This festive Pumpkin Patch Cake starts off with a simple made-from-scratch chocolate cake, topped with chocolate frosting and then decorated for the season with mellowcreme pumpkins. It's a delight for kids of all ages!

Now that my kids are grown, we don't celebrate Halloween like we used to. But, I still like to make the day special with a treat or two...and maybe a trick if I'm savvy enough! This Pumpkin Patch Cake is a fun way to celebrate the day, and it can even make the cut for your Thanksgiving feast as well! 

I used a simple and easy recipe for homemade chocolate cake here. Honestly, mixing up this cake is as easy as any boxed mix and it's homemade!  Not a chocolate lover? (Whaaaaaa?)  I think the Pumpkin-Ginger Cake recipe I used in my Mini Jack-O-Lantern Cakes would be a delicious substitution for the chocolate cake in this recipe! You can decide what kind of cake base you like best. 

I used a can of ready-to-use decorator icing for the leaves and vines in the "pumpkin patch," It helped make quick work of putting this cake together.  Mellowcreme pumpkins sit atop the leaves and vines to form the "patch." I'm not a huge fan of candy corn, but I do enjoy these seasonal mellowcreme pumpkins. 

I admit, it's been a long time since I've visited and actual pumpkin patch! When the kids were little, hayrides, pumpkin patches and sipping cider was an annual event for my family. I still stop, every once in a while, at the farmers market up the road. They make the most amazing apple cider donuts I have ever tasted! If I am lucky, I'll stop in just as they put a fresh batch in the window.  As much as I am a girl of summer, there are a few things I do enjoy during a midwestern Fall. 

What's your favorite thing to do in the Fall?  Do you have any family traditions that you look forward to each year?

Pumpkin Patch Cake

By Renee Paj

Pumpkin Patch Cake starts off with a simple made-from-scratch chocolate cake, topped with chocolate frosting and then decorated for the season with mellowcreme pumpkins. It's a delight for kids of all ages!

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled, divided
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1-2 TBS milk, if needed
• green icing with decorator tips
• mellowcreme pumpkins

Instructions

1. To Make Cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 8" x 8" pan with cooking spray with flour (like Baker's Joy) or grease and flour bottom and sides of pan.
2. In large bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and unsweetened cocoa. Set aside.
3. In medium bowl, combine sour cream, eggs, vanilla extract, water, canola oil and HALF the melted chocolate.
4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20 - 25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
5. To Make Frosting: In large bowl, combine the butter with the salt and the rest of the melted chocolate with electric mixer. Add in powdered sugar and cocoa powder and beat until smooth. Add in milk as needed to make frosting spreading consistency. Frost top of cake.
6. Place mellowcreme pumpkins all around the top and use the green icing with leaf and round tips to make vines and leaves.

Yield: 12 servings
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 20 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 25 mins.
Total time: 45 mins.

Printable Recipe

PIN ME!

Like what you see?  Follow RKA on all these social networks!!

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram