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Pumpkin Shaped Cake

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Categories Desserts, Halloween, Holiday Recipes, Kid Friendly, Recipes, Thanksgiving

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This pumpkin shaped cake is the perfect Fall treat! Two white cakes are baked in bundt cake pans and sandwiched together with icing to create the pumpkin shape. A simple butter cream icing is spread over the cake in orange. Green icing covers an ice cream cone that’s placed in the center.

This cake is perfect to serve at your next Halloween themed party along with our six easy Halloween drinks and our easy spider cookies!

A pumpkin shaped cake with a black background.

Pumpkin Cake

This cake idea is just so fun! Your guest will be delighted at just how much this cake looks like a pumpkin, especially kids.

  • A simple bundt cake pan is used to bake two cakes. These are sandwiched together to create the pumpkin shape.
  • The buttercream icing is quick and easy to make. One big batch is enough to use for the cake filling, orange icing and green stem.
  • The pumpkin stem is made using two ice cream cones placed on top of each other. A little bit of green icing gives it the perfect touch. Although this part is meant to be decoration, I’m sure there are some kiddos that would love to eat an ice cream cone covered in frosting!
  • Want to get even more festive? You can also add a Jack-O-Lantern face made out of chocolate chips on the front for even more fun!
  • For more easy Halloween ideas try our six easy Halloween themed drinks, our chocolate mummy brownies, the graveyard dirt cups, the sprinkle monster cookies or the easy 4-ingredient spider cookies!
Recipe ingredients on the counter including bowls of flour, powdered sugar, oil, sugar, butter, ice cream cones, eggs, vanilla, and food coloring gel.

Recipe Ingredients

CAKE INGREDIENTS: This is a simple cake recipe. You can use it or you can make your own favorite cake recipe. You can also try using a boxed cake for this bundt cake. If you do, you will need two boxed cakes to cook in two bundt cake pans.

The cake recipe I used is made with cake flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder. Wet ingredients include butter, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract.

ICING INGREDIENTS: Unsalted butter is mixed with confectioners powdered icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk. To make the orange and green colors, I used blue, green and yellow food coloring gel. You can also buy green and orange food coloring gel instead.

Four images showing steps to make the recipe. First is a bundt cake pan with cake batter inside. Second is two bundt cakes on a wire rack. Third is an frosted bundt cake with a bowl of leftover frosting. Fourth is two ice cream cones, one is frosted in green. The other has a top that's frosted.

How To Make The Pumpkin Shaped Cake

  1. Bake two separate cakes in one or two bundt cake pans. Let them cool completely.
  2. Assemble the icing. Spread a layer on to the top side of one bundt cake. Place the other on top the opposite way, so that they resemble a round pumpkin shape.
  3. Scoop 1/4 cup of icing into a small bowl. Set it aside. Mix the rest of the icing with red and yellow food coloring gel to make orange.
  4. Spread the icing over the cake in one thin layer to create a crumb coat. Let that set then add another layer of the orange icing.
  5. Mix yellow and blue food coloring gel into the small icing container. Spread that over one ice cream cone to cover it. Add more to the inside to stick to ice cream cones together. Place these in the center of the cake.
  6. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Leftover cake can be stored in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.

A close up of an orange pumpkin shaped cake with a green stem made from an upside down ice cream cone.

Recipe Tips

  • This will work with any bundt cake recipe. You do not need to use this one. For example, you could try a gingerbread bundt cake or our banand bread bundt cake instead.
  • The secret to preventing the cake from sticking to a bundt cake pan is by greasing the pan well. Make sure that the entire inside of the pan is coated with a bit of oil. Every groove should be covered. Once the cake is baked, let it sit for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert it on to a wire rack to cool. Give it a tap to help it slip out of the pan.
  • I found the outside of the cake to be a little crumbly. I had to gently spread a thin layer of icing onto the cake and let that set. This can sometimes be called a crum coat. It will help to keep the crumbs in place. Then the second layer will cover the cake better, but should still be placed gently using a spatula.
  • I highly recommend using food coloring gel and not food coloring liquid. The color is more concentrated and will give you a much stronger hue. It’s worth it!
  • To make orange food coloring gel I used 75% yellow, 25% red. To make green food coloring gel I used 75% yellow, 25% blue. You can also buy green and orange that are already mixed, but those weren’t available at my local Walmart when I went to purchase for this cake.
  • Place a bit of icing on the bottom of the cake and ice cream cone and stick them down to the serving plate. This acts like a glue so that the cake won’t slide around while you’re icing it.
  • I found that a flimsy spatula was easiest to ice the cake with. I started from the top and spread it to the bottom. I just worked around the cake this way (you can see in the example image below).
A slice cut out of the pumpkin cake showing a white cake with a layer of frosting in the middle.

