Pull Apart Touchdown Cupcakes Food

FOOTBALL PULL-APART CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH MOCHA FROSTING

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners.
• Whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the oil, vanilla, eggs and 1 cup water until well blended. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated.
• Divide the batter among the cupcake liners and bake until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 5 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
• For the frosting: Dissolve the coffee in 1 tablespoon hot water in a small bowl; set aside.
• Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and beat until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Add 1/4 cup of the milk and beat to incorporate. Add more milk, a tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is a creamy piping consistency. Remove a rounded cup of the frosting and put it in a piping bag fitted with a plain 1/2-inch tip.
• Add the cocoa powder and dissolved coffee to the mixing bowl and beat until well mixed. Add a little more milk as necessary to return the frosting to a creamy texture.
• On a very large platter or a cutting board, arrange the cupcakes into the shape of a football. When you have a shape you like, spoon a very small amount of frosting onto the bottom of each cupcake and put them back onto the platter to help them stick to it slightly. Spoon the mocha frosting over the cupcakes, then use an offset spatula to smooth it over the top, allowing the frosting to cover the small gaps between the cupcakes. Use the white frosting to pipe the football's laces and the white markings on either end of the ball. Scatter the green candies around the platter, if using.

PULL-APART POOL CUPCAKE CAKE

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners. Prepare the cupcakes according to the package directions. Transfer to cooling racks and cool completely.
• In a clean mixer bowl, combine 1 1/2 tubs of the frosting and about 1/4 teaspoon blue food coloring. Beat until smooth and no streaks remain, adding more color if needed to make a light blue frosting.
• Dollop a tiny bit of blue frosting on the bottom of the liner of one of the cupcakes (this will help anchor it to the serving tray), then dollop a generous amount on top of the cupcake. Anchor the cupcake to a serving tray large enough to hold all 24 cupcakes. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes, arranging them in a 4-by-6 cupcake grid with the edges touching.
• Using an offset spatula, smooth the blue frosting across the tops of the cupcakes, adding more as necessary, so it appears as 1 layer and the individual cupcakes are no longer visible. Smooth the remaining blue frosting on the sides to cover the cupcakes but not the liners.
• Put the remaining 1 1/2 tubs white frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe the outline of a rectangle in white (about 5 by 7 inches) closer to one short edge of the cupcake grid to make the pool. Pipe around the outline of the rectangle all the way to the edges of the cupcake grid with white, leaving the inside of the pool blue. Smooth the white frosting with an offset spatula.
• For the decorations: Arrange a row of blue candy-coated chocolates on the white frosting around the perimeter of the pool, then arrange another row of blue candy-coated chocolates around the outer perimeter of the cupcake grid. Fill in between the 2 blue rows with rows of white candy-coated chocolates to make the pool deck. Chill the cake 30 minutes to set the frosting inside the pool.
• Meanwhile, bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in the blue gelatin until dissolved. Combine a mixture of water and ice in a measuring cup to make 1/2 cup. Stir into the dissolved gelatin until the ice melts. Chill the gelatin mixture while the cake chills. After 30 minutes, pour the gelatin into the pool. Chill until completely set, about 2 hours.
• Cut 2 strips of sour candy belt, each slightly larger than a graham bear, to make beach towels. Lay 1 bear on each towel and arrange them to relax by the pool. Add a drink umbrella over each to shade them from the sun.
• Cut the candy necklaces open where they tie to make 2 long strips. Cut 2 strips the same size as the length of the pool and arrange them over the gelatin for lanes. Gently pull out and discard the strings, keeping the candies in straight lines. Arrange 3 bears around a jawbreaker in the pool to play a game of volleyball. Stick a bear in each gummy ring candy for floaties and add to the pool.
• Cut the chocolate chew into 4 pieces crosswise to make legs for the diving board. Cut a 1 1/2-inch piece from the white taffy and attach it to the legs to make a diving board. Set at the deep end of the pool and press a bear at the end, ready to dive in.
• Cut the green taffy into a rectangle a little larger than a bear. With the back of a paring knife, score lines in the taffy to resemble the puffy parts of a blow-up raft. Stick a bear on the raft and add him to the pool. Stick the remaining bears in the pool to hang out.

