Chocolate Football Cupcakes - Decadent chocolate cupcakes, filled with smooth rich chocolate ganache, and topped with creamy chocolate buttercream frosting for a trifecta of chocolate! The cupcakes will be game day winners with all your hungry fans! Tip - Make sure to read the blog post about using cake mix and omitting the ganache to make these cupcakes even faster and easier!
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time18 minutesmins
Additional Time1 hourhr
Total Time1 hourhr33 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 20
Calories: 364kcal
Author: Averie Sunshine
Ingredients
Cupcakes
⅔cupgranulated sugar
⅓cuplight brown sugar. packed
3tablespoonscanola or vegetable oil
3tablespoonsunsalted buttermelted
2large eggs + 1 yolk
½cupbuttermilk
1tablespoonsour creamplain Greek yogurt may be substituted
1cupall-purpose flour
½cupunsweetened natural cocoa powder*See Notes
¾teaspoonbaking powder
¾teaspoonsalt
½teaspoonbaking soda
½cupbrewed coffeeat room temp or slightly warm but not hot** (See Notes)
Buttercream Frosting
1 ½cupunsalted butter3 sticks, softened to room temperature
4cupsconfectioners' sugar
1tablespoonhalf & halfor milk
1teaspoonvanilla extract
½teaspoonsalt
3tablespoonsunsweetened natural cocoa powder
Ganache Filling
⅓cupheavy cream
½cupsemi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Cupcake Batter - Preheat oven to 350F and line two 12-count cupcake pans with cupcake liners; set aside.
To a large bowl, add the sugars, oil, melted butter, and whisk to combine.
Add the eggs, buttermilk, sour cream, and whisk to combine. Note - Real buttermilk OR powdered buttermilk OR 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar to 1/2 cup milk (2% or whole) and let stand will all work.
Add the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and stir just until the dry ingredients incorporate. Don't overmix or the cupcakes will be crumbly.
Add the coffee and mix until just combined. Note - The batter will be very runny at this point which is expected.
Fill cupcake liners ¾-full with cupcake batter and place into the preheated oven to bake for 18 to 20 minutes. or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Tip - For optimal results rotate pans halfway through baking.
Once baked, remove from the oven and place pans onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Buttercream Frosting - To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and handheld electric mixer) add of the ingredients (except the cocoa) and beat together on high-speed for 2 for 3 minutes or until smooth and fluffy frosting has formed. Tip - Adjust how thick or thin the frosting is by adding either an extra tablespoon dairy if too thick or add confectioners' sugar if too thin, until desired consistency is reached.
Spoon ¾ cup of the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a small round piping tip. Set aside.
Add the cocoa powder to the remainder of the frosting in the mixing bowl and beat together for 30 to 45 seconds to fully incorporate.
Spoon the chocolate frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Set aside.
Ganache Filling - Heat the heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl or glass measuring cup for 1 minute on high power.
Add the chocolate chips and let set for 1 minute to allow the chocolate to melt.
Stir the mixture together until a smooth and thick chocolate ganache has formed. Tip - If the ganache is resistant to melting, place the bowl back in the microwave in 10 to 15-second bursts until it came be stirred smooth; set aside.
Incorporating the Ganche - Press the large end of a piping tip into the center of each cupcake about ¾ deep. Tip - Use a cupcake corer to make this job even easier.
Pull the piping tip or corer out of the cupcake and use a toothpick to remove the cupcake piece (or chunk) that is in the piping tip. Save the removed cupcake pieces in a bowl for later. Repeat this process with all 20 cupcakes.
Once the cupcakes are holed out, spoon enough chocolate ganache in each cupcake to fill the holes.
Press the removed cupcake chunks back into the hole on top of the ganache.
Frosting the Cupcakes - To frost the cupcakes, start by piping the chocolate frosting in 2 lines in the shape of a football. This should not cover the entire surface of the cupcake but will reach two opposing ends of the cupcake.
Fill the football shape in with frosting; this will take about 2 more lines of frosting to fill. Use a spoon or knife to smooth the frosting lines out. You may want to go back in and gently clean up the outside edges of the football shape. Repeat with all cupcakes.
Use the white frosting to pipe a line down the center of the football from one pointed end to the other.
Pipe small horizontal lines across the white center line to create the football laces (or stitches or grips whatever you want to call them). Tips - Be sure to leave ½ cm of space between each line for differentiation. You can vary the amount of small lines you pipe onto each football.
Cupcakes will keep airtight at room temp for up to 2 to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 1 week. I resist storing cakes and cupcakes in the fridge because it dries them out.
Notes
*For the cocoa powder in both the cupcake batter and frosting, select unsweetened natural cocoa powder. Do not use something with sugar already added and don’t use hot chocolate mix. I don’t know if Dutch process cocoa will work so use something like Hershey’s which is a guarantee in this Super Bowl cupcake recipe.**While it’s not mandatory, it’s highly recommended. For those who may not know this, coffee doesn’t make the cupcakes taste like coffee. Rather, it helps enhance the chocolate flavor and intensifies it. You could use water if there is some sort of allergy at play for avoiding coffee but that would be about the only reason I would condone water.When you add the coffee, make sure it’s barely warm to room-temperature, and not piping hot. That would be destructive to the batter so make sure it’s not too hot.