Lesson #16 - Candy Corn Cupcakes
Happy Halloween
We are rolling right into a month long celebration of Halloween starting with delicious Candy Corn Cupcakes. Alexis and Kelly are all about the gore and scariness of the holiday. Jameson and I prefer the happy part of Halloween.
Today’s lesson was a little tougher than past ones. Roll up your sleeves and be prepared to get a little messy. Have fun and work as a team along with your little one. For those of you who are more Type A, try not to take the lesson over and make the perfect candy corns!
Remember that it is all about the experiences you are creating with your child.
Share your thoughts, memories and pictures below in the comments.
Prep Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 120 mins
Ingredients Cupcakes:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
Food coloring (yellow and red)
Ingredients for Buttercream:
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
STEP ONE:
In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Once combined, set aside.
STEP TWO:
In this step we used a Kitchen Aide mixer, but any mixer will be fine. In the bowl add butter and blend until it is smooth. Then add the sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Combine all the ingredients until the mixture is smooth.
STEP THREE:
Adding a little at a time, combine the flour mixture and the milk until the ingredients are blended together. The batter will be thicker than regular cupcake batter.
STEP FOUR:
TASTE THE BATTER! I say this as if it only happens in this step. Jameson starts tasting/eating everything starting with the plane flour. Disclaimer: There is raw egg in the mixture so use your discretion. Jameson without a doubt tastes everything he makes so we let him explore the flavors.
STEP FIVE:
Divide the batter into two separate bowls. In one batter add yellow food coloring until you get the desired color. Add both yellow and red to the other half of the batter to create the orange part of the candy corn.
This part of the process was very difficult even for me. The batter was super sticky and needed a lot of work to mix in the color. We followed the entire recipe so if we are off on the batter consistency please let us know in the comments below.
STEP SIX:
Generously spray the muffin pan with cooking spray. We don’t want the batter sticking to the pan. In the first half of the pan put a layer of the yellow cake batter. The batter will be sticky so we used a little spray from the pan edges to help lay it down. After you have completed the yellow layer, place the orange batter on top.
Note: the orange will probably puff up like a cupcake and you will need to trim it down or you can use a spoon to push them down. In retrospect we would have used a little less of the yellow to balance the removal of the top of the orange.
BAKE IN THE OVEN FOR APPROXIMATELY 13-15 MINUTES
STEP SEVEN:
While the cupcakes are in the oven we started whipping up the buttercream frosting.
In the mixer combine the powdered sugar, milk, softened butter and vanilla extract. After a few minutes the buttercream frosting will be done.
Note: If the frosting needs to be thickened, continue to add powdered sugar until desired consistency. If you want it thinner then add more milk.
STEP EIGHT:
Remove the cupcakes from the pan and flip them over. If necessary trim the tops off to create a flatter bottom. After that transfer the buttercream frosting to a sandwich bag and cut the tip (or a pastry bag is you have one). Take your time to pipe the buttercream frosting on the top to make it look like a Candy Corn.
Please make sure you allow the children to complete this step. It is important to remember that it isn’t always about the final destination, but the journey. As you can see our end results do not resemble the many pictures on Pinterest, but we had a blast creating the latest dish.