Every once in awhile, I have one of those perfect weeks. They don’t happen very often, but when they do, I relish every minute. I had one of them at the beginning of this month and you are about to be bombarded with pictures from it. (A forewarning in case you want to skip down to the recipe below.)
A couple weeks ago I had to travel to San Francisco for work and decided to extend the trip to coincide with a family vacation. Call it a “one last fling before we can’t afford to travel with two kids in tow and won’t have the sanity to do it either” type of a trip.
For hubby and I, travelling is all about the sights and food. We were blown away on both fronts.
I ate flaming sushi.
And amazing cioppino.
The boys went to the 49ers game while I was working.
And ate churros.
We went to the aquarium.
And to Pier 39.
Where we took lots of pictures.
And saw Alcatraz from a distance.
We went to the San Francisco Zoo and saw penguins.
And giraffes.
We found a back alley full of quaint little restaurants.
And saw some beautiful buildings.
We went to Fisherman’s Wharf, where we ate fresh crab.
From a seafood cart.
And saw how much lobster you get for $135 (we stuck with our $19 crab).
We drove down slanted streets.
And walked along the beach.
Where some of us threw sand.
And on our last night, we ate more yummy sushi.
We fell in love with San Francisco. It was hard to come home after such an amazing trip, especially when the temperature here has been dipping down to -25°C (-13°F) on a regular basis. But, we’re from Saskatchewan, so we tough it out as always.
Fortunately, the weather warmed up enough this weekend for our football team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, to compete in the Grey Cup. The Grey Cup is not as well known as the Superbowl (think 9 teams total in the CFL vs. 32 teams in the NFL), but it’s a pretty huge thing in Canada. “Rider” fans are especially known for their rowdiness and dedication, and you can always tell when they are playing just by walking outside and seeing if anyone is wearing green. (You can see we represented pretty well while in San Francisco).
For the occasion I wanted to go fairly simple with food, and decided to try out a cupcake idea I had seen floating around. They turned out perfectly. I used my go to chocolate cake recipe and some chocolate and vanilla buttercream icing. I used a piping bag fitted with a star tip to make the football and a small round tip for the laces.
These were a hit! Some people (we won’t name names) went back for thirds…which is always a compliment in my books!
I have given rough estimates for the buttercream, but you should adjust to your personal tastes. The most important part is to thoroughly whip your butter before adding any other ingredients. This will yield a light and fluffy frosting that melts in your mouth.
P.S. The Roughriders won with a score of 45-23!
Football Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 recipe fudge chocolate cake
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3 to 3 1/2 cups icing sugar give or take
- 2-4 tbsp milk or cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp chocolate extract optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
- Prepare cake according to directions. Divide batter evenly between prepared muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
- Bake in preheated oven for 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove to wire racks and cool completely.
- Using a stand or hand-held mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Gradually add icing sugar, milk or cream and vanilla extract, beating thoroughly. Taste and adjust as needed. Remove 3/4 cup of icing and set aside.
- Add cocoa powder and chocolate extract, and mix thoroughly. Add more milk or cream if needed.
- Place chocolate butter cream in a piping bag fitted with a star decorating tip. Starting at the top center of a cupcake, pipe in a zigzag pattern, gradually increasing until you are at the middle of the cupcake, and then decreasing until you reach the bottom center.
- Place vanilla butter cream in a piping bag fitted with a small round decorating tip. Pipe one line vertically down the "football", and three smaller lines across horizontally to make the laces.
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