Indian Corn Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

We used jelly beans to create the corn kernels on these fall-perfect bites.

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. ground cloves
• ½ cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ¾ cup canned pumpkin

Frosting:

• 2 cups butter (1 lb.) at room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 6 cups confectioners’ sugar, from 2 (16 oz.) pkgs.
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, 12 oz., melted, cooled slightly

Decorations:

• 4 pkgs. (7.5 oz. each) Jelly Belly giant candy corn mix
• Brown and golden yellow concentrated food colorings
• 1 cup white fondant
• Cornstarch

Instructions

Make cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 18 muffin cups with cupcake liners. For turkey cupcakes, bake in cooking-spray-coated muffin cups without liners.
2. In bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and cloves. In separate bowl, on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. On medium-low, beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low, alternately beat in flour mixture with buttermilk in three additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture; on medium, beat until blended, 1-2 minutes. Beat in pumpkin until just combined. Divide among muffin cups. Bake 22-24 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Transfer from pans to racks; cool.

Make frosting:

1. On medium speed, beat butter and vanilla until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. On low, gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar. On medium, beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stir in chocolate; beat until just combined. Spread over cupcakes.

Assemble:

1. Starting in center, insert pointed ends of candy corn into frosting in 5 rows on each cupcake. Knead tiny dot of each food coloring into fondant. On cornstarch-dusted surface, roll fondant out to 1/16″ thickness. Cut out 2 (2 ½”x1″) and 2 (4″x1 ½”) oval shapes with pointed ends for each cupcake; with knife, score lines into cutouts. Press longer pieces onto edges of cupcakes; attach shorter pieces by moistening with water.