Desserts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 10-inch bundt pan with baking spray and set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat sugar and vegetable oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla as you add the last egg.

4. Alternate adding flour mixture and scoops of pumpkin to the egg mixture, beating well on medium-low after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips.

5. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan.

6. Bake for 60 - 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before cooling on a wire rack. Let cool completely and then dust with powdered sugar before serving.

1. Bake cake as directed on the box. Let the cake completely cool.

Nutella Icing

1. Beat together butter and shortening until smooth.

2. Add Nutella and mix until smooth.
3. Slowly add 4 cups of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
4. Add 2-3 tbsp of milk or water and mix until smooth.
5. Add fifth cup of powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
6. Add more water or milk until the right consistency.

Marshmallow Fondant

1. Place marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a large microwave-safe bowl. 

2. Microwave for 30 seconds on high; stir until mixed well. Continue microwaving in 30 second intervals until they are melted and smooth.

3. Place about 5 cups of the powdered sugar on top of the melted marshmallow mixture and gently fold it into the marshmallows.
4. Grease your hands and your counter-top generously with shortening. Turn marshmallow mixture onto counter and start kneading it like you would dough.
5. Add more confectioners' sugar as needed and re-grease your hands the counter-top as needed.
6. If the marshmallow fondant is tearing easily, it is too dry; add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time) kneading until fondant forms a firm, smooth elastic ball that will stretch without tearing, about 8 minutes.

7. To color fondant, add a little gel color to your desired amount and knead it with your hands until it absorbs all of the color. Add more color as needed to reach the desired colored. (I use medical gloves when mixing in the color. It's very helpful while cleaning your hands after).

8. Follow directions above to assemble and decorate the cake.

Making the Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease and lightly flour three 9-inch cake pans.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
3. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
4. On medium-high speed, add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
5. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Do not overmix this batter. The batter will be smooth, velvety, and slightly thick.
6. There is about 8 cups of batter total, so each layer will be 2 and 2/3 cups. Pour/spread batter evenly into prepared cake pans.
7. Bake for around 25-26 minutes or until the cakes are baked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it is done. Allow cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.

Making the Buttercream Frosting

1. In a large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk or paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes.

2. With the mixer running on low, add 5 and 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, 5 tablespoons heavy cream, and the vanilla extract. Increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes.
3. Add 1/2 cup more confectioners' sugar if frosting is too thin, 1 more tablespoon cream if frosting is too thick.
4. Yields about 4.5 cups of frosting.

Assemble and Decorate the Cake

1. First, using a large serrated knife, slice a thin layer off the tops of the cakes to create a flat surface. Discard or save and eat later.

2. Place 1 cake layer on your cake stand, cake turntable, or serving plate. Spread frosting evenly on top.

3. Top with 2nd cake layer and evenly cover the top with more frosting.

4. Top with the third cake layer and evenly cover the top with more frosting. Cover the sides with a crumb coat finish of frosting.

5. Use a bench scraper to smooth out the frosting on the sides of the cake.

6. Decorate cake with the ombre effect and follow the instructions above. 

7. Refrigerate the cake for 2-3 hours or up to 1 day before slicing and serving. If chilling for more than a few hours, loosely cover with plastic wrap after 1 hour of refrigeration (the frosting will "set" after about 1 hour and the plastic wrap won't really ruin your frosting at that point).

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 6 inch pans and set aside.

2. Combine cake mix, vanilla pudding, water, oil and eggs in a mixing bowl. With the paddle attachment mix until well combined when no lumps appear. 

3. Pour half the batter into one pan. Add the black food coloring. I usually dip a knife into the gel food coloring and add it that way. You don't need much. Mix the food coloring until incorporated. Pour the black batter into the other greased pan. Bake cakes for 26 - 31 minutes. Poke a tooth pick in the middle until it comes out clean. 

4. Let the cakes completely cool on a wire rack.

Vanilla Buttercream

1. While the cake is cooling make the frosting. With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy – about 2 minutes. Add 4 and 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, the heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Add up to 1/2 cup more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin or another tablespoon of cream if frosting is too thick. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet. 

Assembling the cake

1. Once the cakes are completely cooled cut the top of the cakes off with a serrated knife and make the tops even.

2. You will need a 4 inch and a 2 inch cookie cutter for the next steps (you can also use a template and cut your circles out with a knife). You will need to cut two circles from each layer.

3. First, insert the smallest circular cutter into the center of each layer. Carefully remove the centers, leaving them intact.

4. Cut your larger circles. The idea is to make the width of the cake in each of your rings as equal as possible, so that the squares of your checkerboard will all appear to be equal in size.

5. You will have a few circles to piece back together. When you put the cakes together alternate colors. If you have white on the outside, black will be the second layer and the inside layer will be white. Black on the outside, white in the middle and the inside layer will be black.

6. Apply a layer of frosting to the top of the bottom cake. Stack your cakes on top of each other. Put a good crumb coat on… as in, a crumb coat that conceals the cake underneath. It can be sloppy and uneven, but you should not be able to see what color the cake is.
   

   *crumb coat explanation below!
   

7. To get the rosette effect on the cake you will need to use tip #1M and a piping bag. Fill the bag up with buttercream. If you have an appropriately sized coupler you can use that, or you can just insert the tip into the bag and cut off the excess.

8. To make your rose, start in the center, then slowly move your tip in a circle around the center point. I wanted a single rose to span the side of the cake so I looped around my center point twice. Try to end in the same place each time.

9. Go all the way around the cake and complete with one last rose! Then go back and add the roses to the top using the same method.

10. When making flowers that big, you are bound to have some empty spaces in the cake. Go back in and add dollops of stars with the tip.