Other materials:

• 245 ml water
• 225 ml vegetable oil
• 225 g pumpkin (grated or in small pieces)
• 45 g raisins
• 75 g chopped pecan nuts
• 200 g cream cheese
• 300 g soft unsalted cream butter
• Paper towel
• Toothpicks

Make the leaves and pumpkins one day in advance, by the following instructions: Colour 150 grams of fondant orange and knead a pinch of tylose through. Colour 100 grams of fondant light beige with the ivory icing color and knead a pinch of tylose through. Colour 15 grams of fondant green, 550 grams dark brown and the rest dark beige. For the pumpkins, use the orange and dark beige fondant to shape balls. Also make some drop shapes, push in at 1/3 and push the top flat. Use a toothpick to make vertical stripes in the pumpkin. Roll out some green fondant and cut out a few small flowers, stick them on top of the pumpkins. Use dark brown fondant to shape small stems for the pumpkins. You can also shape some green fondant strings and curl them around a toothpick, drape them on the pumpkins. Knead some dark brown and light beige fondant through each other but not completely, to create a marble effect. Roll this out on roll out powder and cut out all kinds of leave shapes. Use the veiner to create veins. Let them dry on pieces of crumpled paper towel. When the pumpkins and leaves are dry accentuate them with dusting powders. Use the poppy red powder for the pumpkins. For the leaves, use the milk chocolate powder and brown powder. To do this, put some dusting powder on a piece of paper towel, dip your brush in the powder and then dip it clean on the paper towel. Colour the edges and veins of the pumpkins and the leaves.

Add 125 ml of water to 125 grams of the mix for buttercream and beat with a whisk. Let the mixture rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 180°C (convection oven 160°C). Grease the baking pans with cake release and put a round shaped piece of parchment paper on the bottom. If you have just one baking pan, first bake one half of the batter and then the other half. Grate the pumpkin, or cut the pumpkin in small pieces. Chop the pecan nuts in small bits. Put 750 g of mix, 120 ml water, 225 g eggs and 225 ml of oil in a bowl and mix it at low speed into a smooth batter. Use a spatula to mix the pumpkin, nuts and raisins through the batter. Divide the batter over the two baking pans. Bake the cakes brown in about 50 to 60 minutes. Release the cake after baking and let it cool down on a cake grid.

Finish the buttercream as described on the packaging. Make the cream cheese frosting: put 200 grams of cream cheese and 150 grams of soft butter in a bowl and mix it at low speed into a smooth consistency. Add the vanilla extract and 375 grams of icing sugar in one time and mix it on low speed until all sugar is included, then mix it for one minute at full speed. Put the frosting on top of one cake and put the second cake upside down on top of it. This way you get a nice tight finish. Cover the cake with buttercream and put it in the fridge.

Roll out the beige fondant and cover only the top of the cake. Cut away the excess fondant. Use the cutting wheel to create tree rings in the beige fondant. Use the veining tool to make some cracks in the top. Use the dusting pouch to cover the wood mould with maïzena and press the brown fondant in the mould. Take the fondant out of the mould and stick it on the side of the cake. You can do this without glue, just stick it onto the buttercream. Repeat this until the whole cake is covered with wood patterned fondant. Use the brown and black dusting powders to colour the wood. Put the black powder in the deep veins and colour the rest with brown powder. Give the top of the cake a colour with the brown powder. To finish the cake, stick the pumpkins and leaves on top of the cake with edible glue.