When I was at home a few weekends ago, my dad got up at like four AM to go to a flea market. I asked him to keep an eye out for retro kitchen things, and he returned with some cool/weird/GREAT stuff, including this old scale
for which I have no use other than to weigh 8kg of grapes and/or 21lbs of steak. But it sure is fun to look at.
And, this stack of mini Jello molds,
to which I said: Do I LOOK like a 1950s housewife named Bitsy to you??
Who uses Jello molds anymore???
Luckily my mom pointed out that these could be used as mini bundt cake pans, which is an adorable idea and proves that my parents are wiser than me.
Something else I realized?
Fill these babies with pumpkin cake batter, flip ‘em over, and you’ve got mini pumpkin cakes!
The only thing left to do…
Is glaze.
Mini Pumpkin Cakes (adapted from Joy of Baking)
(yield 12-15 mini cakes or cupcakes)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease your mini cakes pans OR line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spices.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla and pumpkin puree. Mix until incorporated.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter+sugar mixture in three batches, alternating with buttermilk. Begin and end with flour. Stir until just combined.
- Fill cake pans 2/3 of the way. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool completely before topping with glaze.
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2-3 teaspoons milk
