Take me to the Steps

It’s easy and fun to create adorable edible pumpkin decorations in no time. Just use delicious almond paste, or marzipan to sculpt as if you were working with clay. Almond paste is just blanched almonds and sugar, ground into a paste. Marzipan is almond paste, plus flour. Either one will work perfectly for this project. I chose to use almond paste because it tends to have flecks of color in it from the skins of the almonds, while the candy dough of marzipan is more often pure white. I wanted the flecks because I think it lends some extra realism to the final pumpkin. Use the decorations on cakes, or just serve them as their own yummy treats. Once I covered an entire chocolate cake with pumpkins, pears and apples. Make them ahead of any event, and then store in the fridge for up to one week.

For more inspiration, check out the Quick Craft article in Craft Magazine, Vol. 5.

This recipe was originally published on Craft.

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Project Steps

Color the almond paste.

Add 2 parts red and 3 parts yellow food coloring to the almond paste.

Mix it well until you have the perfect shade of orange.

Make the general shape.

Roll the orange paste into a ball, and then press the top and bottom to make them flat. A real pumpkin isn’t round, so keep that in mind as you sculpt.

Try making a tall and narrow pumpkin too!

Make lines in the pumpkin.

Use the toothpicks to press into the sides of the pumpkin.

Make the demarcations as realistic as you can; remember, most things in nature are asymmetrical.

Give it a stem.

Press a whole clove into the top of the pumpkin as the stem.

Store the finished pumpkins in the refrigerator for up to one week.