Game Day Cupcakes
by Heather of Kitchen Concoctions: www.kitchen-concoctions.com
Prep Time: 25 minutes Cook Time 18-20 minutes Chill Time: 3 hours Makes 18-24 cupcakes
Show team spirit with these easy to customize game day cupcakes!
Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
1 (16.5 ounce) box white cake mix
1 cup sour cream
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
3 egg whites, beaten stiff
1 (3 ounce) box Jell-O mix (in flavor to match team colors)*
1 cup boiling water
½ cup cold water, juice or soda (in flavor to match Jell-O)
Frosting:
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
6 tablespoons milk or juice
6 cups powdered sugar
1 (3 ounce) box Jell-O mix (in flavor to match team colors)
Mascot Cupcake Toppers:
1 Jell-O University Mold, for desired team
1 (12 ounce) package chocolate or candy melts (in matching team colors)
1 teaspoon coconut oil or vegetable oil
Directions:
For cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin tin with cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, sour cream, oil, and milk; stirring until completely mixed and no lumps remain. Fold in egg whites.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin. Bake cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool cupcakes for 15 minutes in pan, then transfer to a plate.
Meanwhile, pour Jell-O mix into a small bowl. Pour boiling water over Jell-O mix and stir for 3 minutes, or until completely dissolved. Immediately stir in cold water and stir for one minute.
Once cupcakes have cooled, use a flavor injector, to pierce the top of the cupcakes, 4-5 times, and inject the prepared Jell-O mixture (be careful not to overfill the cupcakes with Jell-O). Alternatively, cupcakes can be pierced with a wooden skewer or fork and the Jell-O mixture carefully spooned into the holes.
Refrigerate Jell-O filled cupcakes for 2-3 hours before frosting. To frost, pipe frosting onto chilled cupcakes. Top frosting with mascot cupcake topper. Store cupcakes in refrigerator.
For frosting:
In a large bowl, cream butter until fluffy. Slowly beat in powdered sugar, one cup at a time alternating with the milk, mixing until desired consistency is reached.
Once frosting is at stiff constancy, remove half of the frosting from the mixing bowl and set aside. To the remaining frosting, beat in Jell-O mix, mixing until fully incorporated. Add additional milk, if needed.
To frost, fill one 12-inch decorator (piping) bag with white frosting and another 12-inch decorator (piping) bag with colored, Jell-O frosting. Push the icing all the way to the small end of each bag. Using a rubber band or twist tie, tie off the top of each piping bag.
Place a large cupcake tip, in desired shape, into the bottom of a 16-inch decorator (piping) bag. Add both filled piping bags to large piping bag, making sure both bags are lined up and to the frosting tip. To pipe, squeeze icing down to the opening from the top and apply even pressure to both frostings, turning piping bag in a circular motion as you go.
For Mascot Cupcake Toppers:
Place candy melts in microwave safe bowl. Add ¼ teaspoon of oil for every 6-9 ounces of candy melts. Microwave for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir. Return to microwave for an additional 30 seconds. Stir again and repeat heating and stirring process until candy melts are smooth and melted.
Pour melted candy melts into Jell-O University Molds. Let candy melts harden in molds for 1-2 hours. To remove from mold, place filled Jell-O molds in freezer for 15-20 minutes.
*Note: For the Texas A&M cupcakes featured here, I used a mix of cherry and grape Jell-O and for the University of Georgia I used strawberry Jell-O. For deeper team colors, food coloring may be added.