Candy Corn Cupcakes…but not.

I love candy corn, but what really is the flavor of candy corn?  Sugar and high fructose corn syrup (gotta have corn in there somewhere) and yellow 6?  And sure it would be easy to translate that into a sugar-fest of a cupcake, but I wanted some cupcakes that had FLAVOR.

I needed a yellow cupcake so I went back to my old standard Pineapple Coconut cupcakes and added a bit of yellow food coloring to make the color more intense.  Then I had a request for mango frosting, which worked out great because I needed something orange.  I flavored it all with mango extract and then kept out some frosting to leave white and colored the rest orange.  I was sad that it was more of a peach and I couldn’t get a real deep orange color, but I guess that’s what Instagram filters are for.  I get my pineapple and mango extracts from LorAnn oils.  Their extracts are very reliable and flavorful.

So here is your turn to make some Candy Corn Cupcakes.  I know Halloween has past us by, but you can always turn them into your own creation for Thanksgiving or save them for spring!

Pineapple Coconut Cupcakes with Mango Frosting – Makes 15 cupcakes

 

For the Cake:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 stick butter, room temperature

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp pineapple flavoring

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

8oz can crushed pineapple

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350^oF and line muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. In a bowl combine all dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk.
3. In bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, pineapple flavoring and vanilla for about 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs one at a time and mix well.
5. Gradually add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
6. Add yellow food coloring, if desired.
7. Stir in crushed pineapple and coconut.
8. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full with batter.
9. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Let cupcakes cool in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to wire racks to finish cooling before frosting.

 

For the Frosting:

1 stick butter, room temperature

6 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tsp mango extract

2 ½ to 4 cups powdered sugar

1. In bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese for about 2 to 3 minutes until creamy.
2. Add mango extract and mix well.
3. Gradually add in confectioner’s sugar, mixing well and scraping sides of bowl.
4. Beat on high for 2 to 5 minutes until creamy and stands up.
5. Remove some frosting to a bowl to leave white.  Add red and yellow food coloring to desired orange color, if desired.
6. Fill piping bag and swirl on top of cupcakes.

Bunting How-To

I have something to admit; I’m addicted to anything that has to do with England.  This isn’t news, but I feel like it’s a good way to start a post about making bunting, especially when most people will be like, “What’s bunting?”.  If you read as many English magazines as I do, you’d see it in all the pictures of anything festive.  Birthdays, holidays, outdoor picnics, there is an unlimited number of occasions for bunting.  It makes everything just a little bit whimsical and merry.

It wasn’t hard to go on Pinterest and find a How-To that showed step by step how to make one complete with a template for the flags.  I used this one and it worked really well!  Instead of making binding I bought some at the fabric store, which decreased the time it took to finish the project and also made it look much more professional.

I decided on doing a fall themed one that I could hang and enjoy for quite a while.  It should take me through Thanksgiving and then I can make another for Christmas.  Since we don’t take our decorations down until Valentines day that’s a good 6 months of bunting!

The longest bit was turning all the flag right-side out and pushing out the tip at the end.  That took a good couple of nights sitting in front of the TV.  Then there’s the fact that I’ve been working 10 to 12 hour days, so all in all it would probably take a normal working person a week or so, where as it took me closer to a month to get this put together.  Better start on the Christmas one, huh?

 

First blog post on my NEW site!

Welcome to Cannon Beach East’s new home!  I am moving this blog from blogspot, where I feel I’ve outgrown the space.  I haven’t blogged all that much this year, in part due to the disappointments and lows that the middle of year brought me.  If you’ve followed my old blog then you know my struggles with fertility.  Earlier this year I exhausted my IVF possibilities and ended with nothing to show.  Then everyone at work decided to leave and I decided to apply for a Lead-position-to-transition-into-Supervisor of Microbiology.  That, of course, came with more work hours and stress and my normal life has suffered the consequences.  I’m slowly pulling myself out of the depression of this year, setting new goals and, after training quite a few people, hopefully balancing my work life and regular life.  Thanks for sticking with me!