Pumpkin & Spice Mini-Cakes with Brown Sugar Icing

Perfect for this time of year, I just adjust my ages- old favorite quick-bread recipe, using canned pumpkin and spices for these, then iced with an old fashioned Brown Sugar Icing.

Pumpkin-Spice Cakelettes

with Brown Sugar Icing

For PRINTABLE copy, see LINK at bottom of POST.


Preheat oven to 325-degrees F

Ingredients:

3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup canned, unflavored pumpkin

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, or freshly ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, oil and eggs; mix well. Stir in pumpkin and and vanilla. Combine flour cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into liquid ingredients just until moistened. portion into greased pan, filling cups just a bit more than 1/2 full.

Bake at 325 F for about 15 to 18 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool on baking rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

All to cool completely before adding icing.

Before assembling cut any domed tops from little cakes using a serrated knife (Cook's treat!) so they will fit together flat side to flat side.

Brown Sugar Icing:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

1 cup brown sugar (a little more if you like thicker icing)

1 tablespoon cream or half & half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Melt butter over medium heat, stir in cream, salt and sugar. Stir well until blended. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Beat with a spoon until the icing cools and thickens a bit. Spoon over bottom halves of 1/2 of the cakelettes (reserving 1/2 for assembly); place tops on each one then spoon icing over tops, and allow to drip down sides. Decorate as desired. Allow icing to firm up a little before covering loosely for storage.

I've served them at Halloween parties, on the Thanksgivings Dessert Buffet table and even as treats for autumn birthdays, with a birthday candle where the stem of the pumpkin would be.

Since I grow grapes, I just use tiny grape leaves and a couple of tendrils for pumpkin leaves, but you could use fondant leaves, or pipe icing leaves and tendril, or just leave them plain.

You can also decorate them with maple cream icing, cream cheese icing, even chocolate icing if you would prefer.

This recipe will make about a pan and a half cakelettes (depending upon how full you fill each cup) using the mini-bundt Nordicware pan ~ shown below.

You need 2 half cakes for each pumpkin.


Here is the pan you'll need:

(You can make cupcakes, mini-bundt cakes, and brownies in them, too. 

Soo CUTE!!)

For a PRINTABLE copy of the recipe, it's HERE on my recipe blog.