Football Shaped Cupcakes

Just in time for the start of football season, here is one more football baked good! 

These football cupcakes were made using a store bought cake mix, but you could use any cake/cupcake recipe you want. 

Materials

chocolate cake mix

oval or football shape cupcake pan 

powdered sugar

strainer

1 piece of cardstock paper

exacto knife or scissors

Instructions

1. Make chocolate cake mix as instruction on box. Pour cake mix into lightly greased football molds. Bake according to instructions.

2. Let cupcakes cool completely. Run knife along edges and bottom of cupcakes and pop out each football cupcake.

3. Trace football shape onto cardstock and cut out to match the the size of your cupcake. I placed my cupcake directly onto the cardstock and traced around the edges for the shape (3-1/2 in. length x 2 in. wide).

4. Draw football stitching onto template and cut out using an exacto knife or scissors.

5. Place cardstock football shape onto the top of the cupcake.

6. Using a strainer with a small amount of powdered sugar, lightly tap powdered sugar over template.

7. Take your fork, and enjoy your football treat!

I made these cupcakes for last year's Super Bowl, where the Steelers were victorious!!! 

I had big plans for these cupcakes. I was going to make 2 dozen and take them to work, the Friday before the Super Bowl, to give to all of the UPS & Fed Ex drivers (they talk football to me all season long and were all rooting for the Steelers, for me)! Unfortunately, the cupcakes didn't turn out as planned.

The main problem was that the cupcakes got stuck in the molds. I thoroughly greased each mold, so I'm not sure what happened. Maybe it was the mix. Anyway, I could only salvage the one cupcake for these pictures, and even this one has lumps and missing chunks.

I really like the simplicity of the cupcake. I'm not a huge fan of a ton of frosting, so I really want to make these work. I think I'll give these another try this season and go with a homemade recipe this time. I'll be sure to post how the next batch comes out.