Making a 3D pumpkin cake is an excellent choice if you are looking to create a cake for the Fall or Thanksgiving.  While making a pumpkin cake was not my original plan, the pumpkins inspired me in the Halloween section at JoAnn’s.  Plus, I caught the pumpkin bug and made soooooo many pumpkin type desserts, including my delicious pumpkin spice cake (upcoming post).

I love the smell of all the spices that are blended for the various pumpkin desserts. Pumpkin reminds me of Grandma.  Therefore, making this cake brought back all the great memories I had with grandma in the kitchen.  She was an excellent cook and baker.

I made this cake using an 8-inch sphere pan.  Of course, you could use a bundt pan or a pumpkin pan for this.  However, I wanted a perfectly round cake to transform. I had taken a quick break from carved cakes, and this cake was perfect for getting me back into the groove of things.  

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Carving the Pumpkin

This cake required minimal carving, which makes it one of the easiest cakes I have ever made.  I filled and frosted the cake and placed it in the refrigerator to chill.  Once chilled, I measured and marked an inch and a half on the cake then; I made my first cut.  I continued this pattern all around the cake.  Making sure that I only made small cuts in between.  Even though all pumpkins are not the same, and some have deeper cuts than others, I did not want the indentation to be too deep.  You really cannot mess this up.  Afterward, I cut out a small section at the top of the cake to place the stem.

Finally, I filled all the grooves with buttercream and chilled.

Covering the cake and all its grooves

While the cake was chilling in the refrigerator, I colored some fondant orange.  Then I rolled out the fondant large enough to cover the pumpkin.  When covering the cake and I made sure I pushed slightly to fill the grooves and used a pin to remove any air bubbles that were formed.  I covered the cake then flip it over and trimmed the fondant from the bottom of the cake.  I used my Dresden tool to add lines to the fondant to make it look a little aged. Finally, it was time to made the stem.  I made the stem using some green fondant.  Then I made small vines and added them all around the cake.  I also made tiny leaves and added them to different places along the vine.

Painting/Coloring the cake

Since I have not mastered using the airbrush yet I had to give the cake some shadow the old-fashioned way.  Therefore, I mixed some orange edible dust and green edible dust and dusted the indentation; I made it darker in some areas to give some shadow.  Then I added a small amount to the outside of the cake.  I added some dark green to the stem and the vines, and on the bottom of the stem, then I added some of the orange and green edible dust mix at the bottom. 

At last, I placed the cake on the final cake board.  Then added some fall leaves that I painted with my orange and green mixture and going over with green dust.  Can I gush for a minute over the cake board?  I found this beauty at Homegoods.  It is rustic and has a Fall/Thanksgiving feel with feet on the bottom.  I was sold when I saw the feet.

I was very happy with the result.

Leave a comment below to let me know if you have ever made a pumpkin cake. Happy caking.