Thursday

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

For PRINTABLE copy, see LINK at bottom of POST.


Preheat oven to 325-degrees F

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.


15 comments:

  1. You read my mind!!! I was going to ask about the leaves :) :) Looks like I'll have to grow some grapes because those leaves are beautiful. I can't wait to try this recipe.

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  2. this is darling, i just made some yesterday too in the same pan, should give it a go!

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  3. And I just bought the mini pumpkin pan , with a coupon of course!
    Yours are adorable, Mary!
    I just saw it done with the big bundt pan times 2, and a real pumpkin stem for the top..cute!
    kathleen

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  4. It's amazing idea! I've got pumpkin and this cake forms!

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  5. Such a nice combination of spices with pumpkin, and the cakelets are just adorable with the leaves on top! Too bad I won't get pretty molds like these around here.

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  6. I have the W/S Martha mini pumpkin pan..This is a great recipe:) Thanks Mary and how cute are they?
    They will be my TG dessert for certain ..! No cheesecake for once..Too cute!
    Kathleen..:)

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  7. Absolutely adorable, Mary! I love the grape leaf toppers - they're perfect.

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  8. How amazingly delicious they look. And Mari, I can't think of a more ideal topper than the grape leaves. Perfecto.

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  9. The brown sugar icing looks fantastic! And, great idea of using the mini bundt pan!

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  10. Those would be adorable for Thanksgiving! I'm definitely bookmarking this one, thanks!

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  11. These look so cute and delicious!

    I'm saving the recipe because I've been looking for a good brown sugar frosting and yours looks like gooey caramel.

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  12. BEAUTIFUL! Absolutely gorgeous! Not to mention I would love to eat taste it also! You got me with that brown sugar frosting!

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  13. P.S. I stumbled this - I really hope you get a lot of visits for this lovely treat!!

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  14. Your photos are just gorgeous. I'm certain even those few people who don't care for pumpkin are drooling!
    ~ingrid

    BTW, I hopped over from Ms. HoneyB's blog!

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  15. I made these today and I had to tell you... this is HANDS DOWN the best 'pumpkin anything' I've ever tasted. This recipe is an absolute MUST HAVE for anyone who loves to bake pumpkin bread, cake, bars, anything.

    I love the maple icing too! Thanks for a wonderful recipe!

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Thank you for your comments, friends ~ they make my day!

A Sampling of my food . . .

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