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Candy Corn Cupcakes

These candy corn cupcakes are adorable and perfect for the autumn season, whether as an October or November treat…

Candy Corn Cupcakes with frosting

This post originally appeared on Catz in October of 2011. Here we are, twelve years later, and the time has definitely come to update this recipe! It’s delightfully colorful and yummy, and just as appropriate for Thanksgiving as it is for Halloween. We remade, re-tasted, and re-photographed this wonderful little dessert – we hope you enjoy it!

batch of Candy Corn Cupcakes

Cupcakes, like pie, and like cakes can be my nemesis. For pie, obviously, the pastry is the tricky part. For cakes and cupcakes, it’s the frosting. I so want to be good in this area, but honestly, I haven’t had a lot of time to devote to learning the tips and tricks. I mean, I think part of the appeal, what makes you choose a cupcake or even a cake is partly due to how the frosting looks. Am I right?

I do plan on spending some time learning how to do frosting well. I recently added a bunch of frosting tips to my Amazon wishlist, so hopefully that will help and for this recipe I did watch a YouTube tutorial to get the “technique”down for this particular piping job, which was very helpful. The frosting on this cupcake is only part of this particular recipe. The other part is obviously, the layered candy corn colors.

The recipe for this recipe is actually very easy. But take your time – don’t rush through it. You use a white cake mix and follow the directions to bake it. **Please note that for this recipe I used the Duncan Hines white cake mix and I did change the recipe only slightly to make the cupcakes “slightly healthier.” I swapped the water for milk and the oil for plain Greek Yogurt. It made for a slightly denser crumb, but still moist and yummy! If you choose to make those, it’s not necessary to make the same changes I did. I just did that for us. You do you!

Candy Corn Cupcakes cup open

The hardest part of this recipe, I think, is getting the color right of the yellow and orange right. When I made these cupcakes in the past, I used the normal boxed food coloring that you can just find in the baking section of the grocery store. Those are fine, but it is hard to achieve the vibrancy that you’re looking for and once I did find it originally, the colored dulled a lot after I baked the cupcakes. This time I used my Wilton Icing Colors which is gel based and way easier to use and achieve that heightened color we want featured in these cupcakes. I mean…what makes a candy corn a candy corn? It’s the colors, not the taste. I mean, do any of us really like the flavor of the candy corn candies or do we just like how cute they are? The cuteness, of course!

Candy Corn Cupcakes for fall

I recommend, though it isn’t necessary to either use a high quality white cupcake liner or these silicone reusable cupcake molds. These things are amazing and I have them in all the sizes and they just make baking cupcakes and muffins so much easier. I use these when I make our bran muffins and I just keep those muffins in the molds and freeze them. Pop the mold off, toss it in the dishwasher and move on with my life. They come off the bakes really well and don’t mess with the texture of cupcakes or muffins. They’re cheap and I just really encourage you to use them. But a white cupcake liner will work too. You just don’t want the layers messed with.

Candy Corn Cupcakes on a platter

Once the batter for the cupcakes are made, try to divide the batter as evenly as possible, making one bowl with orange batter and one with yellow batter using the gel food coloring. I suggest either using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon. You only need about 1 1/2 tablespoons of each batter dropped into each liner/mold. Otherwise you risk the batter rising too high and having one of those mushroom tops.

Candy Corn Cupcakes close up

Bake and cool, then frost. I used my very simple buttercream recipe. It’s not too sweet. It’s just perfect. It’s the goldilocks of buttercream frosting and the perfect consistency for piping frosting.

Once you’ve frosted your cupcakes with your frosting, top the cupcakes with little pieces of Candy Corn for added cuteness and maybe a dusting of “fall” colored sprinkles.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

These cupcakes are adorable for Halloween, but I think they are also completely appropriate for Thanksgiving or just because it’s fall ya’ll!

That’s a good enough reason for me!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Yield: 15 cupcakes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 33 minutes

These candy corn cupcakes are adorable and perfect for the autumn season, whether as an October or November treat…

Ingredients

  • 1 box white cake mix
  • food coloring (I used gel) yellow and orange

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

  • 1 stick of unsalted butter (1 cup)
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Mix together cake mixx according to box directions. Divide the batter into two equal parts (two bowls).
  2. Add orange food coloring to one and yellow food coloring to the other. Stir to evenly combine the color.
  3. Fill liner with 1 1/2 tbsp of the yellow food batter and 1 1/2 tbsp of the orange food coloring. I found it helpful to gently tap and shake the muffin pan to create an evenness with the batter before baking. Bake for suggested cook time acording to box directions and cool completely.
  4. In a large bowl, either using an electric mixer or beater fitted with a paddle attatchement, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 1-2 min until light and fluffy. Add the cream and vanilla and beat on medium speed for another 2-3 minutes. This creates air in the frosting making it very fluffy and smooth.
  5. Use an offset spatula to move frosting to a piping bag fitted with a decorative frosting tip. Frost the cupcakes and top with a cute candy corn and sprinkles.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 15 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 171Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 18mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 0gSugar: 24gProtein: 0g

Nutrition information isn't always accurate.

Kim McCallie

Saturday 5th of November 2011

These are so cute! Looks like you had a lot of fun in the kitchen. That's the best part of cupcakes - they're so fun to bake and decorate. Thanks for sharing on Sweet Indulgences Sunday.

Ellen Zames

Saturday 29th of October 2011

Super cute cupcakes!! Love them! I'm you're newest follower. I just found you through Crumbs and Chaos.

Please come by and visit us to when you get a chance at http://everydaysisters.blogspot.com. We also have a weekly link up theme party called Everyday Sisters Sharing Sundays and this weeks theme is Sweet and Savory. Please come by and link up and join the fun!

Ellen

Chels

Saturday 29th of October 2011

Thank you :) They were a lot of fun to make, super delicious and super cute!

shdwpast221

Friday 28th of October 2011

Those were fun :) love you Chels:)

Dzoli

Thursday 27th of October 2011

Yes they are on the top of cuties I have seen lately around here;)

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