Giveaway Winner, September Cupkins + October Link Party Info!

For September's edition of Cupkins, Meg and I chose Football as our theme!  I don't know about you - but September 1 hit and my husband has been firmly planted on the couch with a football game on ever since!  Okay, I exaggerate, but we all know that football is a big deal at this time of year - and even though I'm not a huge fan of the sport myself, I do love having people over for the games and enjoying some tasty football grub!

Here's what we came up with... my "Game Day Cupcakes" and Meg's "Chili Cheese Cornbread Mini Muffins"

Game Day Cupcakes How-To:

I love these cupcakes because they're so festive - and you can customize the colors for whatever team(s) are playing!  My husband is a big Michigan State University fan, so I went with green and white for this batch!

Combine one box of vanilla cake mix with three eggs, one stick of butter (melted) and 1 cup of water in a stand mixer.  Divide the batter in half and color as desired.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full, including some of each batter.  Using a knife or toothpick, swirl the two colors of batter around in the liner to gently combine.

Bake cupcakes for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees - one tray at a time.  Keep a close eye on them - you want them to bake all the way through but not brown - it ruins the color.  And be sure to use white cupcake liners so you can see the swirls of color going through the cupcakes!

For the frosting, combine one large jar of marshmallow fluff (in the ice cream topping aisle) and three sticks of softened butter in a stand mixer.  Once combined, add 2 tsp of vanilla extract.  With stand mixer on low, gradually add poweder sugar until desired texture is reached (generally about 1 - 2 cups, but I always eyeball it)  Seperate into two bowls and color with food coloring.

One your cupcakes are cooled completely (look how pretty!) you're ready to frost...

Pipe one and a half circles of one color frosting using a 2D or 1M large tip.  Switch colors (goes without saying, but you'll need two piping bags and two matching tips for this - since you'll be alternating between) and complete the swirl.  I'm a big frosting girl - so I piled it high, but you can use less frosting and keep your swirls closer to the cupcake if you like!

Top with sprinkles in corresponding colors.  Even if that means donning gloves and picking through the Christmas red, white and green sprinkles to get out the green and white ones...  : ) 

If you wanted to get fancier still, you could create little flags on the end of toothpicks with your teams logos or name on them.  The possibilites are endless!

Let me know if you try these - I'd love to see photos of different team cupcakes!

Next month is the first month in our Cupkins link party, it will be held on Monday October 4 - and the theme is Halloween!  We'd LOVE to have you play along!  All you have to do is share a photo, tutorial, recipe, or decorating tip for a Halloween inspired cupcake or muffin on your blog, then head over to Meg's blog to link it up to our Cupkins party.  I can't wait to see what you come up with!

And finally, it's time to reveal the winner of Monday's Cupkins Anniversary Giveaway!  The Random Number Generator chose...

ERIN RUSSELL!

Drop me a note at readysetcraft@yahoo.com Erin, so you can claim your cupcake stamp set and ink pad! 

And don't forget to head over to Meg's place to check out her savory mini muffins perfect for a game day snack, and to find out the winner of HER contest!