Inspired by the candy with the same name, these Blood Orange Candy Corn cupcakes would make a delicious Halloween treat!
You may have read about the Graveyard cupcakes I made for the Fall Festival at my husband’s work. Well, I also wanted to make candy corn cupcakes. The first batch I made I knew I screwed up. I told myself… hey, there’s citrus in these cupcakes, CHANGE THE RATIO OF BAKING POWDER. Did I listen to myself? No. I also didn’t listen to myself when I KNEW I had over mixed the cupcakes when adding the food coloring. BAD BAKER!
Are you wondering how my errors screwed up my cupcakes? Well, to begin with they sunk in the middle. They also overflowed the edges AND their texture was too light and crumbly for my taste. Not a good combo for a cupcake.
So this morning I decided to have a second try at them and fixed my errors. I omitted the baking soda and added more baking powder (this helps combat the acidity of the citrus) and I also added the coloring BEFORE I mixed in the flour. This allowed me to fold in the flour just until combined, making the perfect cupcake consistency!
These cupcakes are “Blood Orange” Candy Corn cupcakes because I’m using flavored candy corns. My best friend sent them to me…. Blood Orange Candy Corns. Unfortunately, my store didnt’ have any blood oranges, so I used a naval orange. :) I’d suggest using an actual blood orange if you can!
Blood Orange Candy Corn Cupcakes
Ingredients
Blood Orange Candy Corn Cupcakes
- zest of 1/2 a large Blood orange (I used a Naval orange - read above)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp orange extract
- juice of 1/2 a large Blood orange (I used a Naval orange - read above)
- 2 cups cake flour
- (to make cake flour, measure AP flour, remove 4 tbsp and add 4tbsp corn starch. sift together 2-3 times)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- Yellow Gel food coloring
Orange Buttercream
- Orange Buttercream
- 12 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1.5 lbs (about 6-7 cups) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3-4 tbsp fresh sqeezed orange juice, strained
- 1 tsp orange extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Orange Food Gel food coloring
- Blood Orange Candy Corns - for garnish
Instructions
Blood Orange Candy Corn Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line your cupcake pan with liners.
- In a medium bowl, combine the orange zest and sugar. Press the back of a spatula into the sugar and zest, releasing the oils from the zest into the sugar. Keep doing this until sugar becomes fluffy and fragrant.
- Sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and orange sugar.
- Add the eggs one at a time, scrape the sides of the bowl and beat on high for 2 minutes.
- Mix in the sour cream, orange extract and orange juice.
- Add the food coloring and mix until there are no streaks of white batter left.
- Fold in the flour in three parts, alternating with the milk. Mix ONLY UNTIL JUST COMBINED. Do not over mix!
- Bake for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Orange Buttercream
- Cream the butter.
- One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Between each of addition, add the orange juice and extract.
- Once all the sugar has been added, add the heavy cream until you get your desired consistency.
- Add the salt and mix until combined. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Remove 1/3 of the white frosting.
- Add orange gel food coloring to remaining 2/3 of the frosting and mix until no more white streaks are left.
Assembly
- Pipe a large swirl of orange frosting on top of the cupcake.
- Place a small dollop of white frosting in the center of the orange frosting.
- Garnish with a Blood Orange Candy Corn.