The birthday cakes my mom made for my brother and I along with some of our cousins and friends were legendary. To fully understand why I am still impressed with the cakes she made you must have a thorough understanding of what it was like to decorate cakes in the 90’s while living in Edmonton. Ideas came from magazines with little to no instructions, and cake pans were rented from a store in West Edmonton Mall. This meant driving to the mall hoping they had the pan you wanted, renting it, bringing it home, baking the cake and returning the pan within the allotted time frame. It was an ordeal. Finding decorating supplies and sprinkles was not as easy as ordering them online or picking them up at Michaels. There was little available by way of decorating supplies in the 90’s and even less so here in Edmonton.
These hurdles never stopped Mom from making us fantastic cakes because if there is one thing my mom excels at its thinking outside the box. Barbie like dolls from the dollar store were disassembled to be placed in a dome cake and iced into a princess with a sparkly ball gown. Wrestling figurines were placed in a wrestling ring made of cake, and porcelain unicorn figurines on a carousel. Once for my brother, who’s birthday happens to be the day after Halloween, she even found gum in the shape of tombstones for a graveyard birthday cake. Like our table settings mom was always able to find whatever she needed to ensure we had epic birthday cakes. Now as an adult with everything available at my fingertips I am even more appreciative of everything she did for us all. They are memories we all still cherish even now that we have entered our 30’s.
Although the supplies are more readily available now that does not mean that cake decorating is any less intimidating now as it was for my Mom in the 90’s. What we truly want you to know is that if she can do it, and she can, then so can you. Decorating fun cakes for you family does not have to be insurmountable. Nor do they have to look like the professional cakes that you can purchase from a bakery, though if you are able to decorate at that level good on you!
This hack that we are showing you today is my mother’s favourite as it’s easy and perfect for Halloween or even a fall celebration. To show you how simple it can be we used what mom would have when she first made this cake, and we are sharing the process she uses to make a simple heat resistant “butter” cream icing. Caught the quotation marks, did you? Good, it’s not actually buttercream instead of butter we use shortening, it makes for an icing that is easy to decorate with! Although it doesn’t have a lot of flavour, it does what it needs to and is one of our favorites because it let’s the cake do all the talking.
To make a 3D pumpkin cake you will need to bake two cakes in a Bundt pan. As you can see here, we used boxed cake, and often do as we prefer it and have yet to perfect baking a cake from scratch.
For this post we chose a golden cake mix. We wanted to dye one orange like a pumpkin and because golden cake already has yellow food colouring in it, it doesn’t take a lot of orange food colouring to get it nice and orange. Only one cake was dyed so you would be able to see the difference.
The best part about this hack is you can use whatever boxed cake you want, or you can bake it from scratch.
It is important to note that the cakes need to be completely cool before you go to ice the cakes. Mom and I will often back the cakes the day before and wrap them once they are cool. If you only have one Bundt pan then this is probably the best idea so that you ensure both cakes are cool and ready to be iced.
Below we have the recipe for the icing we like to use, but if you prefer you can always use store bought icing. Just make sure that you take that icing out of the can and whip it in a mixer until it is light and fluffy. To get it orange like our icing below just add some orange food colouring.
Icing Ingredients
1 454 grams vegetable shortening
6 tbsp water
8 cups icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
gel food colouring
The trick to this icing is all in the process. We no longer have the original recipe Mom used to use but she still remembers the process, if you want your icing to be smooth make sure to follow our steps!
In a stand mixer, mix together 1/4 of the shortening with 2 tablespoons of water on low until combined. Add one cup of icing sugar, once combined scrap the bowl and add a second cup.
Continue to alternate the ingredients in the same proportions listed above. The vanilla can be added with the water during the second repetition. Keep in mind the water is added to the icing three times not four like the rest of the ingredients.
When all the ingredients have been combined add the food colouring until to achieve the colour you like. The last step is to whip the icing on high speed for 7 minutes so it is light and fluffy and easy to spread.
Cover the icing with a dampened paper towel to prevent a crust from forming on the icing before you can start icing.
Before assembling the cakes, carve the bottom of each cake to level them off. You will be placing one cake upside down and the other right side up on top of it. You can test out how the cake will sit and adjust as needed.
Place the first cake upside down on the cake platter of your choice. Cover the the top of the cake with icing about 1/2 an inch thick going slightly over the edge.
Place the second cake right side up on the bottom cake. As you can see we have a pumpkin shape!
Ice the cake with a thin layer of icing called a crumb coat. This traps any crumbs and prevents them from getting spread around in the presentation layer of icing. Make sure to icing to any gaps between the two cakes if necessary. We like to place wax paper under the cake, before we begin icing. This way when we are done you can gently pull the wax paper out and it keeps your plate clean.
Next cover the cake in a thick layer of icing making sure to ice the centre as well. When the cake is evenly coated in icing drag a offset spatula or a spoon up an down the cake to mimic the ridges of a pumpkin.
To turn this cake into a Jack o’ lantern we used Jubjubes to fill the centre of the cake. You can use any candy that you want to fill the centre just keep in mind it needs to be able to stand up to the fat in the icing. The Jubjubes work perfectly.
Next we used swiss rolls we found at a local dollar store as the stem. If you can’t find swiss rolls you can always use twinkies and ice with brown icing for the stem.
For the face we used chocolate chips both mini and regular. Just poke the point side into the icing. Now you have a cut Jack o’ lantern cake.
Mom has also used this hack to make a simple pumpkin for a fall celebration. You add spearmint leave next to the stem, or green licorice string to mimic a vine. The possibilities are endless. We hope that we have inspired you to make a 3D pumpkin cake of your own! Let us know if you give it a try, we would love hearing from you.
