Garlic My Soul • Pumpkin Cake Balls

This month, Rebecca and I decided we would make pumpkin cake balls for our coworkers and our work Halloween party! Emeril seemed to have a pretty great pumpkin cake recipe, so we used his for the cake:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick, or 8 tablespoons, unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

We were going to use Rebecca’s cake ball maker (see her post for why this wasn’t such a great idea) and then it broke, so we ended up going the old fashion way of mixing cake with frosting. Which, in the end, was better because the ones without frosting wouldn’t stick on the lollipop sticks as well. It also should be noted that we did this recipe…multiplied by seven.

Sift your cake flour. Rebecca, Corelyn, and I tend to be against sifting because it takes time and is generally annoying, but there can be something said for doing it, and so Rebecca begrudgingly did so.

Mix together your pumpkin and your spices. Yum. Resist the urge to just eat that alone.

Put your eggs and sugar together. Then add your eggs, and cream (adding one at a time.)

I must say, on the night we made the cakes Rebecca did much of the work while I video chatted with Jeff and Corelyn about the blog. Whoops! But the show must go on, and so Rebecca kept on baking.

Add your pumpkin spice mix to your wet ingredients, alternating with the flour.

Attempt to use your cake ball maker to make said cake balls.

Then it breaks, so you should switch to cake pans.

Follow the baking instructions Emeril sets out.

Now, take a break. Preferably of a few days, like we did. Cake-making multiplied by seven tires you out! Or, you can do it all in one night, but keep in mind decorating can take a bit…if you’re getting creative!

Refreshed from a few nights, we were back at the cake balls. We even invited a bunch of friends over to make sure that we weren’t decorating until three am. Only midnight! Crumble your cake, and add frosting. Mix it well, then form into balls. At this point, you’re going to want to freeze them for about twenty minutes. Then, stick them with a lollipop stick and get decorating!