Candy corn is a polarizing candy of the season. You either love it or hate it, and weirdly, often both. I, for example, do not like candy corn, and do not buy candy corn. But if there is a bowl of candy corn anywhere in my vicinity, I will eat it at a scale that is staggering, as if possessed, powerless against its pull. So, you will understand the gut-wrenching dilemma when a friend last year gifted me a bag of candy corn around the holidays.
I did not open the bag, knowing that I would eat it all while deriving no pleasure from it. I tossed it onto the shelf where I stash the candy in my pantry and forgot about it. Until the sweet potato pound cake happened. While testing sweet potato pound cake recipes, I found myself searching for an autumnal glaze to drizzle on top. Sick of your basic confectioner’s sugar and milk drizzles, not wanting the punch of a lemon icing, but something different, I went digging in the pantry for inspiration. And stumbled into the bag of candy corn.
Candy corn is just sugar and flavor and corn starch and gelatin. So, what would happen if I tried to melt it down and use it for a glaze?
Just what you would expect. A lovely pale orange glaze that I could drizzle over my pound cake with the flavor of candy corn, which worked shockingly well with the spicy sweet potato cake.
Watch: 5 Ways to Use Candy Corn
I was winging it, but basically, I took a bag of candy corn, about 1tenounces, and added a couple ounces of half and half (because I had it in the fridge, but milk would work fine), and heated them together in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently until melted. I removed it from the heat and let rest at room temp until cooled, then whisked in just enough confectioners’ sugar to thicken slightly, maybe a third of a cup, since I like a less liquid glaze, along with a pinch of salt and some orange zest to balance it out so that it wasn’t just sweet on sweet. If you like your glazes sort of sheer and barely there, you can use it straight.
That’s it. The whole shebang.
So, if you find yourself in possession of some leftover candy corn this season, any seasonal loaf, Bundt, pound cake or muffin would benefit from this glaze. From apple to cranberry, pumpkin to ginger, or any nut-based sweet bread, this glaze works pretty much with anything you can imagine. It’s good enough to make you actually buy a bag of candy corn.
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