Football Cupcakes

Prep: 35 mins

Cook: 20 mins

Total: 55 mins

Servings: 18 servings

Yield: 18 cupcakes

Football cupcakes are the perfect sweet treat for your next Sunday night football fest, Super Bowl party, or college football tailgating. They’re easy to make and you can easily use a store-bought cake mix or store-bought frosting to make your life easier.

The sweet and moist chocolate cupcakes are topped with a swirl of homemade chocolate frosting and little football laces are added with vanilla frosting. They’re quick and simple, but look like they took you all day to decorate.

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:

• 1 cup sugar

• 2 ounces (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened

• 2 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate

• 2 large eggs

• 2 large egg yolks

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup flour

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 cup sour cream

• 1/2 cup milk

For the Frosting:

• 8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

• 2 cups confectioners' sugar

• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 2 ounces semisweet or dark chocolate

• 2 teaspoons milk, optional

Steps to Make It

Make the Cupcakes

1. Gather the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

   

2. Beat together the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. 

   

3. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in thirty-second increments, stirring after each, until completely melted. 

   

4. Add the chocolate to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until combined. 

   

5. Add the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl and beat until combined. 

   

6. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. 

   

7. Whisk together the sour cream and milk. 

   

8. Add half of the dry mixture to the butter mixture followed by half of the milk mixture. Then repeat. Mix until combined and the batter is completely moistened. 

   

9. Scoop the batter into the liners until they are 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick will come out clean when you stick it into the middle of one of the cupcakes. 

   

10. Allow the cupcakes to cool slightly and then remove them from the cupcake tin and place them on a cooling rack. Place in the freezer to speed up the cooling process. 

Make the Frosting and Decorate

1. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting. 

   

2. Beat the butter until it is whipped. Add the sugar and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Set aside about a 1/2 cup of the frosting to reserve it for the white laces of the “football.”

   

3. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in thirty-second increments until completely melted. Add the melted chocolate to the frosting. Add more powdered sugar if the frosting is too thin or a little milk if it is too thick.

   

4. Add each frosting to its own piping bag. Fit the chocolate bag with a large star tip. Add the reserved vanilla frosting to a piping bag and fit with a small round tip.

   

5. Swirl the chocolate frosting in a zigzag motion over the top of the cooled cupcakes. Start small on one end and make the zigzags larger as you get towards the center, then taper them off on the other side so that it resembles a football. 

   

6. Pipe a long horizontal line across the center of the “football” Then add smaller vertical lines across the horizontal line. 

   

7. Serve immediately or place in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 18
Amount per serving
Calories	226
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8g	10%
Saturated Fat 4g	21%
Cholesterol 65mg	22%
Sodium 117mg	5%
Total Carbohydrate 35g	13%
Dietary Fiber 1g	4%
Total Sugars 27g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 0mg	0%
Calcium 28mg	2%
Iron 2mg	10%
Potassium 80mg	2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.