I have seen versions of candy corn cupcakes in magazines and on several recipe sites. In my first attempt to make some candy corn cupcakes, I used a cake mix and poured the colored batters into a dark nonstick cupcake pan. Unfortunately, they baked faster than I expected, and they were a nice golden brown on the outside rather than yellow and orange. I didn’t feel like running back out to the store, but I was determined to make some candy corn cupcakes. I found a basic cupcake recipe on cooks.com, and started mixing up the ingredients. Then came the next roadblock…no vanilla extract. I did some research for vanilla extract substitutes, and decided to substitute an equal amount of maple syrup. Guess what? It worked, and gave the cupcakes a nice flavor. I also used cupcake liners the second time around, and no browning occurred…the candy corn colors were nice and bright. The time required in the kitchen to make these colorful cupcakes is not long, unless you are learning lessons along the way like I did!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 box of white or yellow cake mix prepared according to directions on the box or your favorite basic cupcake recipe prepared
• red food coloring
• yellow food coloring
• your favorite white icing recipe or store bought icing

Directions:

1. Prepare cake mix.
2. Divide cake mix evenly between two bowls.
3. Add drops of yellow food coloring to one bowl of batter, and mix until desired shade of yellow is reached.
4. Add red and yellow food coloring to the other bowl of batter, and mix until desired shade of orange is reached.
5. Fill cupcake liners 1/4 full with yellow batter.
6. Top yellow batter with orange batter, filling an additional 1/4 full.
7. Bake cupcakes according to directions from the box or recipe.
8. Cool, and then top with icing and desired candy or other Halloween decorations.