A Little Fall Baking

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is baking.  Unfortunately, I have not had the time to do as much as I would like, but when my sister-friend, Kimberly, recently had a birthday, I knew that I had to find the time to do something special.

I had envisioned a cake full of fondant fall flowers surrounding a pumpkin.  Unfortunately, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we have had tremendous amounts of rain lately.  Even though I had the house closed up, the humidity levels were through the roof.  Fondant does not hold well in humidity! I managed to get some roses to hold up, but my little mums just sagged.  It was so depressing!  None the less, I managed to put together this little cake for her and she loved it.

One of my goals for the fall and holiday seasons is to try and make a least one recipe from each of the magazines I buy (I tend to buy a lot of magazines during this time of year as I mentioned in this earlier post on Five Fall Faves ).  This weekend I attempted to bake the Mini Pumpkin Spice Cakes from the August/September/October edition of Sandra Lee Magazine. They didn't exactly look as pretty as hers, but they were good!

 Sandra Lee's

Mini Pumpkin Spice Cakes with Orange Glaze

1 Box spice cake mix 

1 1/4 cups water

1/3 cups canola oil

3 eggs 

2/3 cup heavy cream

12 ounces which chocolate chips

Orange food coloring (or red and yellow)

Small amount of fondant (or marzipan)

Green Food Coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour (or use your favorite cake release) 8 cups of a mini Bundt cake pan.  (I used the Nordicware mini pumpkin pan pictured below). 
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer combine cake mix, water, oil and eggs and beat for 2 minutes or until well blended.  Divide batter evenly among cups or pumpkins (but do not fill more than 2/3 full).  
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes until toothpick inserted near center come out clean.  Cool cakes in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.  Invert cakes onto racks to cool completely. Once cooled, set rack on top of parchment paper lined cookie sheet. 
4. In a medium sauce pan, heat cream over medium heat until bubbles form.  Remove from heat and add white chocolate chips until melted and smooth.  (Be very patient here! It takes some time! I rushed it and my glaze is not as smooth as it should be. Stir in food coloring until desired shade of orange is achieved.) 
5. Drizzle glaze over cooled cakes.  Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes until glaze is firm.  
6. Color fondant or marzipan (the original recipe suggests using latex gloves for this- make sure they are food safe.) Roll fondant into a log and cut "stems".  Roll out remaining fondant and cut leaves with a small leaf shaped cookie cutter or knife. Decorate cakes as desired.  

Thanks for stopping by today! 

~Cynthia