Stuffed Pumpkin Pie Mini Cakes

Halloween festivities will be happening this weekend - will you be participating in anything fun? Joel and I will be paying a visit to a pumpkin patch near by and maybe a visit to a local theme park. He's dressing up as a Train Conductor this year since he loves Thomas the Train so much. As for me, no dress up for me. Well, unless I walk around in a chef's jacket lol. So in the spirit of this fun holiday, here's a sweet treat! These Stuffed Pumpkin Pie Mini Cakes make use of a fun baking pan but you can use any cake pan or even a 9x13 baking pan to make a cake. A sweet cake batter made with pumpkin pie filling is baked into mini pumpkin cake pan while cream cheese frosting is sandwiched in between...

This was a delicious treat and pretty easy to make. If you're a pumpkin fan, you will want to try this recipe since pumpkin pie filling is readily available this time of year. As much as I like making cakes, it can be a lot of work. These were a cinch because of the mini pumpkin cake pan I used. And rather than frosting the outside of each pumpkin cake, I decided to take the fun and easy route by frosting the middles of each mini cake pumpkin to "stuff" them. It makes it easy to eat and it's much more portable too... which is helpful if you want to bring a cake along as you walk through the neighborhood trick or treating!

Stuffed Pumpkin Pie Mini Cakes
recipe adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

Cake:
2 1/4 cups flour or 315grams gluten free flour blend
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling

Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 tablespoon butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
2 cups sifted powdered sugar


Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 13x9" baking pan or mini pumpkin cake pan with cooking spray, set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl with a whisk. Set aside.

Stir sugar, butter, and vanilla together in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed til well combined.

Add in eggs, 1 at a time, to sugar mixture; beating well after each addition. Stir in pumpkin; mix well. Fold in flour mixture.

Place batter into prepared baking pan. Bake 25 minutes or til a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

For the frosting, combine butter, vanilla and cream cheese in a medium bowl; mix with a mixer at medium speed til combined. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating til well combined and smooth.

Spread frosting evenly over top of cooled cake or if using mini pumpkin cake pan, spread frosting in between each half and serve dusted with powdered sugar (optional).