Pikachu Pumpkin Rum Cakes

This post is also available in（こちらの言語版もある）: Japanese

Truth be told, I think the Pikachu pan is really meant for making madeleines, which are pretty popular in Japan. Someday I will probably try making some with it, but since my friends’ birthday was in October and we were heading to a Halloween party after celebrating, I wanted to make something that fit the season.

Furthermore, because of the little molded faces I need to pick something that would still be tasty without frosting, so a pumpkin rum cake seemed like the natural choice.

The pumpkin rum cake recipe ended up working really well in the silicon pan, and as long as the cakes baked long enough and cooled in the pan long enough, it was easy to get the Pikachus out without losing any details. In order to not mess up the faces, I only poked holes in the back before pouring on the glaze and then poured a little on the faces as-is, but the rum flavor was still strong enough for them to register as rum cakes and not just pumpkin spice cakes.

Most importantly, my friend really got a kick out of the Pikachu cakes and everyone who tried them seemed to find them tasty. I heard from my friend that after the Halloween party, he went home and ate several more, so definitely a success!

…however, I did feel a little bad that cute ‘lil Pikachu got gobbled up by us spooks.

Pikachu Pumpkin Rum Cakes

 

Print（印刷）

Prep time（準備時間）

20 mins（分）

Cook time（加熱時間）

50 mins（分）

Total time（合計時間）

1 hour（時） 10 mins（分）

 

Mini rum cakes packed with pumpkin spice flavor, shaped like everyone's favorite electric mouse!

Author（投稿者）: Xiomara Entropy (adapted from the verybestbaking.com)

Recipe type（レシピカテゴリ）: Dessert

Cuisine（どこの料理）: American

Serves（何人分）: 14-18 Pikachus

Ingredients （材料）

• For cakes:
• 1½ (192 g) cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice (see notes about making your own)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter or margarine
• ½ cup (110 g) packed brown sugar
• ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 7.5 oz (213 g) pumpkin puree (see notes about making your own from kabocha squash if you can't find orange pumpkins where you live)
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• For glaze:
• 2 Tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter or margarine
• ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1½ Tbsp rum

Instructions（作り方）

1. Make cakes: Preheat oven to 325F (160C). Lightly grease pan if necessary (I did not have to)
2. Combine flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. In another bowl beat together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs and beat well.
5. Add vanilla and pumpkin puree, beat well.
6. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture ⅓ at a time, beating well after every addition.
7. Spoon mixture into pan.
8. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in the cake comes out clean (do not underbake or it will be hard to get the Pikachus out without losing the faces).
9. Let the cakes cool in the silicon pan until they can be easily removed without the face details sticking.
10. Remove cakes and carefully poke holes in the back side with a tooth pick.
11. Make the glaze: Melt the butter in a sauce pan, stir in sugar and water, and bring to a boil.
12. Remove from heat, stir in the rum.
13. Pour glaze over the backside of the cakes, flip over, and pour a little over the front as well, being careful not to obscure the faces.
14. Let the glaze cool and serve.

Notes（コツ・ポイント・注意点）

★Pumpkin pie spice: I know you can easily buy this in the US, but here in Japan we don't have the premade stuff so I make my own according to illmakeitmyself.net's instructions. Combine the following spices together, mix well, and store in an empty spice shaker or small jar (yields about 2Tbsp):
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
★Pumpkin puree: Canned pumpkin puree is easy to come by in the US, but orange pumpkins themselves are hard to find in Japan, However, there's no reason to spend a lot of money on either because kabocha puree tastes pretty much exactly the same. I originally happened across instructions for kabocha puree on illmakeitmyself.net, and of her methods, this is the one that works best for me:
1) Cut up about 550g of kabocha, put it in a pan of hot water, and boil until soft enough to stick a cooking chopstick through it
2) Carefully remove the skin and discard (or eat it if you are me and like kabocha skin).
3) Add 110 ml of water to the squash and puree with a blender or immersion blender. Keep adding water (I usually have to add another 100 ml) and blending until the puree will mostly fall ofｆ a spoon when tipped sideways.
4) Store puree in sealed container in the refrigerator for a week or freeze for a few months.
★ You of course do not need to have a Pikachu pan to make this recipe. You could use another pan to make mini pumpkin rum cakes of any shape, or even double the recipe and make a full-size rum cake in a bundt pan.

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Cake recipe adapted from: https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/29568/pumpkin-pecan-rum-cake/

Homemade pumpkin pie spice recipe from: http://illmakeitmyself.net/2012/10/22/pumpkin-spice-latte-with-kabocha-puree-bonus-pumpkin-pie-spice-recipe/

Homemade pumpkin puree recipe adapted from: http://illmakeitmyself.net/2012/10/15/kabocha-squash-puree-pumpkin-puree-substitute/