Football Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with 12 muffin cases. 

Place the margarine and sugar into a bowl and cream together until smooth and creamed. Add the eggs and Vanilla Extract and beat together until smooth, if the mixture begins to curdle add a spoonful of flour and continue to mix. 

Sieve the flour and Cocoa Powder on top and gently fold together until completely mixed.

Place the Chocolate Chips into a bowl and add a spoonful of flour. Toss the Chocolate Chips in the flour and pour into the mixture and stir through. 

Divide the mixture between the muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the muffin tray for 10 minutes and then place on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the buttercream- Pop the butter in a bowl and beat with a hand help electric whisk, until light and fluffy. Add in the icing sugar and vanilla and beat until combined.

Add a few drops of Green Colour Gel, mix through the Buttercream, and continue to add a few more drops of Green Colour Gel until the buttercream is a good shade of green. 

Once the cupcakes are cooled place the green buttercream into a piping bag fitted with an open star nozzle. Pipe a buttercream swirl onto each cupcake.

To make the fondant footballs, roll 30 small (pea size) balls of black fondant and 30 small balls of white fondant ensuring they are roughly the same size. Starting with a black ball of fondant place onto a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar, place a white ball next to it. Continue creating a circle with the fondant balls, alternating the colours. 

Gently roll over the balls of fondant to flatten and create rough hexagon shapes out of the fondant balls, they should all stick together. Cut small circles out of the fondant and leave on a board lined with greaseproof to set, these are the fondant footballs.

To make the fondant tops, knead the blue fondant on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar until soft and pliable. Roll out and using a t-shirt shaped cutter around 6cm high, cut the fondant shirts and place on the greaseproof to set. Repeat with the red fondant. 

Decorate the football tops using the writing icing. Once the decorations have set place them onto the iced cupcakes.  

Your football cupcakes are ready to serve and enjoy!