Pumpkin Gingerbread Cream Cheese Cakes with Maple Glaze

Do you like holiday themed food, but hate overly holiday themed food? I can't stand it when people assemble mismatched ingredients just for the sake of presentation. I think to myself, great, it reminds me of fall, but why does it have olives, gummy bears and cheese just to look like a mummy graveyard?!?! Well, luckily, you can create cute rustic pumpkins without being overly "theme-y". My neighbor and friend brought some pumpkin cake over for my husband and I, and it was delicious (thanks Gerianna.. I'm still pretty sure I spell your name correctly). I asked her for the recipe, and it was so simple. Even better is that it was moist and flavorful. I had an event to co-host the next night and I decide to transform her scrumptious cake into little pumpkins. So it goes a little something like this...

For the Cake:

One box vanilla cake mix

16 oz pumpkin pie filling

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a stand mixer, stir the above listed ingredients until smooth. Fill a mini Bundt cake pan (that’s where they get their shape) 3/4 of the way full of batter. Bake for 15 minutes, and remove to cool. Once they are cool, cut off the tops so that you have a flat surface and set aside.

For the Cream Cheese/Ginger Snap Frosting:

4 oz butter (room temp)

4 oz cream cheese (room temp)

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup crushed ginger snaps

In a stand mixer, blend the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Crush up ginger snaps into course pieces and stir into the frosting.

For the Maple Glaze:

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup whole milk

2 cups powdered sugar

Over a medium heat, mix the syrup and the milk in a sauce pan. Whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth. Remove from heat.

Putting it all together:

For each "pumpkin" take, two mini Bundt cake molds and spread frosting in the middle; like a sandwich. Place each one on a cookie sheet once assembled. Drizzle the glaze over the "pumpkins" while still warm. Break a ginger snap in half and firmly press into the top at a slight angle, so as to resemble a leaf.

Plate, serve, enjoy!