Do yourself a favor and use this easy Fall Dessert and Thanksgiving recipe for your next party. These Pretty Pound Cake Leaves and Pumpkins are the perfect way to end any meal and will absolutely blow you away (just like all the leaves on the ground).
It’s the middle of the night. I wish I was sleeping, but I just can’t seem to shut my mind down and doze off. I spent time today brainstorming fun food ideas for the holidays, and I just can’t seem to stop. I keep a note pad by my bed, so I can scribble down my thoughts, and it has been getting pretty full this evening. I finally jut got up and got back to work, writing this post.
I have more ideas than I have time, so maybe I just shouldn’t sleep, ever.
Sometimes I come up with an idea that I really love and use it more than once. You know how much I love fall leaves, and I recently made some Easy Cheese Bread Leaves and Pumpkins using a Wilton silicone mold. I know many of you purchased that mold to use for Thanksgiving, so I thought I’d share another idea with you, so you can get more use out it.
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The techniques I’ve used to create these Pound Cake Leaves and Pumpkins aren’t new. I used them last year when I made Cheesecake Leaves and Pumpkins. I just wanted to see if I could do the same thing using pound cake batter and was happy with the results. They are more vibrant and colorful than I expected and will be so pretty on the table at Thanksgiving.
Pound Cake Leaves and Pumpkins (makes 18)*
*I made 12 cakes, but the batter puffed up over the edge of the mold so much that I had to cut it off. I suggest making 18 cakes instead.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened, plus more to grease molds
Betty Crocker Pound Cake Mix (16 ounce box)
2/3 cup milk or water
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, optional
orange, red, yellow, and green food coloring
Supplies:
3 Wilton Leaf and Pumpkin Silicone Molds
food use only paint brush
baking sheets
Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cream butter just to soften. Add pound cake mix, milk, eggs and almond extract, if using. Beat on low for 30 seconds, then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. The batter will be very thick.
Grease the pumpkin and leaf molds.
Divide the batter into three bowls. Put a little more than half of the batter in one bowl and color it using orange food coloring and divide the rest among the other two bowls coloring one yellow and one red. Pull about a tablespoon of batter out of the red bowl and add some green food coloring to make it brown.
Spoon about a tablespoon of each of the colored batter into a small bowl. Pour it into the leaf molds, allowing the colors to swirl. Fill cavity only half way. I filled mine 3/4 full and they were too full. For detailed images of this swirling technique, see the Cheesecake Leaves and Pumpkins post.
Use a paintbrush to paint the pumpkin stems with the brown batter. Paint the entire stem. Fill the pumpkin cavities half way with orange batter. As the cakes bake the orange will puff up and match up with the brown stems.
Set molds on baking sheets and bake for 18-22 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Being I only used two molds and they where filled more, I baked them for 24 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Tug at the mold, loosening the cakes from the sides. Turn mold over, and un-mold the cakes.
You can see here how much excess cake I cut off each leaf and pumpkin so that they would sit flat. You can also see how pretty they look inside with all the swirled colors.
Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. I wrapped my cakes in plastic wrap, put them in a zip top bag and froze them. I’ll thaw them out Thanksgiving morning so we can enjoy them for dessert.
Items used to create this project that are available on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)
Be sure to check out all of my amazing Thanksgiving Recipes
More Fall Leaf and Pumpkin Recipes
from Hungry Happenings
Leaf and Pumpkin Shaped Dinner Rolls Topped with Colored Cheese
Cheesecake Leaves and Pumpkins
Halloween Pancakes filled with Nutella
Pumpkin Pinata Cake
(You’ll be redirected to Tablespoon.com for this recipe)
So pretty, so simple! Your a genius with those silicone molds!
Thank you, Janine. I love baking in silicone molds. There are so many possibilities.
so pretty! i love love love the look of these leaves, and the pumpkins too!!
OMG Beth I thought they were fake, I mean I thought they were made out of something non edible whatsoever, How Pretty and clever! and oh…yummmo! almost too pretty to eat…Almost, lol! Have a great week!
I was so excited when these cakes came out of the oven because the colors were so much more vibrant than I expected. I shared these on Fox 45 this morning, and the anchors both said they looked too pretty to eat!
I love the colors! Freezing cake is such a time saver … especially this time of year 🙂
I create so much as I blog, but I have to make it too early for the actual holiday, so freezing is a life saver!
Looks beautiful!
I love how you marbleized the leaves to make them look so realistic! Have that pan, must try!
How pretty and innovative. I understand how it feels when your mind is full of these ideas you actually cannot sleep till you make them happen.Thanks for sharing.Lovely post, must try!
Thank, Auro. Yes, I have had my share of sleepless nights, but if I wake up with the attitude that I'm going to get something done, then I don't even feel terribly tired. Us creative folks have that problem!
So creative! Love them. And I love that you can cut them down and they're still so pretty.