Things You'll Need:
- 1 3/4 cups white flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- dash of salt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- cupcake paper or foil wrappers
- 2 muffin tins
- 1 container white vanilla frosting
- yellow food coloring
- red food coloring
- black licorice - the large twisted ropes
- chocolate chips
- cooling rack
- mixing bowl
- Tan or green cardstock
- Black fine line marker
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Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line the muffin tins with cupcake wrappers.
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Step 2
Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in one bowl.
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Step 3
Use an electric mixer to beat the sugar into the softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Measure the milk and add the vanilla to the milk. Beat a third of the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar.
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Step 4
Beat in a third of the milk mixture. Beat in the next third of the dry ingredients followed by the next third of the wet ingredients. Then do it one more time. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins that you have already lined with cupcake wrappers.
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Step 5
Bake the cupcakes for about 35 minutes or until they bounce back when you touch them and if you insert a clean sharp knife into the center of one of the cakes, the knife comes out clean. Remove them from the oven and place them on a cooling rack. Make sure that the cupcakes come to room temperature before proceeding to make your Jack-o-lantern cupcakes.
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Step 6
Prepare orange frosting so that your cupcakes will look like pumpkins. Start by transferring the white frosting from the store's container to a mixing bowl. Place about 5 drops of yellow food coloring and 5 drops of red food coloring into the frosting. Stir. The colors will blend to form orange. You may need to adjust the color by adding more of one of the colors. Experiment until you arrive at the right color for pumpkins.
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Step 7
Spread the orange frosting on top of the cupcakes giving each one a generous portion.
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Step 8
Turn the orange pumpkin cupcakes into Jack-o-lanterns by adding faces. Press one chocolate chip into the frosting to make each eye. Press another chocolate chip into the frosting to make a nose. Create a mouth out of the black licorice. Cut a piece and press it into the frosting below the nose.
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Step 9
Cut stems for your Jack-o-lantern cupcakes from the green or tan cardstock. Each stem should be about two inches long and 3/4 inch wide. The sides should be tapered so that the final shape looks like a bent stem.
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Step 10
Use your fine line black marker to draw curved lines down the stem for texture. You can even write the names of the guests on the stem and use the Jack-o-lantern cupcakes as place cards at your table. Press the stems so that they stand up out of the frosting like the top of a pumpkin does after it has been carved. Serve with a smile.
