Track And Field Pull Apart Cupcakes Recipes

PULL APART TOUCHDOWN CUPCAKES

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup standard muffin tins with cupcake liners. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Set aside. Combine the butter, granulated sugar, sour cream, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 21 to 23 minutes, rotating the pans once about halfway through baking. Cool the cupcakes in the pans for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• For the frosting: Beat the butter, peanut butter, vanilla and salt using an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes more.
• For the assembly and decorating: Put 1 cup of frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large round tip and set aside. Put the jimmies in a shallow bowl. Frost a cupcake, using about 2 tablespoons of the remaining frosting per cupcake, and then gently dipping the top into the jimmies, turning the cupcake until the top is coated. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes. Arrange the cupcakes in 4 rows on a large serving plate or cutting board. Fit a marshmallow between each cupcake, 5 marshmallows per row, to fill in the gaps between the cupcakes in the rows. Using the frosting in the piping bag, pipe thick cross shapes between where the cupcakes meet one another and over the marshmallows so there are no visible gaps between the cupcakes. Coat with sprinkles.
• To make goal posts for the cupcake "field," microwave the chocolate chips in a small microwave-safe bowl until just melted, 30 to 45 seconds. Keep 2 cookie sticks whole for the bases of the posts. Cut off and discard (or eat!) the bottom third of the remaining cookie sticks. Dip the top of one of the longest cookie sticks into the melted chocolate and adhere it to the middle of one of the cut cookie sticks so that they form a capital T shape. Next, dip the cut ends of two short sticks into chocolate and adhere them to either side of the cross on the T. Lay the goal post on a flat surface and repeat with the remaining 4 cookie sticks to make the second goal. Allow goals to fully harden, 15 to 20 minutes, or place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
• Using the decorators' icing, pipe 10 lines across the cupcake field to represent yard lines. Pipe out the number 50 in the middle for the 50-yard line. Heat the Tootsie Rolls in the microwave on high in 5-second intervals until they are soft and pliable. Mash them together and form into a football. Use the icing to pipe the lacing on the football; use a toothpick if necessary to help define the lacing. Place the football on the field. Place the gummy candies on the field to represent players and then stick the goal posts into cupcakes at each end of the field.

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.

SHARK BEACH PULL-APART CUPCAKES

Steps:

• For the cupcakes: Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners; fill 9 with yellow liners and 15 with blue liners. Prepare the cupcakes according to the package directions. Transfer to cooling racks and cool completely.
• For the frosting: Color 3 cups of the frosting with blue gel food coloring until sea blue (12 to 14 drops). Color 2 cups of the frosting with yellow food coloring until pale yellow (2 to 3 drops). Keep the remaining 1 cup frosting white and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a medium petal tip.
• Arrange the cupcakes in a 4-by-6 grid on a cutting board or a flat square serving platter, keeping the yellow liners together to make the sandy beach and the blue liners together to make the water. There will be 1 yellow liner in the row where the blue and yellow meet; keep it to the far left.
• With an ice cream scoop, scoop balls of blue frosting on the blue-lined cupcakes and yellow frosting on the yellow-lined cupcakes. Smooth the frosting across the cupcakes with an offset spatula so the blue and yellow almost meet; the line where they touch should be a gradual diagonal that looks like the shoreline when a wave comes in.
• Set aside 6 teddy bears. Put the rest in a food processor and process to crumbs. Reserve about 1/4 cup or so of the crumbs to anchor the palm trees later. Sprinkle the remainder over the yellow frosting to make sand.
• Pipe waves of white frosting along the shoreline where the sand meets the surf.
• Break off one end of the pretzel rods to make two 5-inch rods; discard (or eat) the smaller pieces from each rod. Cut the spearmint leaves in half crosswise and roll them out to flatten slightly. Press 3 leaf pieces into the broken end of each pretzel rod to resemble palm tree leaves. (If you have having trouble getting the leaves to stick, you can brush with a tiny bit of water at the spot where they adhere). Press 2 chocolate-covered peanuts on top of the leaves to make coconuts.
• Stick the trees into the sand in the spaces where the cupcakes meet. Spoon the remaining graham cracker crumbs around the bottoms of the trees to anchor them. Add a chocolate-covered peanut under each as a dropped coconut.
• Cut the sour candy strip into 4 equal pieces. Arrange on the sand for beach towels and lay a bear on top of each one.
• For the surfboards, unwrap and flatten the fruit roll up rounds. Fold each into quarters and press to adhere. Cut a 2 1/2-inch oval surfboard shape from each. Cut the black licorice into strips for lines on the surfboards (2 lines per board), but don't stick them on yet.
• Place the surfboards on a piece of parchment and microwave just until warm, about 10 seconds. Press on the licorice lines and microwave just until they stick, about 5 seconds more. Press a standing bear on each for a surfer and let cool. (You can put in the freezer to hasten the process.)
• Place the surfing bears on the water. Place the sharks on the water. With the remaining white frosting, pipe waves in front of the boards and in random spots around the rest of the ocean.

SPECIAL OCCASION PULL-APART CAKE

Steps:

• On a 13-by-11-inch cake board or serving platter, arrange the cupcakes into milestone birthday numbers (or the initials of the person you're celebrating!). Plan to have about two dozen cupcakes on hand to work with and 6 to 8 cups frosting. (The cupcakes that are not used for the pull-apart cake can be frosted and served on the side.) Place approximately 1/4 cup frosting on top of each cupcake using two spoons. Use an offset spatula to smooth the frosting into an even layer across the cupcakes. Transfer 2 cups of the frosting to a disposable pastry bag or resealable plastic bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe stars of buttercream onto the surface of the frosted cake. Decorate with candy pieces and fresh edible flowers.