Superbowl Sunday!

I'm back!! It has been 8 months since I baked and blogged! 8 months too long. There was no better time than now to get back into it and starting with my Superbowl cupcakes. Even though my Steelers will not be competing :( I am still excited to watch the game (well maybe just the commercials). These cupcakes are perfect for any football Sunday, no matter what team you cheer for. My Superbowl Sunday cupcakes are chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting, filled with colored vanilla, and topped with coconut grass and a football.

Chocolate Cupcakes

You start off this recipe with your favorite chocolate cupcakes. One of my go to recipes is Martha Stewart's One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes. 

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons safflower oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

I leave out the safflower oil, and instead use vegetable oil. It still tastes great!

Mix all ingredients together. The batter for these cupcakes is very thin.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. While your cupcakes are baking, make your frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

This chocolate buttercream is delicious, easy to make, and very versatile. I got this recipe from another blog here.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted!)
• 3 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

You can add more or less heavy cream and powdered sugar, depending on the consistency you want.

Filling Cupcakes
Now that my cupcakes are cooled, I decided to fill them with colored vanilla frosting. I mixed purple food coloring for the Ravens and red food coloring for the 49ers into bowls of frosting. I cheated a little on this one, using store bough vanilla frosting. You could do this for whatever teams are playing.

To fill cupcakes, cut a circle into the center and pull out the part you cut, fill the cupcake with frosting and then replace the top.  

Center of the cupcake filled with frosting

Tops put back on to cover the frosting center

Frosting and Decoration

The final touch is the frosting and decoration on top. I piped on my chocolate buttercream into the center of the cupcake. I then sprinkled green coconut over the frosting to look like grass. You can color coconut by putting coconut and food coloring in a plastic bag and shaking it to coat the coconut.

I made my own cupcake toppers by printing out footballs and taping them to toothpicks.

These cupcakes look awesome when you cut or bite into them!

Even if your team doesn't win the big game, you can still enjoy these awesome treats all season long!  Now it's time to get the other Superbowl food ready for the game.

Go 49ers!