Pumpkin Cake Pops

My sister is actually the baker of the family.  It is a well-known fact.  People even joke that we would have the best restaurant if I cooked the food and Jen baked the dessert.  So when birthdays come around, my sister is always creating these awesome-tasting and awesome-looking cakes.  So when my sister's birthday came around this year and my mom wasn't in town to help me, I was a little worried.  I really wasn't even sure what angle I was going to take.  My inspiration came pretty easy after having a 10 minutes conversation with Jen about all things we love about pumpkin season.  We were talking about making pumpkin gnocchi, that time I made pumpkin chili, pumpkin ravioli.  So I quickly decided to make some kind of pumpkin dessert.  After thinking about it more, I decided to do a pumpkin cake dessert bar.

Using fresh roasted pumpkin, I made two different types of cake pops: pumpkin cake and pumpkin brownies.  I then had a couple different dips: caramel sauce, cheesecake pudding, and pumpkin-spiced icing.  I also had different toppings: crushed toffee, crushed cinnamon graham crackers, and sprinkles.

When baking, I need to use a recipe as a guide or else cakes turn out flat, gritty, or in some other way far from perfect.  So the pumpkin cake recipe is based on a Food Network recipe, with some minor alterations.  The pumpkin brownies were easy.  I used boxed brownie mix and substituted half of the oil for pumpkin puree.

Pumpkin Cake Pops

What you'll need:
For the Pumpkin cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup nonfat milk
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or fresh, see previous recipe for roasting fresh pumpkin)

For the icing:
- 8oz cream cheese
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

To make the cake:
1.  Preheat oven to 375*.  Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin spice with a whisk.  Set aside.

2.  In a bowl, combine eggs and sugar and mix with an electric mixer.  Mix in milk, then oil, then the pumpkin puree.

3.  Add the dry mix to the pumpkin mixture using a wooden spoon.

4.  Spray a 9x13 baking pan and pour cake batter into it.  Bake 25 - 28 minutes.  Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a cooling rack.

5.  Mix together all the ingredients for the icing in a bowl using an electric mixer.

To make the cake pops:
1.  Using pumpkin cake or pumpkin brownie, place cake in a bowl.  Using a fork, break apart cake until it is all small crumbs. Add about 3/4 cup icing to the cake crumbs and mix together.

2.  Spray your hands with nonstick cooking spray.  Use your hands to mix the cake and icing completely and to form into 1" spheres.  If the cake falls apart, it needs a little more icing to hold it together.  Place cake pops on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Place in freezer for one hour.  Take out of the freeze and put cake pop sticks in each one.

3.  Cover with icing and roll in crushed graham crackers.  Or make a caramel sauce to dip in and then roll in crushed toffee.  You could also melt Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kiss to dip in, or crush the kisses and use as a topping.