Pumpkin Cupcakes Cake

Ingredients:

1 box Devil's food cake mix

4 eggs

1 cup buttermilk, reduced fat

1/2 cup canola oil

2 cans vanilla frosting

Orange food coloring

3 cups of M&M's Brand Cool GHOUL'S Milk chocolate Candies

(2cups orange, 1 cup black)

This recipes makes 26 cupcakes and if you make it as big as the recipe calls for you will need an 18 inch cake circle or firm cardboard. I made it just a little bit smaller than the recipe and only used 19 of the 26 cupcakes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the cupcake cups with the paper cupcake liners.

2. Beat the cake mix with the eggs, buttermilk and oil until blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake pans.

3. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely.

4. Tint the vanilla frosting with the orange food coloring. Line the cupcakes snugly into a large pumpkin shape on the cake circle or platter. Follow this pattern--one row of 4 cupcakes, one row of 5, one row of 6, another of 5, another of 4. This leaves 2 cupcakes to be placed at the pumpkin's top for a stem. (I used the pattern of, 3,4,5,4,3 and then put two cupcakes at the top for the stem.)

5. Spread orange frosting over the cupcakes, covering them completely so they look like on big cake. Use black M & M's to outline the pumpkin and to make the eyes, mouth ad nose. Fill in any remaining area of the pumpkin with orange M & M's.

PS--I had a really good time making this. We took it to a ward party and it was so convenient because you didn't have to cut the cake, people just took the individual cupcakes.