Peekaboo pumpkin pound cake

Sandra Denneler
Nov 12, 2012 6:30 AM by
Posted in Food & Recipes / Entertaining / Entertaining Menus & Recipes

A Surprise In Every Slice!

There's a pleasant surprise baked into every slice of this fall-inspired pound cake — a pumpkin! Everyone will be asking, "How'd you do that?"

Main

Peekaboo pumpkin pound cake with brown butter pecan icing

Ingredients:

For the pound cake

  • 1 (14-ounce) box pumpkin bread mix
  • 1 (16-ounce) box pound cake mix
  • Orange food coloring

For the icing

  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
  • 3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons evaporated milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

1

Prepare pumpkin bread

Mix up pumpkin bread ingredients according to the directions on the box. Add orange food coloring to make it more "pumpkin-y" looking (less brown).

Step 1

2

Bake and cut

Bake in a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan according to directions. Remove from oven before completely done, about 8-10 minutes less than instructed. Let cool, remove from pan and refrigerate for up to four hours. Cut cold pumpkin bread into large slices. Cut pumpkin shapes from slices.

Step 2

Align them down the center of a lightly greased and floured 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

Step 3

3

Make pound cake

Mix up your pound cake batter according to the directions on the box. Pour over your pumpkin bread cutouts in the pan, making sure to cover the tops of the pumpkins. You may have more pound cake batter than you need. Try not to overfill the pan. Bake according to the directions on the box. Let cool when done.

Step 4

4

Prepare icing

Meanwhile, prepare the brown butter pecan icing.

Put powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, melt butter and boil, stirring until it starts to brown and form dark flecks on the sides and bottom.

Step 5

Remove from heat. Pour the melted brown butter and flecks over the powdered sugar. Add the evaporated milk and vanilla. Stir until combined and creamy. Add more powdered sugar if it appears too runny or more evaporated milk if it seems too stiff.

Step 7

5

Ice cake

Remove baked and cooled pound cake from pan and top with brown butter icing. Add chopped pecans, if desired.

Final

Cut into slices and delight your guests with the pumpkin-shaped surprise that peeks out from inside!

More food crafts

Edible teacup cookies
Chocolate and gummy candy kabobs
Poison apple party dip

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Comments

Comments on "Peekaboo pumpkin pound cake"

Kathy February 08, 2013 | 7:36 AM

Just made this last night with all pound cake. First batch I colored pink and used a heart cookie cutter for Valentine's Day, then continued with the plain pound cake. It turned out great! So neat to slice into it and see that it worked!

Toni | Boulder Locavore February 01, 2013 | 7:48 AM

Sandra! This is like coming home to Mecca having finally found the original inspiration for my Valentine's gluten free cake. Thank you so much for leaving your comment on my post. I was so disappointed when clicking on the pic on Pinterest in the fall to have it go nowhere. As mentioned in my post I was not sure what it even was but found it so beguiling. Thank you for the inspiration and leading me finally back to the source! Loved comparing notes on the approach. Think a pumpkin is easier for the flat bottom I'll say! Thanks again. P.S. I'll amend the post to include a link to your pumpkin cake too!

Meghan January 28, 2013 | 8:31 PM

Has anyone tried it with a heart shaped cookie cutter? I was thinking of doing a red velvet heart and a white cake or a pound cake.

Rachel January 01, 2013 | 3:57 AM

I am so glad you put the sheknows watermark on your photos! I found a picture of this bread on Pinterest, but the link did not bring me to your website. I googled "she knows pumpkin bread" and it brought me straight to your site. I am so excited to try this!

Sandra December 26, 2012 | 4:11 PM

If you don't have any box mixes, this idea can easily be done with any homemade cake, bread (banana, pumpkin, zucchini?) or pound cake recipes. You'll need to adjust your quantities and pan sizes, depending on how much your recipe makes. I would suggest using two different flavors, as well as two different colors. Also, I know some people have mentioned using other shapes inside - trees, snowflakes or gingerbread men. My only suggestion: try and use a very SIMPLE, SOLID shape. Something that can stay in place and won't bend or squish under the pressure of batter being poured on top of it. I've tried using alphabet letters before, but they definitely lose their shape once batter is poured around and over them.

Liran December 25, 2012 | 12:16 PM

please advise how to manage without the box mix? I dont have these products available in IL....

Erin December 12, 2012 | 1:14 PM

I did a guiness gingerbread cake (cut-out) and an egg nog poundcake around it. It worked pretty well, but the pound cake was heavier than the gingerbread causing the shape to go from a snowflake to something else!! Still, the idea is fantastic and the flavors of the cakes were incredible! (both recipes from scratch)

Sharmin December 11, 2012 | 6:18 AM

WOW! I love your idea!! Can I use brownie instead of pumpkin bread?

Sandra December 10, 2012 | 5:01 PM

Barbara - you could use pound cake for both, just make them different colors. I only used pumpkin bread because it was seasonal and sounded good. I tried making this with regular cake mixes too. It worked OK, but wasn't perfect. There were lots of spongy holes after it baked and the pumpkin shape inside had a very soft, fuzzy edge. Pound cake batter is thicker and bakes up denser than regular cake. Good luck!

from paris December 10, 2012 | 1:44 PM

pleeeeeeeease ! anybody can translate this recipe in french language mille merci !!!!!!

barbara December 09, 2012 | 6:10 PM

I want to do this for xmas...what can I use for the center other than pumpkin bread so I can use seasonal cookie cutters and colors? I want to master this so I can use it for tailgating, parties, school, etc. LOVE IT!!!!

Dee December 06, 2012 | 12:15 PM

Sheilah, this may be a little late, but use your copy & paste features to a document whether you have Word or whatever program. I downloaded a free copycat MS word program online (openoffice writer)It is the best! It has every feature of MS. My daughter downloaded "Snagit" too, which allows you to "snag" anything that refuses you to copy & paste, and either save on its program or copy to a document. And you can reduce the size (ie: picture)so you have the pic only in a smaller version. I have so much fun on Pinterest, I save everything to a 4g usb flash drive so I don't take up my computer space and I can take it anywhere. I am rambling...so there you go.

Sandra November 25, 2012 | 6:13 PM

I tried making it with pumpkin & ginger bread, but the colors were too similar and it was hard to see the pumpkin shape. I also tried it with a regular white cake mix, but the shape was soft and there were lots of sponge-like holes in the baked cake. I think the denser cake mixes you can use, the better. I wonder what brownie mix would do?

Amy November 25, 2012 | 10:54 AM

Would this work with any other kind of bread besides pumpkin bread?

Anne November 25, 2012 | 7:58 AM

I just had to say thank you for this awesome recipe! I made this for Thanksgiving and it was a hit! We were all amazed when I started slicing it! Everyone was taking pictures! AND it was delicious!!!!! Thank you for sharing it with us!

Jean November 20, 2012 | 7:01 PM

Going to try this at Christmas with trees. Should be cute.

Sandra November 20, 2012 | 4:12 PM

Refrigerated, it would probably still be good/fresh for a week. Breads and cakes left out on the counter are usually drying up by the 3rd day.

Sandy November 20, 2012 | 2:41 PM

This is an awesome idea! I can't wait to try it out. I have one question though. How long does it stay good/fresh for?

Sandra November 18, 2012 | 6:54 PM

Good point Sheri - my cookie cutter was about as tall as the height of my loaf pan (including stem). In fact, I had to squish my metal cookie cutter a little, so that I would fit the size of my baked pumpkin loaf before I could cut the slices.

Ceil November 18, 2012 | 4:40 AM

I never would have thought of this. You are so clever. Will make for sure.

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