Candy Corn Cupcakes!

Candy Corn is here to cheer us up as we gradually let go of the short summer we just enjoyed.

Even if you think candy corn is gross, you can't deny, it is a staple of the chilly..tingly..blissful Fall that lies ahead ♥ 

While making the candy corn cupcakes , I always ask myself..what color comes first in a piece of candy corn?  The yellow or the orange or the white?  Deep thoughts..

Or an excuse to shop the sprinkles aisle at my local Bulk Food Shoppe and do some yummy research.

If my dad doesn't eat all my research (he loves to eat my sweets from the bulk shoppe), I can use these gummi candy corns as cupcake toppers!

Tripled Candy Corn Cupcakes

(Candy Corn on the inside, Candy Corn Frosting Swirl, and GIANT Candy Corn Gummies on top).

Yellow on the bottom.

Orange in the middle.

White on top ♥

The inside even looks like a piece of candy corn. ♥

My candy corn cupcakes are vanilla almond, but when you eat one, your inner kid kicks in and believes that they taste like candy corn! 

This is how I turn a cupcake into a piece of candy corn.

I start with a white batter (see a delicious recipe below)

The two edible colors I use are from Americolor:  Electric Yellow and Electric Orange Gel Paste.

I divide the batter into two separate bowls and color each bowl a separate color a candy corn color story.

Using a small cookie scoop, I layer one scoop of yellow on the bottom of the cupcake liner,

I repeat with the orange on top of the yellow batter to make a "striped" effect, and fill the cupcake liner about 1/2 full.  I bake at 325 for about 22 minutes ♥ Sometimes I change it up and leave some of the batter white and add a white "dome" on top of each cupcake like real candy corn.

Super puffy candy corn cupcakes!!

The candy corn cupcakes look really good with rainbow owls on top too ♥

(almonds for the "feathers", white candy wafers, multi-colored m&ms for the eyes, and sunflower seeds for the beek!) For rainbow technique, see my rainbow cupcake blog here!

They also look good with Halloween costumes!

Maybe I'll dress up as Lucille Ball with my friend Alicia as Ricky again ♥

Or how cute would it be to be Lucille Ball wearing a cupcake costume?!

Fall Inspiration is everywhere.

And it all started with candy corn.

I've got a treat for you. (I'm more into the treat side instead of the tricks).

The Bake At Home Version of the Amanda Cupcake Candy Corn Cupcakes!

(I recommend these for this year's Halloween Party):

Ingredients Needed:
White Cake Mix (Betty Crocker works well if you buy in the local store)

1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk, room temperature (in place of the water on the box)

4 eggs, room temperature

3.9-4 oz White Chocolate Instant Pudding

1 1/2 teaspoons of Almond Extract

½ Cup Vegetable or Canola Oil

Light colored cupcake tin

White Cupcake Liners (this recipe makes about 18 cupcakes)

.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325.

2. Line your cupcake pan with cupcake wrappers.

3. In a bowl or a stand mixer cream eggs, vegetable oil, and dry box of pudding mix.

4. Gradually add remaining ingredients, little by little until everything is evenly blended, scraping bowl down in between to make sure all ingredients are evenly mixed).  I don’t dump everything in the bowl all at once.  When doctoring a cake mix, I treat this like I am mixing ingredients from scratch so that all ingredients are evenly blended/mixed.

5.  Take out 2 separate bowls, divide batter in half into each bowl.
6.  For Electric Yellow:  Mix a few small drops of Americolor gel paste in one vanilla batter bowl.

7.  For Electric Orange:  Mix a few small drops of Americolor gel paste in one vanilla batter bowl.
**The more color you add, the more vibrant it will get.
8.  Using a small cookie scoop for each color, scoop the yellow batter onto the bottom of the cupcake liner. Dip your second scoop into the orange batter and layer this orange batter on top of the yellow. Fill cupcake liner about 1/2 full and let bake for appx 325 min.

**Once cupcakes are cooled, frost to your heart's delight and top each cupcake with an candy corn gummy treat!  (I bought mine at Greenville Bulk Food Supply).

Frosting Recipe (for coloring, use same technique and colors as the candy corn batter technique):

13-14 oz Marshmallow Fluff or Cream

1 lb butter

1 T Vanilla Extract

Dash Salt (to lessen the sweetness a tad)

8 Cups Powdered Sugar (depending on how thick you want your frosting to be-use less for creamier frosting and more for thicker swirls)

• Use a spatula to scrape the fluff and the butter out into your stand mixer.
• Mix well until fluffy and well blended.
• Gradually add a pinch of salt and vanilla extract.
• Now add your powdered sugar, slowly until the frosting reaches desired consistency.
• (The more powdered sugar you add—the more stiff the frosting will be for decorating, so you will get a "point" that looks just like a piece of candy corn when piping on with a 1A round decorating tip.)

