Happy Halloween!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Let’s mark the day with one classic of this holiday: Candy corn.

I adapted Magnolia’s Bakery Vanilla Cupcake to make a few of these delicious candy corn cupcakes, and then I covered them with an old-fashioned confectioners’ sugar and butter frosting.

Ingredients

Yield 9 big cupcakes

• 1 ¾ cup flour
• ½ (113 g) cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup milk
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ tbsp. baking powder

Frosting

• ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 – 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line one muffin tin with cupcake papers.

In a small bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Divide batter in half between two bowls. Tint one batch yellow with 1/8 teaspoon yellow food color. Tint second batch orange with yellow food color and red food color (I used about half ¹/₈ tsp. of each one, is that ¹/₁₆?).

Fill paper-lined muffin cups ¼ full with yellow batter. Gently add orange batter on top of yellow batter, filling each muffin cup ¾ full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Vanilla Buttercream

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 2 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar.

Enjoy!