Let’s not pretend that I know anything about football. I attend and host football parties solely for the food. I remember the year I was pregnant with my son, and I was having serious spicy food cravings. The host of the Super Bowl party that year made spicy wings, and I sat there and ate the entire plate. No one could elbow me out of the way, because when your pregnant belly is that big, people just let you eat whatever you want. Speaking of, have you seen my roundup of Party Food Ideas that has amazing recipes for the upcoming Super Bowl? The only thing I love more than a plate of spicy wings (I have a great recipe for wings in my Toaster Oven Cookbook for Two), is a plate of cupcakes. I like my football cupcakes with a sweet vanilla cupcake and a rich chocolate buttercream frosting. It’s the perfect balance in life. This recipe makes 10 cupcakes, which is perfect for a small party, but you can also double it! If you double this recipe for football cupcakes, follow it exactly. The recipe is written in metric and also standard cups and spoons, so it is so easy to scale up for your needs.
Ingredients
Butter. I like unsalted butter best for baking, and I set it out on the counter for 30-60 minutes to bring it to room temperature before baking cupcakes. Granulated Sugar. Egg. Be sure to pull the egg out of the fridge at the same time as the butter so it can also come to room temperature. We’re using the whole egg for this recipe today. Vanilla Extract. It sounds strange, but vanilla actually enhances the flavor of chocolate, and the chocolate frosting on these football cupcakes doesn’t taste the same without it. All-Purpose Flour. Baking Powder. Baking Soda. Milk. For baking, I always reach for whole milk. You can use 2% instead, if you prefer; either way, let it rest at room temperature to take the chill off. Powdered Sugar. We’re using powdered sugar for the frosting, and granulated sugar for the cupcake. Cocoa Powder. Unsweetened regular cocoa powder to make the chocolate buttercream frosting.
How to Make Football Cupcakes
Football Cupcakes Decorating Ideas
–To make the standard football squiggle, use this tip 30 (which is a closed star tip) for the football and this tip 4 for the laces. –Beyond the standard football squiggle, we can very easily make these even more festive! Try scooping out ½ cup of the white vanilla buttercream frosting and then after making the white laces, dye the remaining portion green to make grass that mimics the football field. To make fake green grass, use this tip. –You can also use multicolor nonpareils to mimc the crowd at the game. Each little ball represents one body in a stadium–so cute! –Instead of using chocolate buttercream, you could dye the majority of the frosting green (save some white for the laces), and use chocolate-dipped strawberries for the football on top. Just dip each strawberry in chocolate and make the white laces on the actual strawberry. Cover the remaining area of the football cupcakes with green grass, like a football field. I think these football cupcakes look best when piled together on a serving platter so it’s very obvious it’s a football shape. If you want to add extra sprinkles around the cupcakes that are your favorite team’s colors, it would be so festive!
- In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter and sugar in a bowl. It will start out crumbly, and then eventually come together into a yellow crumbly mixture that is homogenous. It will still be slightly grainy, and that’s ok!
- Next add the whole egg and vanilla extract.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sprinkle half of this mixture on the wet ingredients and beat just to combine.
- Add the milk to the bowl, beat a few seconds to combine, and then add the remaining half of the dry ingredients. Beat just to combine. The best order of ingredients to make tender cakes and cupcakes is: dry ingredients, wet ingredients, and then finish with dry ingredients. Divide the batter between the 10 cupcake liners.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes. The cupcakes are done when tested with a toothpick and only a few moist crumbs cling to it. Or, if you press on the surface of the cupcake and it lightly springs back. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 1 minutes, and then immediately move them to a wire rack to cool completely. Do not let them cool in the pan, or they will have soggy bottoms.
Now make the frosting:
- Now, gather the ingredients for the frosting. Place the butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a bowl.
- Beat the frosting ingredients until fluffy, adding a splash of milk to make it smooth and spreadble. Reserve ¼ cup of the white frosting before proceeding.
- Next, add the cocoa powder to the bowl, and beat to combine, adding extra milk if needed.
- Scrape the chocolate frosting into a piping bag (or regular plastic bag with the tip cut off), and add a closed star tip, something in the low 30s of the Wilton line (see below for exact details). Pipe a football shaped squiggle by starting out with a narrow squiggle that gradually grows larger in the middle and then shrinks back down. See photo for reference. Use the reserved white frosting in a bag with a small round tip to pipe the laces.
Butter: Unsalted room-temperature butter.Egg: One large egg, slso at room temperatureMilk: For baking, I always reach for whole milk. You can use 2% instead, if you prefer; either way, let it rest at room temperature to take the chill off.Cocoa Powder: Unsweetened regular cocoa powder.