LITTLE LAMB PULL-APART CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Combine the butter, sugar and salt using an electric mixer on low speed until mostly incorporated. Add the milk and almond extract, increase the speed to medium-high and mix until light and fluffy. Take 3/4 cup of the frosting and reserve. Take 1 cup of the frosting and add 8 to 10 drops of green food coloring to make a grassy color and reserve. Fill a pastry bag or resealable plastic baggie with the remaining frosting and snip a 1-inch corner off the bag.
• To make the body: Place 5 of the cupcakes in a line. Nestle 4 cupcakes above the line and 4 more cupcakes below the line, making them touch so you have a rough oval shape. Top each cupcake with a swirl of white frosting from the piping bag. Then pipe smaller peaks to fill all of the spaces between the cupcakes.
• To make the head: Put 3 cupcakes together in an upside-down triangle. Spread with 1/2 cup of the reserved white frosting so that all of the cupcakes are connected.
• To make the ears: Cut 1 cupcake in half, paper and all. Set each half, cut-side in, on either side of the bottom of the triangle. Spread 1/2 tablespoon of white frosting on top. Cut 1 licorice wheel in half and place, cut-side in, on each half cupcake. Now, pipe little swirls all over the top third of the head and around the outsides of the licorice ears. Nestle the head into the shoulder.
• To make the face: Peel off a 3-inch strip of licorice. Pull apart into 2 strands and cut into 1-inch lengths. Place 2 of them on the head for eyes. Make a Y shape with 3 pieces and place so the bottom point is centered at the bottom edge of the face. Discard (or eat) the fourth piece.
• To make the legs: Put 2 cupcakes into the first and third gaps on the bottom row of the body. Spread some frosting on each cupcake. Top each leg with a whole licorice wheel. Cut another wheel in half place one half under each wheel for the hooves.
• To make the grass: Line the remaining 5 cupcakes horizontally under the legs. Spread half of the green frosting in an even layer along the cupcakes, covering and connecting them. Next, fill the reservoir of a garlic press with some of the remaining the green frosting. The frosting is easiest to work with at cool room temperature. Press, attaching the frosting to each cupcake, while pulling upward to create grass. Repeat using the rest of the frosting until all of the cupcakes are covered.

STRAWBERRY PATCH PULL-APART CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Frost the cupcakes with the buttercream using a mini offset spatula.
• Scatter half the ground wafer cookies on a platter or serving tray large enough to hold the 24 cupcakes. Arrange the cupcakes in four rows of six. Scatter more "dirt" over the cupcakes and around the edges of the tray.
• Arrange the strawberries randomly on the cupcakes. Arrange the candy flowers randomly.
• Poke holes in a cardboard egg carton. Pinch off pea-size or smaller bits of green fondant and roll them on your work surface to look like blades of grass, leaving one end thick and the other thin and pointy. Press 2 to 5 blades together and stick them on the end of a toothpick. Let dry, upright, in the egg carton. Roll the remaining green fondant between your hands to create 10 thin 2- to 3-inchlong squiggly vines. Wrap them around pencils and set them aside to dry. Place them under the strawberries and randomly in the patch.
• Top one cupcake with one of your favorite fondant creatures, such as a butterfly, caterpillar or ladybug.

PULL-APART CUPCAKE SNOWMAN

Steps:

• Arrange 14 cupcakes in a tight circle on a platter or cake board for the body and 7 cupcakes in a smaller tight circle for the head. Add 2 cupcakes for the scarf.
• Using a small serrated knife, cut 7 chocolate wafer cookies in half; spread frosting on the back and arrange around the edge of the cupcake circles as shown to round out the shape.
• Cut 6 more cookies into quarters. Spread frosting on the back, then use to fill in the gaps between the cupcakes.
• Transfer the remaining frosting to a piping bag with a 1/2-inch round tip. Pipe dots of varying size all over the cupcakes and cookies to cover completely. Add chocolate candies for eyes and buttons and trim a circus peanut for the nose. Roll out the fondant until 1/4 inch thick; trim into 2 strips for the scarf and fringe the ends. Place on the snowman.