My apologies to my Boston family and friends, but I cannot defend the Patriots this time. I’m all for creative plays (not that I understand them fully), but stealing the balls and deflating them is just too much. Luckily, I can have a sense of humor about it. So I decided to make “deflategate” cupcakes, and what better flavor than something made with Sam Adams beer?
The recipe called for Sam Adams Boston Lager, but I decided to go with the Boston Ale, because it was smoother and had hints of caramel. I thought it would be a better cupcake beer. It turned out great! The cupcakes were not overly sweet, and had a bread/yeast flavor. I would say these are a cross between a cupcake and a cornbread muffin. I decided to pair them with my new favorite cream cheese frosting.
Decorating was the most fun! To make the deflated footballs, I knew I needed some kind of dried fruit. At first I wanted prunes, but I know they are not a fan favorite. I found that dried dates look even better, and I think they taste better than prunes. We’ll see what people think when I serve them. I just did 5 stitches with royal icing, and it was all pretty easy.
I had to go with Pats colors, and the supermarket didn’t have red and blue sprinkles that I could purchase alone. So I had to get a few bottles of patriotic red, white, and blue sprinkles.
What happened to all the white sprinkles, you may ask. Well, a huge thank you to my hubby who sat with me and helped pick out all the white sprinkles! What a pain in the ass, but the finished product really does look good! Next time, I will leave myself 2 days so I can order single colors of sprinkles on Amazon!
Now they are in formation and ready to go for the Superbowl!
Who am I rooting for in the game? I’m not sure…I guess whoever makes it so that I win a little money in the pool I’ve entered!
Enjoy the game, everyone!
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1.5 cups of white sugar
- 3 large eggs (at room temperature)
- 4 large egg yolks
- 2.5 cups of all-purpose flour (sifted)
- 1 TBSP baking powder
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup Samuel Adams Boston Ale
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line 2 cupcake tins with cupcake liners.
- In an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until fluffy.
- Add the eggs and egg yolks and beat until smooth and fluffy.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour and add the baking powder and salt.
- In a small bowl, mix the milk and Boston Ale.
- Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and mix well. Then add 1/2 of the milk/beer to the butter mixture and beat. Continue alternating adding the dry ingredients and milk/beer until it is entirely incorporated.
- Scoop batter into the cupcake liners, and fill 2/3 of the way.
- Bake 16-18 minutes (top rack of oven, bottom may take longer), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean.
