Halloween Fun - Pumpkin Cake O' Lantern (Jack O'lantern)

Made from two bundt cakes, this cake makes an ideal Halloween cake & centrepiece. It is both delicious & beautuful (& fun to make). To make this recipe easier & quicker, you can substitute three boxes of spice-cake mix for the cake ingredients - just follow the box instructions! There are quite a few steps to make this cake but it is NOT difficult & is well worth the effort!

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Serves: 24
• Yields: 1 large cake

Ingredients

• Cake

• 5 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4  teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon ground ginger
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4  teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄4 cups milk, at room temperature
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
• 1  tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1  cup butter or 1  cup margarine, at room temperature
• 1⁄2 cup  vegetable oil
• 2 1⁄4 cups sugar
• 6  large eggs, at room temperature

• Frosting

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1  tablespoon vanilla extract
• 9  cups powdered sugar
•  green food coloring
•  orange food coloring (paste is best)
• 1  green  ice cream cones
• 12  large  yellow and white  gumdrops (6 of each)
•  sugar (to roll gumdrops on)
• 2  tablespoons chocolate chips
•  clear edible cake  glitter

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350° and butter two 10-inch bundt cake pans.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the milk, pumpkin, and vanilla extract until smooth.
4. In another large bowl, beat the butter or margarine and oil together with an electric mixer until combined. Next, beat in the sugar. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Alternately beat in the milk/pumpkin mixture and the flour mixture until just combined.
6. Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
7. Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely.
8. Frosting:
9. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Mix in the vanilla extract. Then beat in the powdered sugar gradually until the frosting is a spreadable consistency. Color about 1 cup of the frosting green and the rest orange.
10. Assembly:
11. Trim the bottoms of the cakes so they lie flat against each other. Frost the flat surface of the bottom cake and place the other cake on top. Frost the entire cake orange. When the frosting dries, add green frosting leaves and top with the ice cream cone to create a stem.
12. Decoration:
13. Sprinkle sugar over your work surface and use a rolling pin to flatten 12 large yellow and white gumdrops together into a pancake about 1/4 inch thick.
14. Adults only - use a knife to cut out the eyes, nose and mouth. Microwave 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips for about 60 seconds.
15. Dip the left side and bottom of the facial features in the melted chocolate. Dab a small amount of water onto the top surface of each feature, sprinkle the edible glitter on top, then press the facial features onto the cake.