Super Bowl and cupcakes

I think I have accidentally started a tradition with myself in relation to the Super Bowl. Last year, as mentioned here, I made cupcakes for a viewing party. This year I am again watching the big game and I apparently still have the need to bake cupcakes. Although, the cupcake inspiration was mainly due to helping some friends move yesterday and seeing the amount of baking supplies that were unearthed in the process. It made me realise that it had been a little while since I had baked. Cupcakes are always fun to bake because of the endless varieties and decorating options. However, most times I just can't go past a good old reliable vanilla cupcake. It didn't take me long to find a new recipe to try out with this one being my choice. One thing to note with this recipe is that I found I needed to bake the cupcakes for 25 to 30 minutes. As you probably know by now I like to put my own twist on things. As such, before I moved my focus to the butter cream frosting, I melted a bar of Ghirardelli peppermint bark baking chocolate, which I had received from my Christmas visitors. I scooped out a small hole in each cupcake with a teaspoon and put some of the melted chocolate in there. 

Making butter cream frosting is one of my favourite things because I think I have gotten quite good at adding a little bit of this to a little bit of that and coming up with a batch of deliciousness. I decided to make vanilla butter cream frosting and tint it pink. I then turned half of the batch into chocolate butter cream frosting. The ingredients I used were:

• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1 tsp meringue powder
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• pink colouring to tint
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder and 2 tsp water (for the chocolate butter cream frosting)
• extra water for a thinner consistency

I combined all of the ingredients until I had a frosting consistency I was happy with. After I had removed half of the mixture, I added the cocoa powder and water to make the chocolate butter cream frosting. I used a Wilton 21 decorating tip to decorate the cupcakes starting with the chocolate butter cream frosting. Next was some of the pink frosting. I finished off the cupcakes with a sprinkle of chocolate jimmies and Nestle Toll House mini morsels toppers that I guess you could say was part of my reward for being a good helper yesterday.
Just to go back to the point of today - not that I have a vested interested in the outcome of this year's Super Bowl, but I do hope the Ravens win!