Ingredients

The pumpkin shape comes from baking the cupcakes in 2 1/2-inch Bundt muffin pans and serving them fluted side up. But you can still bake the batter as regular cupcakes, using cupcake or muffin pans with paper Halloween liners (no greasing or flouring is necessary).

Vegetable oil shortening for greasing the Bundt pans
Flour for dusting the pans
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Glaze:
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon pure orange extract
3 drops yellow food coloring
1 drop red food coloring
24 green gumdrops or Dots candy, cut into bite-size pieces for the stem

Directions

Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a pastry brush, grease Bundt muffin pans with vegetable oil and dust with flour. Shake out excess flour and set pans aside. (If using muffin/cupcake tins and cake liners, no greasing or flouring is necessary.)

Place the cake mix, pumpkin, oil, milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. Spoon or scoop 3 tablespoons batter into each prepared pan, filling it 2/3 of the way full.

Bake the cupcakes until they are golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 12-15 minutes. Remove pans from oven, cool on wire racks 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges, then invert the pan onto wire rack to unmold the cupcakes. Cool 15 minutes before glazing. If you're baking in batches, cool pans, wipe out stray crumbs and grease and reflour pans before refilling and baking.

For the glaze, place the confectioners' sugar, milk, orange extract and food colorings in a small mixing bowl, whisk to combine well, making sure the colors blend evenly. Spoon the glaze over the top of the cupcakes. Immediately place a green gumdrop or other candy piece in the center to resemble a pumpkin stem. If using Bundt pans, you will get 34 to 36 cakes; if using regular muffin tins, you'll get 24 cupcakes.