Your favorite Halloween candy as a cupcake

As one of Halloween’s most iconic candies, candy corn seemed worthy of a makeover.

To get these cupcakes to bake with clear distinctions between the yellow and orange cake layers, the recipe uses a pound cake batter, rather than a traditional (and lighter) yellow cake batter. The result is a rich and hearty cupcake.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

Start to finish: 2 hours (45 minutes active); Makes 16.

For the cupcakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon orange extract

4 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Yellow and orange gel food coloring

For the frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 325 F. Lightly coat cups of a muffin tin with baking spray.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together butter and sugar. Beat for 5 minutes, until very light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and orange extracts.

In a liquid measuring cup with a pour spout, beat together whole eggs, yolks and cream. With the mixer on medium-high, a bit at a time, pour eggs into the butter-sugar mixture. This should take about 5 minutes.

Using a spoon or silicone spatula, gently but thoroughly fold the flour mixture into butter and egg mixture.

Divide batter into two bowls, one having slightly more batter than the other. Add several drops of yellow food coloring to the bowl with slightly more batter, then gently mix in until evenly colored. Repeat using orange coloring for the second bowl of batter.

Divide orange batter between cups of the prepared muffin tin.

Transfer yellow batter to a medium zip-close bag. Snip off one corner, then gently squeeze (pipe) batter over the orange batter in each cup. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.

Once cupcakes have cooled, prepare frosting. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together butter, sugar and milk until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and beat to combine.

To finish, overturn cupcakes so bottoms face up. If tops are too rounded to sit flat once overturned, trim with a serrated knife.

Transfer frosting to a zip-close bag. Cut off one corner of the bag, then squeeze the frosting into a slightly pointed mound on top of each cupcake.