Candy Corn Mini Hi Hat Cupcakes

by Lora Wiley-Lennartz
I am one of the people who fall on the side of candy corn lovers, not haters. When I was an expat, come October it made me sad not to have some around. Once a kind friend even mailed two bags to me after I  kvetched on Facebook about the woeful lack of it in Deutschland. I was not so much craving the taste (I mean, just how much can one eat of that stuff anyway?) as much as the Halloween memories they evoke. It’s my my favorite holiday and when in the States, I always celebrated it to the max.
Life is crazy busy right now but I am going to do my best in the next weeks to post some of the fun Halloween treat ideas that have been rambling around in my head this past year.
Admittedly, these looked much better in my head then they came out in real life. I need some practice with the multi dipping it took to create them. Next time I will try to experiment with a candy corn flavor for the cupcakes as well. I went with plain vanilla for this first round.
I couldn’t find yellow candy melts so I colored a bag of white ones with Wilton’s candy colors. It worked perfectly.
Here’s how I made my little cupcake candy corn tribute.

Candy Corn Mini Hi Hat Cupcakes
For the Cupcakes:


Ingredients:
  • 2+1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 sticks (1 cup) butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place liners in two mini cupcake pans.
  • Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
  • Beat butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  • Add sugar until combined.
  • Add eggs one at a time.
  • Beat in extract.
  • Add flour mixture and milk alternating a bit at a time.
  • Place a ziplock bag in a large drinking glass by stuffing one corner down. into the bottom of the glass. Fold the opening over and fill with the batter.
  • Squeeze excess air out of the bag, zip it closed and snip a small hole in one corner of the bag.
  • Twist the top part of the bag, squeeze and fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way.
  • Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until a knife inserted in one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
  • Remove from oven and cool completely.

 

For the Marshmallow Topping
 
The step by step tutorial at King Arthur Flour is very comprehensive and helpful.
 
Ingredients:
  • 1+1/2 cups water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup meringue powder
Directions:
  • Bring water to boil in microwave or stove top.
  • Pour in sugar stirring constantly until dissolved.
  • Let cool.
  • Add meringue powder and whip about 10 to 15 minutes until mixture is very stiff, like beaten egg whites.
  • Load mixture into a disposable pastry bag or zip lock using method above and snip a hole in the corner.
  • Pipe swirls onto the cupcakes and place finished cupcakes in the freezer for at least 4 hours.
For the Coating:
Ingredients:
  • 1 bag each of yellow, orange and white candy melts (I used less than a half a bag of the white)
  • 3 tablespoons Crisco
 
Directions:
  • Place yellow candy melts and 1 tablespoons of the crisco in a microwave. Melt the candy in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds at a time on high, stirring the mixture in between until it’s smooth.
  • Remove cupcakes from freezer. One at a time submerge the cupcake in the melted yellow candy hold upside down over the mixture and let excess drip off. Place in fridge.
  • Microwave the orange colored melts. Remove cupcakes a few at a time at a time from the fridge and submerge the cupcake 3/4 of the way to leave the bottom part yellow. Place in Fridge.
  • Microwave a smaller amount of the white melts and dip the tip of the cupcakes in the white color.

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12 comments

Anonymous October 28, 2013 - 1:10 am

Yeah I have to try these, only using my own favorite cupcake recipe Lyn

Reply
Courtney October 7, 2013 - 3:04 pm

It looks like you didn't cook the icing enough. Another minute and the cupcakes wouldn't have lost their shape. An easy way to do the multidipping is to do the yellow first, let that harden, then dip it into the orange, let the orange layer harden, then dip the tip in the white. It takes longer, but it is definitely worth the effort. (I only say this for people who are seeing the post now)

Reply
Da Baker October 21, 2012 - 9:05 pm

IMPRESSIVE! I wanted to save this recipe to make it later but I can't resist so I am on the way to the store to try this out right now:) Very nice recipe/directions and photos. These have to be about the best candy corn cupcakes I have seen! Very tasty looking! Keep up the good work. Thank you!

Reply
Wild Irish Rose October 29, 2011 - 5:55 pm

These are awesome and well done. So cute … thank you for the tutorial.

Reply
adozeneggs October 23, 2011 - 2:12 pm

Dave doesn't get the whole candy corn thing, he was doubting my decision to make them into sugar cookies, but we've sold a bunch already. I'm no fan of eating them, but I understand the nostalgia. My Nana always had them around during Halloween season.
I think your cupcakes are super cute, and I bet the candy melt part tasted awesome!!

Reply
shaz October 11, 2011 - 11:36 am

These are so, so cute and so mad! I love candy corn as I readily admitted 🙂 Brought home two bags and carefully hoarding the one that's still left.

Reply
Creative Cupcake Recipes October 7, 2011 - 9:55 pm

These cupcakes are great. Can't weait to make them.

Reply
Lauren October 7, 2011 - 3:26 pm

I love candy corn, as well. Paul hates them, so I never buy a bag because I don't want to have all those candy corn to myself! Thankfully, my mom and grandma still make Halloween treat baskets for me (I am a very spoiled only child and only grandchild), so I usually get my candy corn fix that way!

I think your cupcakes are awfully cute. I've never used the candy melts before, but I like the color you were able to get from them, and the texture looks exactly like a candy corn.

Reply
The Vanilla Bean Baker October 5, 2011 - 10:46 pm

You have so much patience to make and decorate these but what a perfectly wonderful cupcake for Fall and Halloween!

Reply
Jill @ MadAboutMacarons October 5, 2011 - 2:47 pm

Candy corn, candy melts? First time I've heard of these, to be honest. Must look them out; I adore these hats – they're so much fun, Lora. Wonderful ideas, as ever!

Reply
SprinkleBakes October 5, 2011 - 1:04 pm

Such a fun twist on hi-hats! I love candy corn too…

Reply
Joanne October 5, 2011 - 12:12 pm

I have to admit, I love candy corn as well! I mean…it's mostly just sugar but it doesn't feel quite like October unless I have a few handfuls of the stuff to munch on.

these cupcakes are so cute! I love the multi-colored frosting idea!

Reply

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