Just a quick pop in to share this pumpkin shaped Carrot Cake we made for Canadian Thanksgiving. I’m not a big fan of pumpkin cake, but I thought having something shaped like a pumpkin would be fun. I’ve seen cake molds specifically made for this task, the perfect pumpkin shape straight out of the pan – but then I thought about what to do with said pumpkin mold for the rest of the year? Having something gather dust and only using it once was not an option – so I pulled out our one bunt pan and made two batches of carrot cake. This was a bit more tedious because I could not bake it all at once, and it made for a lot of cake, but I justified it by not spending money on another kitchen gadget, right?

The centre icing is a simple cream cheese icing with a bit of lemon. The top is the same icing with a bit of added milk so it could drip nicely down the sides. Because carrot cake tends to be a bit heavy, I didn’t add too much icing, but decided to enjoy the flavour of this spiced cake. I don’t add nuts, but I add raisins. The kids and I made the pumpkin stem by covering an ice cream cup with melted chocolate and popping it in the middle of the cake.

It’s carrot cake dressed up as a pumpkin – a subtle nod to fall and even Halloween. Enjoy!