Pumpkin Cake Balls Part 2 of 2

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My Halloween treat to you is the "conclusion" of my cake balls post.  I hope you have a lot of fun tonight with your kids, or your friends, or your family, or your frat brothers -- whatever it is you are doing!  I can't wait to dress up my baby and help hand out some yummy treats.  We'll probably take a little stroll around the neighborhood, but not go door-to-door.  She's only 13 months old, after all!

If you haven't seen it, visit Cake Balls Part 1 first.

Now it's time to decorate the cake balls.

Supplies:  When you have made 50 cake balls, you need at least 2 bags of candy melts.  I chose vanilla-flavored orange and dark chocolate.  I wanted to make half jack-o-lantersn and the other half chocolate with fall-colored sprinkles.  To make jack-o-lanterns, I also needed an AmeriColor Food Writer and some green apple Tic Tacs.  I ordered the marker from Amazon here.

Supplies!

Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper.  Take some of your frozen balls out of the freezer.  If you leave them out, they'll thaw out and not be so easy to work with.

Melt half your bag of candy melts.  I put mine in the microwave for one minute, stirred, and another 20 seconds.  Another great way is to use a double boiler.

In the past, I made cake balls chilled, but not frozen.  But this time I did frozen and it made it go by so fast!  I can't believe I've been messing with not-frozen in the past.  Lesson learned!  Do it frozen!

If you are using Tic Tacs to make pumpkins, put the cake ball on a cookie sheet and insert the Tic Tac.  Hold for a second or two until it sets.

Pumpkins all in a row!

If you are using a cake writer and making pumpkin faces, this can be tricky!  Make sure you draw the face AFTER the chocolate sets, and before condensation starts to form.  Once the candy gets wet, it's nearly impossible for the marker to work.

Hi!

If you are using sprinkles....

....place the cake ball on your sheet, then sprinkle before the chocolate sets.

My other cake balls!  And what it looks like when bitten into.

After all the chocolate has hardened, I put them in a bin or sealable bag and put them in the fridge (not the freezer).  We really like the way they taste REALLY cold.  Of course, this makes the marker not dry, so be careful if you made faces.  If you didn't make faces, there is nothing to worry about! :)

Finished!

Believe it or not, these only took about 40 mintues to decorate.  I've had other times where it took MUCH longer.  But that was because I was melting the candy little bits at a time (ugh), using cake that was not frozen, so it would crumble on me and I had to be delicate.  With them being frozen, it took a lot less time.

Notes about Cake Balls/Pops.  The lovely thing about cake balls is you can mix and match.  Our favorite is homemade "Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate" cake mixed with Duncan Hines cream cheese frosting and coated in dark chocolate.  So good!  Red velvet cake covered in chocolate is also so very good!

I hope that you enjoyed this post as much as I did preparing it.  And again,

Happy Halloween!

BeatlesFreak

Easy Pumpkin Bread - In Memory of Grammy & Aunt Louise

My grandmother was a great woman and one of the people who taught me about being creative.  She baked, she sewed, she painted.  She did every thing really well, but not because of the attention it brought her, but because she loved it and it gave her a lot of happiness.


Always was and is my favorite picture of her.

One of Grammy's many cakes.

And another - Dawn's confirmation cake.

Grammy and me in 1985 in the house I grew up in.

My grand-aunt (my grandmom's sister), who is also responsible for the recipe (and my baby bro).

In my family, her and my grand-aunt's pumpkin bread recipe is famous. It is super easy because you just throw everything into a bowl and go.  I suspect Grammy liked easy recipes as much as difficult ones, because the recipe I call "Grammy's Pound Cake" is equally as easy.

This pumpkin bread is just the thing for any pumpkin craving.  It literally only takes about 5 mintues to mix up and then about an hour to bake.

Here is the recipe, and I hope that you enjoy it!

Pumpkin Bread

By Grammy & Aunt Louise

Ingredients

• 3.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp  baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 c. sugar
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

• 1 c. vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 c. water
• 2 cups (15 oz. can) pumpkin

Directions
Grease 2 9" loaf pans.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Mix dry ingredients together.  Add wet ingredients.  Mix well.  Divide between pans and bake for 55-65 minutes.  Bread is ready when toothpick comes out clean.

Variation:
Muffins: Fill muffin tins (greased or lined with cupcake liners) about 2/3 way full.  Bake 18-20 minutes.  Makes about 24 muffins.

 STEP ONE

Grease and flour (or spray with baking spray) two 9" loaf pans.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

STEP TWO

In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

STEP THREE

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Mix well. Though I would say don't overmix.

STEP FOUR

Divide into loaf pans. 

Top with chocolate chips if you'd like!

You can mix a cup or two into the batter, or just put some on top.

STEP FIVE

Place in oven for 55-65 minutes. 
They are ready when toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Allow to cool on wire rack.  Release from pan after about 10 minutes.

Do you have some left over batter, like I did?  Make some muffins and bake them for 20-22 minutes!

The finished products:

There you have it!  Easy-peasy pumpkin bread (or muffins) that only takes minutes to prep.  The longest part is gathering all your ingredients.  I so look forward to the day when I get to make it with my daughter.  It's the perfect kid-friendly recipe to do together because they can easily help with the mixing.  Thank you Grammy and Aunt Louise for the the wonderful recipe.  We miss you both!

BeatlesFreak