Cupcake Sugar Cookie Cutouts

Baking and decorating isn't the same if I don't step on sprinkles of crunchy rainbows that fell on my kitchen floor tiles,  find frosting in my curly hair, and wonder if I should ever wash my pants again, because smears of glittery frosting on my pants from a fun night of baking looks so pretty! (Sprinkly frosting colored denim line in the future of Amanda Cupcake? Perhaps..)

For Cupcake Lovers that might want to try something new..

 ♥Sugar Cookies♥ that are inspired by cupcakes, layered with Sprinkles, White Whipped Buttercream Frosting, and topped with a bright red sparkly cherry! 

........My cupcake sugar cookies resemble the cupcakes I made last year (they were filled with sprinkles)!

This was really easy. You push a hole down into the middle of the cupcake with a cupcake corer and fill that empty spot with any sprinkles you wish).

The sugar cookies I make are soft, not crunchy. (I leave the crunchy texture up to the sprinkles). I cut the sugar cookie dough with a cupcake cookie cutter about 1/4"-1/2" thick and bake them just until they are done on a lower oven temperature.  This cookie is the perfect BFF with a fluffy marshmallow cream frosting!  I don't believe in a thin glaze of frosting (that's just my own cupcake religion).  I firmly believe in piling on puffy swirls of frosting.

 Isn't that what dreams are made of?

How a Cupcake Sugar Cookie is born:

1.  Roll out the dough so it is 1/4"-1/2" thick (see recipe for making the sugar cookie dough below).

2. Use a cupcake cookie cutter to cut out your shapes, and bake on parchment paper at around 325 for 10-15 minutes (depending on your oven. You don't want to overbake the cookies, but you don't want them to come out raw. You want a happy medium).

3.  Fill a piping bag with Marshmallow Cream frosting (I am using a 1A round decorating tip in my piping bag (see recipe below).

4.  Frost the cupcake liner section of the sugar cookie.  While the frosting is still creamy, dip the frosting in a bowl of rainbow sprinkles.  The rainbow sprinkles will stick to the frosting to create an edible cupcake liner!
5.  Swirl your frosting on to the top of the cupcake, and top with a real cherry!
6.  Sprinkle edible glitter or pixie dust on the Maraschino Cherry for some extra sparkle and shine.


"Cupcake" Sugar Cookies don't have to look like cupcakes.
All my sugar cookies are inspired by how I pipe a pretty swirl of frosting on top of my cupcakes!

Minnie Mouse Sugar Cookies (I just used a Mickey/Minnie Mouse Cookie Cutter and swirled on Electric Pink Frosting!)

Lucky Charms Sugar Cookies! (I just frosted the cookie with frosting and used Lucky Charms as my sprinkles)

Rainbow Sugar Cookies (to learn how to pipe a rainbow swirl, click here for my tutorial)

Lemonhead Sugar Cookies!
(just add 2-4 teaspoons of lemon extract to your buttercream recipe--listed below--for a lemony buttercream). Top with a lemonhead or two..or three!

I Love You Sugar Cookies, Sprinkled with Love and Disco Dust.
(I used a cookie cutter for the shape).

A Garden of Sugar Cookies ♥

Unicorn sugar cookies! (the horn is a bugle and the nose is a marshmallow!)

..Every single one inspired by a cupcake!

Amanda Cupcake Sugar Cookies:

Ingredients:

6 Cups Flour

3 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp salt

2 Cups Softened Butter

2 Cups Sugar

2 Eggs

2 Tsp Vanilla

Instructions:
1. In Stand Mixer, Cream Butter, Sugar, Eggs and Vanilla Together.
2. Combine Dry Ingredients-Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt in A Separate Bowl.
3. Gradually add Dry ingredients to creamed ingredients.
4. Now roll your sugar cookie dough out on parchment paper and lay out on a pan.
5. Cover sugar cookie dough with parchment paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
6. After 20 minutes you are ready to cut out your shapes using cookie cutters. (I make my shapes really thick, about 1/4" to 1/2" so they are like "cupcake" tops!)
7. Bake shapes in the oven at 325-350 for only about 10-15 minutes (I always underbake them a little so they are soft instead of hard).

Amanda Cupcake Marshmallow Cream Frosting:

13 oz Marshmallow Cream

1 lb softened butter

4 T Vanilla Extract

appx 8 Cups of Powdered Sugar (depending on how thick you want your frosting to be)

Instructions:
1. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the Marshmallow Cream and the butter out into your stand mixer.
2. Mix well until fluffy and well blended.
3. Add vanilla extract.
4. Now add your powdered sugar, slowly until the frosting reaches desired consistency. Don't be afraid to add more powdered sugar-there is a lot of butter and marshmallow cream so it may take awhile to reach the stiffness desired for piping pretty swirls on your cupcake inspired cookies. ♥