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Football Cupcakes

Why You’ll Love These Easy Football Cupcakes

Whether you show up for the football watching or just for the food, you’ve gotta eat and you are going to love these cupcakes. They are delicious and fun for both kids and adults. The chocolate cupcakes are super simple to make. No mixer needed. Plus, the buttercream is very straightforward to make. And truth be told, you could really use any cupcake. These are really all about the frosting.

Speaking of frosting, they are also quick and easy to decorate. They look cute, but aren’t hard. You are making a glorified squiggle for the football, a few straight lines for the laces and a little grass, which really just requires the right piping tip. You could even get your kids involved!

What You’ll Need

Cupcakes

As mentioned above, you really could use any cupcake – even store-bought! I used my favorite homemade chocolate cupcakes, but if you aren’t feeling chocolate, you could switch it up. I have two vanilla cupcake options – one butter-based homemade vanilla cupcake and an oil-based moist vanilla cupcake. You could even make a marble cupcake! A couple other classics would be red velvet cupcakes or funfetti cupcakes. You could swap out the sprinkles for your favorite team’s colors. And for fall, why not pumpkin cupcakes?

If you go with my chocolate cupcakes, here’s what you’ll need.

All-purpose flour – Be sure to measure this properly to get the right result. I always recommend a food scale, but the spoon and level method is fine as well.
Sugar – Regular granulated sugar.
Unsweetened cocoa powder – Regular unsweetened cocoa is used in these cupcakes. You can used Dutch cocoa, but they don’t rise quite as high, so you’d need to fill them a little more and you’d probably get one or two less cupcakes.
Baking soda – This gives the cupcakes the most amazingly tender texture.
Salt – This enhances the flavors already present in the cupcakes. Without it, your cupcakes would be bland.
Egg – Large eggs, not medium or extra large.
Milk – You can use regular milk (whole or 2%) or buttermilk. They all work! Buttermilk will make the cupcakes even more tender, but they don’t need it. They are so moist and tender even without it.
Vegetable oil – The use of oil in this recipe makes these cupcakes extra moist. It also means we don’t need to cream any butter and therefore don’t need a mixer.
Vanilla extract
Hot water – The hot water allows the cocoa to “bloom”, which brings out a richer chocolate flavor in the cake. Cooler water will work just fine but the cocoa flavor will not be as strong in the finished product. The water also adds moisture without adding more fat that would weigh the cupcakes down and make them more dense.

Buttercream

Unsalted butter – The butter must be at room temperature otherwise you run the risk of a lumpy frosting.
Powdered sugar – For volume and consistency. Feel free to reduce the amount to your preference, if needed. Just keep in mind that you will be piping with it, so it needs to be thick enough to hold it’s shape.
Vanilla Extract
Heavy Whipping Cream – You could also use milk, it’s just not as creamy and you won’t need as much.
Salt – You don’t have to add a touch of salt, but I do like the additional flavor it adds. Plus, it cuts down the sweetness a bit.
Unsweetened cocoa powder – Regular unsweetened cocoa is what I use, but feel free to use a darker version as well.
Green Gel Icing Color – I would recommend either Wilton gels or Americolor. One thing that’s nice about the Americolor is the squeeze bottle.

Supplies

Let’s talk about the supplies you need. In addition to some cupcakes and buttercream, you’ll need a few things.

Piping Bags – There are lots of options out there and you can usually find them in stores like Walmart, Michaels and Hobby Lobby. I tend to use Wilton brand. I find that off brand bags on Amazon aren’t quite as sturdy.
Couplers – Again, I tend to use Wilton, but you can certainly try another brand. You can usually find these in store.
Wilton tip 21 – Piping tips can be hit or miss in stores. In general, the ones used for these cupcakes are usually available.
Wilton tip 3 – You could also use number 2 or 4, your laces will just be a little thinner or wider.
Wilton tip 233 – Also called the “grass tip”.

overhead image of football cupcakes on white ruffle platter

How To Make Football Cupcakes

Now that you have everything you need, let’s get those cupcakes decorated! Just a few simple steps and you’ll be ready to impress.

Add the chocolate buttercream to a piping bag with the Wilton 21 piping tip. Hold the piping bag at about a 45° angle just above the top of the cupcake. Pipe a zig-zag football onto the cupcake, starting with a smaller end, then gradually creating the wider part of the football in the middle, and then making it small again.

piping chocolate buttercream football onto cupcakes

Add the green buttercream to a large piping bag fitted with the Wilton 233 piping tip. Pipe the grass around the footballs. Squeeze the piping bag until the “grass” adheres to the cupcake, then slowly lift the piping bag to let the grass get a taller, then release the pressure and lift up.

Add the white buttercream to a small piping bag fitted with the Wilton 3 piping tip. Pipe the white laces onto the footballs. Make one longer line down the middle of the football, with 3 shorter lines crossing the longer line perpendicularly.

piping white laces onto football cupcake

And that’s it. You have beautiful, fun football cupcakes. Time for the party!

finished football cupcakes set on a marble background

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