Being that it is the first day of Spring, I know I’m getting a little ahead of myself by making decorated pumpkins but I just couldn’t wait another 6 months to sculpt these.
The base recipe is a pumpkin muffin filled with cream cheese frosting. Naturally I tasted as I went. The muffin alone is moist, dense and has the right amount of sweetness. The frosting is cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. I find that people are usually divided between two versions of the frosting, this recipe which has a more pronounced cream cheese flavor vs a sweeter frosting that has butter and more sugar. I think the small dollop piped into the muffin is just the right amount.
At this point, you could stop or make pumpkins!
In the book the pumpkins have fondant acorns scattered around them for decoration. I decided to make chocolate leaves by painting melted chocolate onto leaves I got from my yard. After the chocolate set in the refrigerator, I peeled the leaves off.
Next I made the orange fondant with red and yellow food gel coloring. I used one drop of yellow and half that in red. In the cookbook it says to twist the fondant to incorporate the color, which I’ve never done before but I like it and its easier than continually kneading on the work surface.
Time to turn the muffin into a pumpkin! Below is a sequence shot.
1) The photo in the book shows the fondant covering a muffin still in its liner. I removed the liner so the entire cake is edible (minus the cinnamon stick stem). I just think it would be messy to cut into the muffin and then have to remove the liner.
2) Additional cream cheese frosting was used for the glue.
3) The first time I rolled out the fondant I made it a bit too thin so when I went to making the grooves, the darker muffin color showed through. Also make sure to push the fondant into the stem area. I forgot so when I did it after the whole muffin was covered, it cracked from stretching it. I wouldn’t say that it’s horrible, rather it gives character to the pumpkin but still.
4) I love the finishing touch with the cinnamon stick.
Two decorated pumpkins, too cute to eat.
Week 14 of the Bouchon Bakery Book Project
Read the Project recap on the Muffins
Bake with us!
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