Pumpkin Spice Cake Pops

I was asked to make "fall-themed" cake pops recently so I decided to make pumpkin shaped pops for two reasons. One, I figured pumpkins would be easy to make. Two, I knew I wanted to go with a pumpkin spice flavor for the pops. I underestimated how difficult the piping would be for the pumpkins but I made it work in the end.

Here's everything I used:

Cake:

1 box of spice cake mix ( I like Duncan Hines), you will need a 13X9 cake pan, vegetable oil and eggs
1 can of pumpkin puree.
1 can of creamy cream cheese frosting

Pops:

2 bags of Wilton candy coating in orange
30-40 cake pops sticks
Green cookie icing (Wilton's makes one that comes in a jar)
1 bag of chocolate chips (I use semi-sweet chips in the regular size)
2 piping bags
Icing tips (No. 1 or No. 2 size, found at Michael's)
Cornstarch
Vegetable shortening
Cookie scooper
Cake pop stand (a block of styrofoam works best)

Process: READ THE WHOLE THING BEFORE YOU RUN THROUGH IT.

Making the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the ingredients for the cake mix first and then slowly mix in about 1 cup of pumpkin puree. You can eyeball the amount of pumpkin puree and add it as desired. I do not care for too much pumpkin flavor so I stuck with about a cup.

Pour the cake mix into the pan and bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about 30 minutes.

Crumble the cake into a large bowl. I don't like to use the edges of the cake because they are crunchy but you can use them if you don't mind. If you have a food processor you can use it to grind up the cake but I just crumble it by hand until it is completely crumbled.

Mix in about half a can of frosting. You will have to use your hands to mix it in. There is no way around it, it will not mix as well with a spoon or any other utensil, trust me.

Take a cookie scooper a scoop out a small portion. Roll it around in your hands until you have a ball and place it on a cookie sheet. You don't have to use parchment paper if you don't have any handy, it will not stick to the cookie sheet. You should be able to make 30-40 balls. Place them in the freezer for about 20 minutes so they firm up.

Making the pops:

Get the sticks ready. Take a small amount of chocolate chips (about half a cup) and melt them. Place the tip of the stick about half an inch into the chocolate and immediately push it halfway into a cake ball. Be careful to push only halfway into the cake. Push too far and the stick will come through the top of the cake pop. Don't push it in enough and you will lose the cake pop into the candy coating when you try to coat it. Repeat the process until all the cake pops are on sticks on your stand.

Melt the orange candy coating in a styrofoam cup with the microwave. I do not like to use glass because it gets very hot and can burn the coating. Microwave for 1 minute, stir and put it back in the microwave 30 seconds at a time after that until melted. I use about a teaspoon of vegetable shortening to make my coating smoother. Do not over use the shortening because it will make your coating oily runny.

Dip the pop into the coating and shake off excess. Place the pop on the stand and immediately place a chocolate chip on the top before the coating dries. Repeat the process until all the pops are coated a standing up on the stands with the chocolate chip stems on top. This will be the longest part of the process so have patience!

Take the remainder of your orange coating and mix in a teaspoon of cornstarch to thicken the mixture. Place it into a piping bag fitted with your desired tip and pipe the lines up and down the sides of the pumpkin in one motion.

Mix the green cookie icing with a teaspoon of cornstarch and place it into a piping bag with the desired tip. Pipe the leaves onto the pumpkin as desired.

Place the batch into the refrigerator for about an hour to ensure the icing has dried completely if you are going to cover them.

ENJOY!!

Just a packaging option for you. Very fall-like I hope :)