More Halloween Recipes

Pumpkin Shaped Cake

Two white cakes are baked in bundt cake pans and sandwiched together with icing to create the pumpkin shape. A simple butter cream icing is spread over the cake in orange. Green icing covers an ice cream cone that's placed in the center.
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Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Assembly: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 12 servings

Ingredients

Ingredients For Two Bundt Cakes:

Icing Ingredients:

Instructions

  • Note: If you only have one bundt cake pan, divide the batter ingredients in half from above. The above cake recipe will make two cakes. Mix and bake one cake at a time. If you have two bundt cake pans you can mix all the ingredients above at once and divide into two pans and bake.
  • Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease the insides of two bundt cake pans (or one) with vegetable oil and a paper towel. Be sure that the entire inside of the pan is greased with no dry spots.
  • In a large bowl, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk together.
    Two images of a bowl. First is dry ingredients unmixed. Second is ingredients mixed with a whisk.
  • Cream the room temperature butter and sugar with a hand mixer.
    Two images of a bowl. First is butter and sugar. Second is butter and sugar beaten together with a hand mixer.
  • Add in the eggs, canola oil, and vanilla extract. Beat together with the hand mixer.
    Two images of a bowl. First is creamed butter with eggs and vanilla. Second is with a yellow liquid and hand mixer.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined.
    Two images of a bowl. First is dry ingredients dumped in the middle of the wet ingredients. Second is wet cake batter wit ha hand mixer.
  • Grease the bundt cake pans with cooking oil, being sure to cover every section.
    Divide the cake batter into two bundt cake pans (if using the whole ingredients list above). Or make one bundt cake now and another after.
    Two images of a bundt cake pan. First is the pan, paper towel and container of oil. Second is pan with batter dumped in.
  • Give the pans a tap and shake to smooth out hte batter and let out any air bubbles. Bake for 28-32 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked through the center.
    Let cool 10 minutes in pan, then gently flip and cool completely on a wire rack.
    Two images of a bundt cake pan. First is cake batter inside. Second is baked cake.
  • Repeat the steps with the second cake. If baking two at the same time, the cakes will take longer to bake. Let both cakes cool completely before icing.
    Two images of a bundt cake pan. First is cake batter inside. Second is baked cake.
  • Add the icing ingreidents to a bowl: room temperature butter, confectioners icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Use a hand mixer to blend until smooth and creamy.
    Two images of a white bowl. First is icing ingredients dumped in. Second is blended white icing with a hand mixer.
  • Add a bit of icing to the bottom cake layer and place it on a serving plate. This will act like a "glue" to help it stay in place.
    Two images, first is bundt cake with dots of frosting on bottom. Second is bundt cake sitting on a plate.
  • Add icing to the cake and then place the second bundt cake on top.
    Two images of a bundt cake. First is frosting on top. Second is the other cake sandwiched on top of frosted cake.
  • Save ¼ cup of icing and set it aside (for the green).
    Add a yellow and red food coloring to make orange (or buy orange food coloring) and mix until blended evenly.
    Two images of a bowl. First is frosting with gel food coloring dumped in. Second is orange frosting in bowl with a spatula.
  • Spread a thin layer with a spatula over the cake. Let taht set 15 minutes then spread another layer.
    Two images of an orange bundt cake. First with one layer of frosting. Second with two layers looking less patchy. A an empty frosting bowl is beside the cake.
  • Mix together blue and yellow food coloring gel to create green. Or use green food coloring gel. Mix together thoroughly so the color is even.
    Two images. First is bowl of frosting with yellow and blue food coloring gel. Second is green icing.
  • Spread icing around the outside of one ice cream cone. Add icing to the edge of ice cream cones to help them stick together.
    Two images of ice cream cones. First has one frosted, other has top dipped in frosting. Second has frosted cone sitting on top of the other cone.
  • Add a bit of icing to the bottom of the cone without icing. It will act like a glue to hold it in place. Insert the cones into the center of the cake.
    A close up of the bottom of the cone with frosting. And the green cones sitting in the center of the orange bundt cake.
  • Slice into the cake. Serve and enjoy!
    Two images of the pumpkin shaped cake with a green ice cream cone stem. Second has a slice cut out so you can see the white cake inside and where the ice cream cones are sitting in the middle.

Nutrition

Calories: 631kcal | Carbohydrates: 80g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 136mg | Sodium: 282mg | Potassium: 67mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 56g | Vitamin A: 1029IU | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 1mg

The nutritional information provided is an estimate and is per serving.

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