How to Make Candy Corn Cupcakes The Easy Way!

Looking for super cute cupcakes for fall that look and taste like bakery cupcakes but without all the fuss? Follow this recipe to learn how to make candy corn cupcakes the easy way. You’ll start with boxed cake mix and jazz it up a little with orange Jello and a few extra ingredients to make them super moist and fluffy.

If you’re not exactly a fan of candy corn, don’t worry. The cupcakes don’t taste like candy corn at all. They’re flavored with orange Jello and vanilla extract for a sweet flavor everyone will love. They just look a bit like candy corn because of the beautiful orange, yellow, and white colors swirled throughout the cake and icing.

The best part is that you don’t have to make cake batter from scratch. Adding a few ingredients to a boxed cake mix can take it from “meh” to “amazing” in no time. With some orange Jello to give it a pleasant orange flavor, an extra egg, and a little more water, you’ll have light, fluffy, easy candy corn cupcakes paired with frosting that’s just the right amount of sweet.

Make them look extra cute with yellow and orange sprinkles or nonpareils. Feeling adventurous? Try filling them with orange marmalade for a sweet surprise inside.

These candy corn cupcakes that use cake mix will be some of the easiest you ever make. Once you nail the technique, you’ll be able to adapt the colors and flavors to any occasion. Take a look at the pictures to see how these colorful Halloween cupcakes turned out!

Candy Corn Cupcake Recipe

Find out how to make candy corn cupcakes with the easy peasy recipe below!

Candy Corn Cupcake Ingredients (makes 2 dozen cupcakes)

1 15.25-ounce boxed white cake mix
1 ¼ cups water
1/3 cup pure canola or coconut oil
4 egg whites
½ 3-ounce box of orange Jello*
Gel food coloring in orange and yellow
Cupcake liners

Orange and Yellow Frosting Ingredients

2 cups salted butter, softened
½ tablespoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
½ 3-ounce box of orange Jello*
4 cups confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
Gel food coloring in orange and yellow
1 large piping bag
3 small piping bags
1 large round frosting tip

Kitchen Tools Required

12-count muffin tin
Stand mixer or electric hand mixer and large mixing bowls
Rubber spatula

How to Make Candy Corn Cupcakes From Scratch

First thing’s first—preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While it’s preheating, spray a 12-count cupcake tin or line it with cupcake liners. White cupcake liners, Halloween liners, or Thanksgiving liners all work for these cute orange and yellow cupcakes.

Grab your white cake mix and pour it into a large mixing bowl. Then, add the water, oil, and egg whites. Use your electric hand mixer or stand mixer to combine the ingredients until they are well incorporated. Start mixing on low speed, increasing to medium speed as the ingredients begin to combine. This will ensure you get rid of all the lumps.

Split the batter evenly between three mixing bowls, as you see here.

Add half of the package of orange Jello to one bowl of batter along with 1-3 drops of the orange food coloring. Grab the second bowl, and add 1-3 drops of yellow food coloring. Leave the last bowl of cake batter white.

Use your mixer to incorporate the Jello and orange food coloring into the first bowl. Rinse the beaters and do the same with the bowl with the yellow food coloring.

Use a scoop or spoon to layer the cake batter into the cupcake liners. Start with the yellow cake batter first.

Next, spoon orange cake batter into the cupcake liners.

Finish with white cake batter on top. Each liner should be about 2/3 full when you’ve added the three layers.

How to Make Swirled Orange Frosting

Grab a large mixing bowl and electric hand mixer (or use your hand mixer for this step). Cream the butter, beating it until it’s light and fluffy. It will look like whipped butter.

Add the vanilla extract and salt to the creamed butter.

Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar one cup at a time. Beat until the mixture is cream and peaks form in the frosting. Add milk or heavy cream a tablespoon at a time if the frosting is too thick, up to three tablespoons total.

Divide the frosting evenly between three bowls, as seen above. Add the yellow food coloring to the second bowl, and leave the last bowl of frosting white.

Add the orange Jello to the first bowl along with 1 to 3 drops of orange gel food coloring. Mix until well combined. If it’s not orange enough for your liking, add another drop or two of food coloring.

Add 1 to 3 drops of yellow food coloring to the second bowl. Mix until the color is incorporated and the desired color is achieved.

Leave the last bowl of frosting white.

Add each color of frosting to a small piping bag. Cut the tips off the small piping bags before inserting all three of them them into the large piping bag with the tip. Squeeze a little of the frosting onto a plate until you see all three colors come out at once. Now you’re ready to swirl the frosting on the cupcakes!

Frost your Thanksgiving cupcakes in a swirling motion. Top with edible glitter, sprinkles, or cupcake toppers. Serve and enjoy!

Add a few pieces of candy corn on top to reinforce the theme, if you’d like.

These fall cupcakes are perfect for Halloween and Thanksgiving, but you can easily adapt the colors and the Jello flavor to suit any holiday, occasion, or theme. Try pastel colors with a lemon flavor for Easter, for example.

Looking for more autumn goodies?

Halloween Hot Cocoa Bombs – a fun way to warm up on a chilly October day
Pumpkin Spice Jello Shots – a super yummy cocktail to serve at your Halloween party
Apple Cider Margaritas – the ultimate fall drink packed with cinnamon and cider flavors