReplyDelete

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