Last-Minute Super Bowl Cupcakes
I can't help it. As much as I want to deny it, Super Bowl Sunday for me is, well, not about football. Its about the food. It's quite possibly one of my favorite get-togethers because people focus on two things:
No one is counting calories or worried if someone eats with their hands, it's just all-out food fun.
I made these cupcakes with that in mind. They're easy to make, so if you're still looking for a last-minute dessert that you can make for your party, this one is a crowd-pleaser. I wanted to personalize them for the big day, but still make something that people can stuff in their mouth on a moment's notice if the referee makes a horrendous call.
1 batch of vanilla cupcakes, can use your favorite box mix or make them from scratch with this recipe.
Make cupcakes and allow them to cool to at least room temperature. Prepare buttercream, then add green food coloring. Attach tip securely to pastry bag and fill with green buttercream. Using very quick, short motions, pipe out "turf" or "grass" onto cupcakes.
A great tip when piping chocolate is to use a template. Using a Sharpie or marker on a piece of white paper, draw out your footballs and words. Place the paper underneath a piece of parchment or wax paper so that you can still see your drawing.
Place chocolate into disposable plastic pastry bag and melt in 30-second intervals. Check chocolate after every 30 seconds. When chocolate is mostly melted, remove and massage briefly. Cut off a very small tip of the bag and begin to pipe chocolate right onto parchment or wax paper.
Melt white chocolate in disposable plastic bag in 30-second increments until almost melted. Remove from microwave and cut off small tip. Begin to pipe details onto footballs and shoelaces.
Place chocolate in freezer for 2-3 minutes or in refrigerator for 15 minutes. When chocolate is firm you can insert into cupcakes.
Serve and enjoy.
Amanda is a wife, mom, baker and creative force behind iambaker.net . She homeschools her four children, lives in the land of 10,000 lakes and is self-appointed president of the Committee to Get Ina Garten on Twitter. (Amanda tweets at @iambakertweets)