Beautiful Food

I never thought chocolate and pumpkin—two of the world’s most popular flavors, or so it seems right now (tis the season…), come together in a fantastic whirlwind to create mini bundt magic!

Also, who knew that these two candy bars existed….

 

….and that by melting them down with a touch of heavy whipping cream and coconut oil, they would make a unique, seasonal, and delightful drizzle for these baby cakes!?

Well they totally worked!

Albeit….really different and wonderful tasting!

 

PROOF:

 

Here’s what I’ve found out about most Halloween candy lovers out there–either you like candy corn or you don’t.  There is no in between.  Either all in or all out.  What say you!?

Also, I love, love, love doctoring up pre-made cake box mixes.  I love discovering new combinations of ingredients that will work with adding them to a box mix! This is one of those recipes 😉

I digress….here we go!

You will need: 

1 Wilton 6-count mini bundt cake pan (Or 1 regular sized tube/bundt cake pan)

A stand mixer and bowl

Two small microwaveable bowls

An assortment of rubber scrapers, spoons and whisks

Measuring cups and spoons

Cooking spray

Ingredients: 

1 box of spice cake mix

1 cup of pure canned pumpkin

1/2 cup of milk or almond milk

1/3 cup of corn oil

4 medium eggs

1/2 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

Chocolate for filling:

1/3 cup chopped up semi-sweet baking chocolate  (approximately  6 squares if you break them off)

2 tablespoons of double dutch dark cocoa (by King Arthur)

Chocolate Drizzle:

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1/2 cup of chopped candy bar chocolate –  I used a combo of  Zoet’s Pumpkin Spice Dark Chocolate and Hershey’s  Candy Corn bar.

 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 325º F (Important because of the use of mini cake pans)

• In your stand mixer,  pour in the box cake mix, canned pumpkin, milk, oil, eggs and spice, and using a whisk attachment, beat on the lowest setting until all combined.  –
• Stop the beater and scrape the sides with your rubber scraper.
• Repeat beating for two minutes, this time on a medium setting until batter’s smooth.
• Using your measuring cup, scoop 1 cup of the batter into one of your small bowls.
• Dump the chopped baking chocolate and the dutch cocoa into the small bowl and stir with a spoon until the batter is rich and dark in color.  
• Generously spray your cake pan until every crevice is completely coated.
• Use a measuring cup or spoon to pour the regular batter into each bundt cavity about 1/3 of the way.
• Use another measuring cup to scoop the cocoa batter over the top of the pumpkin batter.
• Repeat and cover the cocoa batter with the pumpkin batter.  Do not overfill.
• *Note: If you want to stop at 3/4 way you can and your cakes will not overflow….but you will likely have leftover batter.  Or you can fill them all the way, have the cakes puff out like muffin tops and cut them off after baking/cooling.  
• 
• Bake for 30-35 minutes.
• Check for doneness with a toothpick–it should come out clean.  If they aren’t quite finished….bake for 3 minutes and check again.
• Remove from oven to completely cool.   I stuck mine in the fridge for an hour to ensure they would come out of the bundts cleanly.  If you want warm cake…well, be prepared for some breakage if you try to remove them early and not cooled completely.
• Use a bread knife (serrated) to remove the domes.  Mine were removed fairly easily.  They were just as moist as the cake, and I crumbled mine up with some ice cream!  Perfect!

I also had a critic gauging my knife skills….

I also played, guess the shape (like an ink-blot test) to figure out what each cocoa blob looked like… anyone?

I see a black cat in one…a cyclist…a flower…maybe even a Pacman…

I used the reverse cooling rack method to get them out.  Turn a wire cooling rack upside down on top of the cake pan.  Hold both ends with two hands, and flip over.  HOPEFULLY they will flip out with a few taps.  Good luck!!

Make the drizzle: 

• Place the heavy whipping cream and coconut oil in your other microwaveable bowl and nuke for 45-50 seconds until cream simmers.
• Place the chopped candy bars into the warm bowl a little at a time, and stir with a spoon until smooth.  You may need to nuke it for an additional 10 seconds.  Do NOT let it overcook!  It is easy to do in the microwave.  But easy and quick if you watch it.
• Use your spoon to drizzle the chocolate over the cakes.
• Adorn with candy corns and stuff your face! 

Please if you try this, take photos and share them with me on Instagram!  Also, give me a follow while you’re there.  I’m so close to 1,000 followers I can TASTE IT!

Also, Let me know what questions you have, if any.

PS:  I think there was enough licking of bowls, spoons, and whisks to make one sick….

 

 

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

 

Enjoy!

-K