I suffered through another can of pumpkin puree and made some Bakerella inspired pumpkin cake balls for my Halloween night pregame. They looked and tasted like pumpkins! These cake balls were made with spice cake mix and pumpkin puree, dipped in orange candy melts, and the stems are rainbow Twizzlers (they tasted like glorified plastic, but they looked perfect!)

These little guys are pretty involved to make, but they’re always huge crowd pleasers and last night was no exception. They didn’t all come out perfectly smooth, but I swear I did it on purpose to make more realistic pumpkins. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Thankfully, the overall cuteness factor of these treats distracted anyone from noticing shape imperfections. I had ordered these pumpkin sugar decorations from The Layer Cake Shop before knowing exactly what I was going to bake for Halloween, so I also did some cake balls in chocolate and used them as toppers. Cute overload:

Only a few of these made it to November, but I’m okay with that, I probably should stop eating candy and pumpkin muffins/pancakes/cake for lunch anyway.

And since this was all for a pregame, we also made some candy corn vodka-jello treats that were quite tasty. Of course they could be made without alcohol, but that just wouldn’t have been as fun.

That’s lemon and orange jello topped with whipped cream. I chose these cups because of their shape, more triangular like candy corn, but I would also suggest making them in smaller shot-glass sized cups to make wider layers and to serve more people. Overall it was a great party and Halloween, here’s a shot of Ryan and I as Caesar and Cleopatra:

Pumpkin Cake Balls
(check out Bakerella for illustrated instructions)

1 box Spice Cake mix
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 can cream cheese frosting
1 bag orange candy melts
1 package Rainbow Twizzlers

– Bake cake according to instructions, using pumpkin puree instead of water
– Crumble up the entire cake with your hands and a spoon
– Mix in the can of frosting until well combined
– Make balls about 1 inch in diameter, and then squish them a little to make them more oblong
– Freeze balls for a few hours so they are easier to dip
– Melt candy melts according to directions and drop each ball into the melted candy, fishing it out with a spoon and tapping the spoon on the side of the bowl to let excess candy fall off
– Place ball on a lined cookie sheet and place cut up Twizzler on top while still wet
– Store in refrigerator until time to serve

Candy Corn Jello Shots

2 large boxes lemon jello
2 large boxes orange jello
1 can whipped cream
Vodka
Candy corn (for decoration)

– Prepare lemon jello with 2 cups boiling water, 1 cup cold water, and 1 cup vodka
– Divide jello between 24 clear plastic cups, and let chill in fridge for 4 hours
– Prepare orange jello the same way, and make a second layer on top of the yellow and chill again for 4 hours
– When ready to serve, top with whipped cream and candy corn