Cake ball pumpkin patch!

Good Morning! My inspiration this week, was pumpkins! I love the bright color that comes with pumpkins, it compliments all of the beautiful foliage here in Vermont!

I love the idea of a 'dirt' dessert, and wondered how cute it would be to have a pumpkin 'growing' out of the 'dirt', so that's what I decided to do!

Here is what you will need for the cake balls:

Cupcakes or cake (I used 9 cupcakes)

Frosting (I don't usually measure, I just add it until the balls start getting sticky)

A bowl

A parchment paper lined cookie sheet

Clean hands, or gloves...this part will get messy ;)

First you are going to want to break up the cupcakes into little crumbs. Try to get them as small as you can, so that your cake balls are nice and smooth when your rolling them!

Now you will want to add the frosting...I do about one spoonful at a time. I mix with my hands in between spoonfuls, to see how much I am going to need. Basically, if you can roll the balls, and they don't break apart anymore, then it's ready!

Roll the balls into the size that you need....you will want to try to make them about all the same size, so that your cake balls look uniform when you are done. I did two different sizes here, as I was making another treat for my hubby ;)

Next, you will want to pop the cake balls in the fridge for about 15 minutes, to harden the frosting. While you are waiting for your cake balls, you can grab the rest of your ingredients for the second part of this project.

Here you will need:

Chocolate pudding (one box made 5 cups for me)

Small clear cups

Orange Candy Melts

Oil for thinning the Candy Melts

Glass bowl

Oreo cookies (I used 21 here)

A disposable icing bag

Green icing tube

Wilton tips #2, #14, and #352

First you are going to want to melt the Candy Melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, or you could use a double boiler. Once the Candy Melts are melted, add some oil to the melted chocolate, until it runs off your spoon smoothly. Now you're ready for dipping!

I used a spoon here, and all I did was drop the cake ball into the melted candy, and used the spoon to roll it around. Once the cake ball was covered, I placed it back on parchment paper covered cookie sheet. It will look a little messy at this point, but no worries, once it hardens, we are going to trim the edges down. When your finished with the cake balls, pop these back in the fridge and start the pudding!

Make your pudding following the instructions on the box. Pour into your cups and let set.

While you are waiting for the pudding to set, take apart your oreos and remove the filling. Put the cookies into a bowl, and crush them until they resemble the texture of 'dirt'.

Spoon your 'dirt' on top of the pudding that has been set. Once that's done, go to the fridge and get your cake balls!!

With a sharp knife, carfully trim down all of the excess 'puddles' that are pooling around the base. Don't worry about it being terribly perfect, the bottom will be sitting on your 'dirt'.

Next, take your cake balls, and press them gently into the cookie mix.

Take the rest of your Candy Melts (you may have to re-melt, or add more), and spoon the melted candy into your disposable icing bag. Trim off the very tip, and with a slow steady pressure, draw lines onto your pumpkins.

Next, take your green icing tube, and screw on tip # 14 to make the stem of the pumpkins.

After you have added all your stems, change the tip on the green icing tube, to tip # 2. This is going to be for drawing vines down the sides of your pumpkins. I took my vines all the way down to the 'dirt', but you can cover JUST the pumpkins instead, totally up to you! (s0rry I wasn't able to get all of the images in, it was hard for me to take pics as I was working!)

You can stop here, or you can change the tip to #352 for leaves! Just plop a couple of them around each pumpkin, stick a spoon in the cups, and voila! You're done! An easy peasy treat that you can do with your littles this fall!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, as I enjoyed making these...not surprisingly, my kids loved them!

Please join me next week for another one of my 'inspired' treats!