Fall Scarecrow Carrot Cake Cupcakes + Free Printable Cupcake Wrapper Template

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Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only does the unbearable heat of our Southern summers come to an end, but the trees begin to turn vibrant colors, and apples, pumpkins, and scarecrows abound. I also love that Fall is full of fun holidays, sweet treats, and delicious foods; but the reason I love Fall most of all? Because of all the fabulous food I get to bake!

Speaking of candy and baking, I have a delicious and fun recipe to share with you today! But first, a little news: perhaps you’ve already seen them at your local Walmart, but M&M’s® has come out with a delicious new flavor: M&M’s® Pecan Pie!

I bet I know what you’re thinking – most likely the same thing my husband did – M&M’s® flavored like pecan pie?! YES! And I’m here to tell you these new M&M’s® Pecan Pie are worth trying – especially if you love chocolate and pecan pie! Heck, all you have to do is open the bag and your mouth will start watering just from the scintillating scent!

After finding the M&M’s® Pecan Pie at Walmart, I just know I had to make an awesome recipe. I started thinking about what would kind of treat would really ‘say’ Fall. The first thing that popped into my mind was Carrot Cake Cupcakes frosted with a sweet cream cheese icing. And what would be even better than Carrot Cake Cupcakes? Carrot Cake Cupcakes frosted with cream cheese frosting and topped with a few of those delicious M&M’s® Pecan Pie – of course!

But then I wanted to take it a step further and make something really cute out of the cupcakes, and so these Fall Scarecrow Carrot Cake Cupcakes were born. As a finishing touch, I decided to wrap them in some cute Fall-themed cupcake wrappers. The cupcakes came out so yummy, and looked so cute, that I just had to share! I also included a free printable so you can make your own Fall-themed cupcake wrappers, too!

Ready to see how to make these adorable Fall Scarecrow Carrot Cake Cupcakes?

Before you begin you’ll need to head to Walmart to get your ingredients. In order to make the cupcakes a bit healthier and less heavy, I picked up some Mott’s® Apple Sauce to use in place of multiple cups of vegetable oil. I also grabbed some Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® Cream Cheese Icing – so yummy on carrot cake cupcakes!

And of course, I couldn’t forget those tasty M&M’s® Pecan Pie! I found them on the seasonal aisle, although I’ve also seen them on an end cap. While I was there I also saw that they had Snapple® Apple in the 16-ounce single size and so I grabbed one of those too – it goes great with Carrot Cake Cupcakes!

Fall Scarecrow Carrot Cake Cupcakes Recipe

Ingredients for Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

• 2 eggs
• 3/8 cup vegetable oil (or 6 tablespoons)
• 1/4 cup Mott’s® Apple Sauce (original)
• 1 /2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2  8-oz. can of crushed pineapple, well-drained
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Tiny pinch of ground cloves
• 1.5 cups grated carrots (about 3 medium-sized carrots)

Ingredients for Decorating

• 1 tub of Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® Cream Cheese Icing
• M&M’s® Pecan Pie for the eyes and nose
• Black cookie icing for the mouths
• Multiple colors of cookie icing to decorate the hats
• Chow mein noodles for the hair
• Sugar wafers for the hat
• Shredded wheat cereal (be sure to get the big ones, not the mini)

Directions for Fall Scarecrow Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 400° F. *These are heavier cupcakes so they may not rise as much as regular cupcakes. In order to encourage rising, I like to start off baking the cupcakes at 400°F for about 8 minutes, then decrease the oven temp to 350°F and let finish baking. If you don’t want to do this, just preheat the oven – and bake the cupcakes at – 350°F.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, apple sauce, sugars, pineapple and teaspoon of vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and a small pinch of ground cloves, and mix well. Next slowly add the dry mixture into the bowl with the wet ingredients, making sure to thoroughly combine all ingredients. Now stir the shredded carrots into the batter.

Line a muffin tin with cupcake wrappers and fill each one about 3/4 full…

then place in the over to bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean. Once finished, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before icing.

While the cupcakes are cooling, I like to gather the ingredients that I am going to use to decorate the cupcakes and put each one in its own bowl. This makes it easier to grab what you need and add it to the cupcake.

Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, frost each one with Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® Cream Cheese Icing using a knife or spatula.

And now it’s time for the fun part – decorating the cupcakes! Kids will get a kick out of helping you turn these cupcakes into scarecrows for Fall and/or Halloween!

Directions for Decorating Scarecrow Cupcakes

Begin by using the sugar wafer cookies for the hats, first cutting them down to size. Now insert 2 toothpicks into the top backside of the cupcake. These will provide a bit more support for the hats.

Use a dab of frosting to stick the two pieces of the hat together into one…

then place the finished hat on the cupcake.

Insert a few chow mein noodles on either side of the hat for the hair…

add two brown Pecan Pie M&M’s® for the eyes…

a yellow one for the nose…

and a big grin made of black cookie icing.

Now take a few pieces of the shredded wheat cereal and pull it apart into strands which will be used for the hay around the bottom of the scarecrow’s face.

Then add some decoration to the scarecrow’s hat using the colored cookie icing, and there you have your adorable scarecrow cupcake!

Once all of the cupcakes are decorated it’s time to add the cupcake wrappers.

To do this simply print out the free cupcake wrapper pattern on a pretty piece of cardstock (or use it as a template to trace on your favorite fun Fall craft paper).

Cut out the cupcake wrapper so it resembles the one in the picture above, then either insert the tab into the slot (if you decide to cut out this part out too) or just use a dab of glue to connect it on the backside. Last, but not least, gently place the cupcakes down into the wrapper, and…that’s it – you’re done!

Now all that’s left to do is grab a cupcake along with a glass of Snapple® Apple, sit down and enjoy the sweet taste of Fall!

What is your favorite fall dessert?