Looks Like a Pumpkin Cake

This Halloween pumpkin cake is a fun decorating project that’s way easier than it looks. Two chocolate bundt cakes baked from a mix get stacked flat-side together to create a round pumpkin shape, then frosted orange with cream cheese frosting tinted with red and yellow food coloring.

The banana stem is a clever touch. Half a banana with the peel still on gets placed in the center hole and frosted green to look like a pumpkin stem. It’s sturdy, the right shape, and doesn’t require any special equipment.

Cherry fruit roll-ups get cut into eyes, a nose, and a mouth for the jack-o-lantern face. They stick right to the frosting without toothpicks or glue, and kids can customize the expression however they want.

Kitchen Tips

• Cool the bundt cakes completely before stacking and frosting. Warm cakes crumble when handled and melt the frosting.
• Reserve ¼ cup of frosting for the green stem before tinting the rest orange. It’s much harder to un-orange frosting than to plan ahead.
• Use a thick layer of frosting between the two cakes to act as glue. This keeps the top layer from sliding off.
• The ridged bundt pan shape naturally looks like pumpkin segments. No carving or shaping needed.

Variations

• Use vanilla cake mix instead of chocolate for a lighter cake under the orange frosting.
• Replace the fruit roll-up face with candy corn, licorice, or chocolate pieces.
• Add green frosted ice cream cone pieces as leaves around the stem for extra detail.