The nights are drawing in, and the clocks went back this weekend. Goodbye summer, and hello autumn! I love this time of year. I love the changing colours in the garden, as the trees change through their autumn reds, golds and oranges. At this time of year, and before my thoughts turn towards Christmas, we usually celebrate Halloween and Bonfire or Guy Fawkes night.

In the past couple of years, I have had a Halloween/Bonfire party but not this year as I will actually be away in London for Guy Fawkes night (off to see the marvelous Michael Sheen in Hamlet at the Young Vic). So that my favourite autumn festivities don’t go by totally unrecognised, I decided to make a few sweet treats for my husband and I to take to our respective offices.

The guys in my husband’s office are big fans of cake, so I decided to make some Candy Corn Cupcakes. I love Candy Corn, but as I don’t live in the US, I have to resort to ordering some from websites that import American confectionery. This recipe doesn’t actually contain any Candy Corn, but the look of the little fairy cakes is inspired by them. The classic colours of Candy Corn is yellow, orange, and white and this is reflected in the colours of the sponge and buttercream frosting.

Candy Corn Cupcakes

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Serves	12
Meal type	Dessert

Ingredients

• 100g Unsalted Butter
• 100g Caster Sugar
• 100g Self-Raising Flour
• 2 Eggs
• ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Yellow gel colouring
• Orange gel colouring

Directions

1.	Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
2.	Beat the eggs with the vanilla essence.
3.	Add the egg mixture a little at a time, mixing well between each addition. Throw in a handful of the flour to prevent splitting.
4.	Once all the egg is well combined, add in the remaining flour along with the baking powder
5.	Split the mixture evenly between two bowls.
6.	Use some yellow colouring gel to turn one bowl into a bright yellow.
7.	Colour the batter in the other bowl a bright orange.
8.	Put 12 paper cases into your muffin pan, and divide the yellow mixture between the cases, Use a teaspoon to carefully spread the mixture evenly across the bottom of the cases
9.	Carefully add the orange mixture onto the top of the yellow, gently flattening out with a teaspoon
10.	Place in the oven and cook for approx 12 minutes at Gas mark 4 / 350°F / 176°C. Check that they are cooked by piercing with a skewer that should come out clean. Leave to fully cool in the pan before icing.
11.	For the frosting, beat 100g of butter until soft. Gently mix in 300g of sieved icing sugar. Add a tablespoon of milk, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Beat the frosting until it is white, and fluffy.
12.	Pipe the frosting over the cakes, and this forms the final white layer to create your Candy Corn effect.
13.	Decorate with some Halloween themed sweets such as mallow pumpkins.