pumpkin patch spice cupcakes

happy halloween ... my mom and i made these themed cupcakes for our neighbors and austin's advisory! they turn out so well with their stems and vines -- and aren't as time consuming as you would think.

recipe
pumpkin spice
1box yellow cake mix
1c canned pumpkin
1tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3/4c buttermilk
1/3c vegetable oil
4eggs

decorating
12 standard cupcake liners
24 mini cupcake liners
4 green licorice twists (twizzler rainbow twists)
1can (16oz) plus 1c vanilla frosting
1c orange decorating sugar
green licorice laces (watermelon madness fruit streamers)

preheat oven to 350degrees. (follow instructions on box) then cool. cut licorice twists into little stem pieces. tint the vanilla frosting orange with food coloring. tint 1/2c of the orange frosting with a darker shade of orange and spoon in a ziploc bag. place the sprinkles in a shallow bowl. spread the light orange frosting on all the cupcakes and roll into the sprinkles. then with a wooden skewer make ridges in the top of each cupcake. then pipe a line in the indentations you made to make the ribs. insert the stems/ cut green vines and arrange on a plate, enjoy!

this recipe comes from 'hello, cupcake!' baking book that my mom got one year. i don't usually spend so much time and energy decorating cupcakes but i thought these were worth it for halloween! they taste really good because in the cake mix you substitute buttermilk for the water making the cake extra moist. these are deliciouss!!