Candy Corn Pecan Pie

Special equipment: pie plate, saucepan

Ingredients

serves Makes one 9-inch pie, active time 20 minutes, total time 2 hours, 20 minutes

• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust
• 1 1/2 cups (about 5.5 ounces) pecans, lightly toasted
• 1 cup (about 11 ounces) light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup (about 5.6 ounces) dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup candy corn

Procedures

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. If you haven't already, place your pie crust in a pie plate. Set it in the refrigerator until you're ready to fill it.
   
2. If you glazed over the part of the ingredients that asked for the pecans to be toasted, go ahead and toast them while the oven preheats. Scatter them on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Once fragrant, remove them. It shouldn't take more than 8 minutes or so in the preheating oven.
   
3. Prepare the filling. Put the corn syrup and brown sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add the butter, and vanilla. Let the mixture cool, and then add the eggs and whisk until smooth (don't add the eggs while the mixture is still very hot, otherwise you'll have scrambled eggs!).
   
4. Take the pie crust out of the fridge. Now, arrange the pecans (which should be toasty but cooled by now) along the bottom of the crust. Add the candy corn. I lightly tussled the mixture by hand, to make sure it was nicely and evenly mixed.
   
5. Pour the hot sugar slurry on top, gently, so as not to upset your delicately proportioned candy and nuts. Some will rise like magic to the top. That's a good thing.
   
6. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the filling is set and the edges of the crust are browned. It will still wobble in the middle just a little bit when you take it out, but the outer parts should be firm. The center part will set further once removed from heat.
   
7. Place a couple more candy corn on the top of the pie right after you've taken it out of the oven. This will help people to know that it has candy corn inside, as the candies will have melted and might not be recognizable. Be gentle when placing them on top, so you don't hurt yourself or injure the pie.
   
8. Let cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes. I like to then transfer it to the refrigerator for about an hour, so that it can set completely. Serve at room temperature, or lightly warm and serve with ice cream.

Chocolate Covered Candy Corn Layer Cake

A halloween candy staple in cake form.

Butter blasted cake layered with buttery buttercream and enrobed in chocolate ganache. The perfect un-scary Halloween cake.

Notes: Wilton brand makes a butter flavoring. The brand that I used was not Wilton, and because there may be differing strengths between brands, I would add the extract to taste (though the batter does have raw eggs in it). This cake is meant to have a really intense butter flavor. I used Wilton color pastes in Lemon Yellow, Orange, and Terra Cotta.

Special equipment: 3 8-inch cake pans, mixer

Ingredients

serves makes one 8-inch cake, active time 2 hours, total time 3 1/2 hours

• For Cake:
• 7 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups milk, divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 1/2 cups (18 ounces) cake flour
• 2 1/4 cups (15 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
• 18 tablespoons (9 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, softened
• 3 tablespoons butter flavoring (see note)
• 1/2 teaspoon yellow food coloring
• 3/4 teaspoon orange food coloring
• 1/4 teaspoon terra cotta food coloring (see note)
•  
• For Frosting:
• 10 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 tablespoon butter flavoring (or to taste)
•  
• For Ganache:
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• Candy corn to garnish cake

Procedures

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 3 8- by 2-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Grease pans.
   
2. Whisk egg whites with 1/2 cup milk and vanilla; set aside. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Add butter and mix on low speed just until moistened. Add remaining 1 cup milk and mix until combined.
   
3. Increase speed to medium-high and mix batter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and mix in reserved egg white mixture until combined. Mix in butter flavoring.
   
4. Divide batter evenly between three bowls. Add yellow food coloring to one of the bowls until it becomes a bright shade of yellow. Add both orange and terra cotta food coloring to another bowl of batter until it becomes a deep shade of orange.
   
5. Scrape batters into the prepared pans and bake until just set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Let cakes cool in pan for 15 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely, about an hour.
   
6. For the frosting: Place butter, confectioners' sugar, milk, and butter flavoring in mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Flavor to taste with butter flavoring.
   
7. To assemble cake: Place yellow layer on an 8-inch plate and spread with about 1/2 cup frosting. Place orange layer on top and spread with about 1/2 cup frosting. Place white layer on top. Use remaining frosting to fill in any gaps along the sides.
   
8. For the ganache: Heat chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, gently whisking, until melted and smooth. Let cool briefly, until the consistency is pourable but not runny.
   
9. Place cake (on plate) on a wire rack that's been set in a rimmed baking sheet. Pour ganache over top of cake, letting it run down the sides. Chill until ganache is set, about 20 minutes, Garnish top with candy corn.