Jelly Bean Corn Cupcakes

April 22: National Jelly Bean Day

We took weekend road trips to Wisconsin occasionally when we used to live in Illinois. The Jelly Belly jelly beans visitors center in Pleasant Prairie was less than two hours away from our home. We had fun going on the Jelly Belly factory/warehouse tour, browsing around the colorful gift shop and, of course, tasting the various flavors of jelly beans!

Islander’s favorite Jelly Belly flavor is “buttered popcorn.” She combined this with “crushed pineapple” and “top banana” flavored jelly beans to decorate three yellow frosted cupcakes to look like a cute corn-on-the-cob! Although we prefer to eat our jelly beans plain, they are delicious for decorating desserts, too.

Get creative and make corn cupcakes with jelly beans for National Jelly Bean Day!

Recipe

(Adapted from Hello, Cupcake! by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson)

Ingredients

• Sets of 3 cupcakes (we used yellow cupcakes)
• Yellow or white frosting
• Jelly beans in a combination of yellow and white colors (we used Jelly Belly brand buttered popcorn, crushed pineapple and top banana flavors)
• Wonka Laffy Taffy banana candy (or Starburst lemon fruit chews)
• White and black sparkling sugar (optional)

Directions

Bake and cool cupcakes. Frost the tops of each. Mix the jelly beans in a bowl.

Line 6-7 randomly-colored jelly beans horizontally down the middle of a cupcake. Add more jelly beans on the sides to cover the top of the cupcake. Repeat for the other two cupcakes. Position the three cupcakes side by side, lining up the rows of jelly beans from the center.

Insert a corn holder on the left and right sides of the cupcakes (optional). Cut a square from the Laffy Taffy or use a Starburst fruit chew for the butter. Gently mold the edges to make it look like the butter is slightly melting. Dab a bit of frosting on the Laffy Taffy/Starburst and attach it on top of the middle cupcake. Sprinkle with white and black sparkling sugar to look like salt and pepper (optional). Display the set of three cupcakes on a corn dish or long plate.

Notes

• Corn holders may be purchased at most grocery, home or department stores, such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart and Target.