Let me start off by apologizing for my absence over the last two weeks. I’ve had a LOT on my plate, but in a really positive way – that’s another story that I will share sometime. But I’ve really slacked considering we’re in Round 3 of the tourney and I am just now posting. So to make up it up to you, I will give a very basketball-centric recipe that you can make at any time during March Madness.
I brought these treats last Saturday for a surprise party for my good friend, Vik. He’s a hardcore Chicago Bulls fan, so naturally his girlfriend, Konica, chose the Bulls for the party theme. She ordered Bulls plates, cups, napkins, etc. and 10 friends gathered in their apartment while she took him out for a birthday drink with their dog, Peyton. We hid in the hallway and when they came home, we really surprised Vik, but I think we traumatized Peyton. Poor dog.
I volunteered to bring cupcakes for the party. Now typically, I try to give original recipes for this blog, but baking isn’t my strongest suit, so I took a page from Betty Crocker.
I slightly adapted the recipe – I used Funfetti cake mix for the cupcake and buttercream frosting. I simply followed the recipe on the back of the box. It took some time to reach the right color of orange for the frosting. The ratio for the food coloring is two drops of red to three drops of yellow. I multiplied that by about 15 and mixed. It’s probably a matter or preference how orange you want your frosting, but I wanted mine bright. But follow the ratio as you see fit.
The NCAA tournament is on Sunday, March 18th; Friday, March, 22nd; and Saturday, March 23rd of this week.
Basketball Cupcakes
Time: 1 hour Bake Time: 20 minutes Yields: 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 box Funfetti cake mix http://www.pillsburybaking.com/products/details/692
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
Red and yellow liquid food color
1 container Pillsbury Buttercream frosting
black decorating icing (from 4.25-oz tube)
Directions:
1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular size muffin cups.
2) Follow directions on cake mix box for cupcakes. When finished, cool completely.
3) While cupcakes cool, stir food coloring into frosting using the ratio 2 drops of red to 3 drops of yellow, until you reached desired shade of orange. Frost cupcakes.
4) Using the black icing tube, decorate cupcakes to look like a basketball (making the pattern of a cross and then a smile on either side).
