Halloween Pumpkin Cakes

My older girls (daughters) are out of high school and out of the house the only one left is our 11 year old,, It has been a family tradition of ours to do Pumpkin Cakes to see who could decorate them the best,, now even with the older ones gone my youngest still drags me into the kitchen early and on my day off just so we can do Pumpkin Cakes. My oldest called me a little while ago and said she was going to do them with her boyfriend and start their own tradition. the smiles that you get while they are having fun making these cakes is priceless.

The pancake mix is fairly simple,

4 Cups of Flour

1/4 Cup of Sugar

2 teaspoons of Baking Soda

2 teaspoons of Salt

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

4 Large Eggs

4 Cups of Buttermilk

and 1 stick of butter to grease the griddle

to make Pumpkin Cakes just add

1 1/2 Tablespoons Pumpkin Spice

1 1/4 Tablespoons of Cinnamon

and for the Frosting or Icing use

1 Stick of Butter softened

1 8 oz. box of Cream Cheese room temp

1 teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract

1/4 slice of fresh Lemon

4 Cups of Powdered Sugar

and to decorate them mix icing with food coloring to get desired color

Preheat griddle to around medium heat. We usually go a little under medium heat, but every stove is different.

Grab a large mixing bowl. Add flour and with a wisp or a spatula, break flour down and then put a hole in the middle like you're making a volcano.

Pour buttermilk, eggs, and sugar into center of the hole you made then start mixing together from the corners in.

Add baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix together.

Add Cinnamon and Pumpkin Spice. Mix Together thoroughly.

Butter the griddle to prepare for the dough. When pouring the dough, attempt to make a pumpkin shape. As you can tell , I am not good at it.

Grab a large mixing bowl. First, add the vanilla. Then, squeeze the lemon and get as much of the juice as you can. Add in the cream cheese and butter; Make sure they are at room temperature. Mix until smooth and creamy like icing or frosting.

In smaller bowls, add one cup of frosting and add a few drops of food coloring to make your desired color. Then, choose the pumpkin cake you want to decorate.

With a small spatula or the back of a spoon, get frosting and spread along your pumpkin cake to create the pattern you would like to make. We usually do pumpkins because the pancake is the shape of a pumpkin, but you can design it however you want!

All of us pick our own pancakes and decorate them the way we want to. Then, we let Mom decide whose pumpkin cake is decorated the best. I won, this time! :)