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Ingredients

• ✓ piping bag
• dark chocolate chip
• white chocolate chip
• water
• gummy bear
• pretzel stick
• chocolate-covered caramel candy
• skewer
• toothpick
• piping tip
• green food coloring
• cocoa powder
• milk
• confectioners' sugar
• vanilla extract
• shortening
• butter
• baking soda
• sour cream
• egg
• salt
• white sugar
• all-purpose flour
• cocoa powder
• butter
• water

Instructions

1. 1 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a jelly roll pan.
2. 2 Bring water, butter, and cocoa powder to a boil in a large saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in flour, white sugar, and salt.
3. 3 Beat eggs, sour cream, and baking soda in a bowl; stir into flour mixture until just blended. Pour batter into the prepared jelly roll pan.
4. 4 Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cake cool completely.
5. 5 Make frosting while cake is cooling. Cream butter, shortening, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. Blend in confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Add milk; continue beating until frosting is light and fluffy.
6. 6 Divide frosting into 3 bowls. Mix cocoa powder into the first bowl until it's dark and chocolaty. Mix green food coloring into the second bowl. Set third bowl aside. Fill 3 piping bags with the chocolate, green, and plain frosting; attach round tips.
7. 7 Use a ruler to measure out 2 equal 'end zones' on each side of the cooled cake. Use a skewer or toothpick to poke a few holes to mark where the end zones will be.
8. 8 Pipe a big green square 'playing field' between the end zones. Cover the entire square with green frosting; smooth out using a small offset spatula.
9. 9 Create the end zones. Pipe a rectangle on one side of the field using chocolate frosting. Fill the rectangle with frosting; smooth out with a clean offset spatula. Repeat on the other side of the field using the plain buttercream.
10. 10 Place cake in the freezer for 1 hour. In the meantime, make your decorations.
11. 11 Stack 3 caramel candies and glue them together with chocolate frosting. Snap 1 pretzel stick in half and use chocolate frosting to glue one half to each end of a full stick. Adhere to the top of the caramels with more frosting. Repeat to make another goalpost.
12. 12 Sort gummy bears into 2 sets of team colors.
13. 13 Fill a mug with boiling water and place offset spatula inside. Remove the cake from the freezer. Thoroughly dry the spatula and use it to smooth any lumpy frosting on the cake. Repeat if the spatula cools down.
14. 14 Carefully plot out chalk lines for the field using a ruler and toothpick or skewer. Draw 6 dotted lines 1 inch apart. Carefully cover all of the dotted lines with white chocolate chips.
15. 15 Line each end zone with dark chocolate chips to create a border with the field, leaving room for the goalposts in the middle. Arrange gummy bears on the field.

By Gabby Vernon-Melzer

Ingredients

• ✓ piping bag
• piping tip
• piping tip
• coupler
• dark chocolate chip
• marshmallow
• red food coloring
• cocoa powder
• yellow food coloring
• heavy cream
• salt
• peppermint extract
• vanilla extract
• powdered sugar
• butter
• peppermint extract
• peppermint candy
• heavy cream
• white chocolate
• sour cream
• coffee
• vanilla extract
• egg
• butter
• white sugar
• brown sugar
• salt
• baking powder
• baking soda
• cocoa powder
• all-purpose flour

Instructions

1. 1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two 12-cup standard cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. 2 Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
3. 3 Combine sugars and butter in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
4. 4 Mix 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture until just combined. Mix in 1/2 of the coffee and 1/2 of the sour cream until just combined. Add remaining flour mixture alternately with remaining sour cream and coffee. Do not overmix. Fill the prepared cupcake cups evenly with batter.
5. 5 Bake in the preheated oven until they spring back lightly when touched, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool completely, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
6. 6 Core cooled cupcakes using a knife or cupcake corer, cutting about halfway down. Save cupcake centers for another use (such as for making a batch of cake balls).
7. 7 Prepare ganache. Add white chocolate chips and heavy cream to a large, microwave-safe bowl. Heat at 50% power until chocolate is melted and smooth, in 30-second intervals, stirring after each. Mix in crushed candies and peppermint extract until thoroughly combined. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, stirring often.
8. 8 Place ganache in a piping bag or resealable plastic bag with a corner cut off. Fill each cupcake to the top with ganache. Allow them to sit until ganache firms up and doesn't "smudge" when pressed lightly with fingertips, 15 to 20 minutes.
9. 9 Prepare frosting. Cream butter until smooth in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Beat in 1 cup powdered sugar at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and salt. Add heavy cream and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. If frosting is too thick, add more heavy cream--or if it is too thin, add more powdered sugar until frosting is a spreadable consistency that still holds its shape.
10. 10 Place a small amount of frosting in a separate bowl and add yellow food coloring for the ear muffs. Divide remaining frosting in half. To 1/2 of the divided frosting, add cocoa powder and red food coloring to achieve an auburn color. Divide remaining white frosting in half again. Color 1/2 peach using a very light amount of red and yellow food coloring. Color remaining frosting red. Put each into a piping bag fitted with a coupler.
11. 11 Arrange cupcakes on a large cake board or serving platter, starting from the top. Begin with 1 cupcake at the top. Follow with a row of 2 cupcakes, making sure they stay as close as possible. (If cupcakes slide around, affix a small amount of frosting to the bottom of them so they stick to the serving platter or cake board.) Follow with a row of 3 cupcakes, then a row of 5 cupcakes, a row of 4 cupcakes, another row of 5 cupcakes, and finally a last row of 4 cupcakes. Make sure the cupcakes are as close to one another as possible. If there are any large gaps, you can use large marshmallows, trimmed to fit, in order to fill them in and make a flatter, more cohesive surface to frost.
12. 12 Beginning with the top 6 cupcakes (the rows with 1 cupcake, 2 cupcakes, and 3 cupcakes in them), frost the hat portion of the cake using the red frosting and large round tip. Smooth center portion using an offset spatula, if desired. Use the peach frosting to frost the center 3 cupcakes in the row of 5 below the hat, leaving a cupcake on each side unfrosted for the ear muffs. Smooth with an offset spatula. Affix 2 dark chocolate chips upside-down for the eyes in the center of the peach frosting.
13. 13 Pipe the nose below the eyes, and then the lower lip below the nose using the peach frosting. Frost the cupcakes on each side of the face with the yellow frosting for the ear muffs. To frost the beard, use the auburn colored frosting and cover the remaining unfrosted cupcakes (that contain a row of 4, a row of 5, and final row of 4 cupcakes) with a thin layer of the auburn frosting. Smooth frosting all over the "beard-portion" of the cupcakes until mostly smooth and flat. Place a star tip on the auburn frosting piping bag, and pipe dots of frosting along the side of the face, then pipe the mustache between the nose and lip, and add some swirls on top of the beard, if desired.
14. 14 Allow cupcake cake to sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature (or place in the fridge) to allow frosting to crust. Serve.

By Kim