Hail to the Pumpkin (Spice) King Cake!

A not-so-spooky Halloween treat that’s super fun to make!

This snack post combines a few of my favourite things- cake, marshmallows and Tim Burton/Disney films! I’d seen the black fondant/white marshmallow cobwebs in a few places this spooky season, and thought it would go great with a pumpkin spice cake, as a nice change from regular cake. Plus, the black and white exterior matches Jack Skellington’s outfit and he is, of course, the Pumpkin King! Of course, living in the northern hemisphere makes October so much more Halloweenish than at home when it’s turning into summer!

I am a huge fan of Sally’s Baking Addiction blog, and when I found her best pumpkin cake recipe, I knew it would be th perfect one! Though I have to admit, this cake did take me two attempts. The first time the cake turned out great but my old nemesis, cream cheese frosting had returned. You may remember my Beauty and the Beast themed red velvet cupcakes, for which I used pre-made icing and promised I would attempt to make it myself next time? Wellll, I did, and it wasn’t quite successful. This time I went for the pre-made icing again, which was great, but I will definitely try again, and master it one day!

What I really loved about Sally’s cake recipe, was that it was so easy and straightforward. It’s just adding plain flour, baking powder, bicarb soda (baking soda for any Americans), salt, cinnamon and pumpkin spice in one bowl and vegetable oil, eggs, brown sugar, caster sugar, pumpkin puree and vanilla in another, then combining them together! Any long term readers (hi Mum!) may remember my Cinderella themed pumpkin doughnut holes from earlier in the year, I used the same pumpkin spice mix I found for that recipe, which was great!

Now, as a non-American, I will say that finding tinned pumpkin puree (as Sally says this is best to use over fresh) is a little tricky, I managed to find some on Amazon. I also added a bit of orange food colouring in an attempt to make a bigger colour contrast between the outside and inside of the cake, but it wasn’t super successful.

Once all the ingredients were combined, it was just a matter of baking the cake (I got 3 layers out of the mix, which took about 20 minutes to cook), and then to the tricky part!

Now I will admit that cream cheese frosting isn’t my forte, but fondant is my real arch nemesis! Luckily Tesco’s sell black fondant, so you don’t need to colour it, which is a relief. I used two packs which was enough. After icing the cake and leaving it in the fridge for a while, I rolled out the fondant, twice because it ripped the first time, then finally got it onto the cake!

The final step, was easily the messiest, and most fun- marshmallow cobwebs! I melted a couple of white marshmallows in the microwave (two 10 second spins, so easy!) then got some disposable gloves and stretched the mix between my fingers and draped it over the cake. I also picked up some super cute tiny pumpkins from Waitrose to decorate; they would be so adorable for a party!

So, in summary, was it my most successful baking adventure ever? No, probably not. But it was a great chance to practice my skills and learn some new stuff! Plus, I think it looks awesome! Next year when we can have parties again, I’m putting marshmallow cobwebs on everything!