Mini Pumpkin Cakes
Things you'll need
Ingredients- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons espresso powder
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs
- 2 batches Swiss Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup brewed espresso
- Food coloring: orange and green
- 12 chocolate candy rolls (Tootsie Rolls)
Equipment
- Two 12-cavity mini fluted pans (Wilton)
- Decorating tips: #2, #352
Let's get started!
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease two 12-cavity mini fluted pans.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
- In a large bowl, mix together the melted butter and espresso powder. Whisk in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, pumpkin puree, and eggs until smooth.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix just until no dry streaks remain (do not over mix).
- Fill each pan cavity halfway with batter. Bake until a wooden pick inserted halfway between the edge and the center comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes.
- Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
Time to decorate!
- Make the Swiss buttercream frosting. While the frosting is still in the mixer bowl, beat in the brewed espresso until well combined.
- Divide the frosting between 2 bowls, three quarters in one bowl and one-quarter in the second bowl. Tint the larger amount of buttercream orange and tint the smaller green. Scoop the green frosting into separate decorating bags, one fitted with a #2 tip and the other with a #352 tip.
- Level off the tops of the cakes with a cake leveler or a small serrate knife.
- Stack the cakes, leveled sides together, spreading a thin layer of orange frosting in between, to form pumpkins.
- Frost the entire cake with orange buttercream. Gently run the tip of a small offset spatula from the bottom to the top to create the texture of the pumpkin.
- Shape each Tootsie Roll into a stem. Place one in the center of each pumpkin.
- Using the #2 tip, pipe vines around the stem. Using the #352 tip, pipe leaves onto the vines.
Written By Rosanna Pansino