The young women at church were competing this morning in the semifinals of their basketball tournament so I decided they deserved some basketball cupcakes because they are winners whether they win or lose!   (They lost, bummer.)  The cupcake recipe comes from a blog called “Tidy Mom”.  I haven’t tasted one of these yet since I gave them all away but she claims that they are the perfect cupcake, I’ll let you know when I get to try one before giving them all away.  The basketball design was my own creation so I’ll explain that at the bottom.  I made yellow cupcakes with her recipe and then dumped in a bag of peanut butter and milk chocolate chips.  They smelled divine!

1 box cake mix, any flavor

3 eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted (no margarine, butter only!)

1 cup water

1  Melt butter in microwave.

2  Add cake mix, eggs and water to butter in large bowl.

3  Mix on low for 1 minute then on medium/high for 1 minute.

4  Fill cupcake liners and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

For basketball cupcakes, you will need:

frosting, your choice (I used my favorite vanilla buttercream)

orange sprinkles or decorating sugar

black licorice strings

Frost a cupcake with a thin layer of frosting then cover with orange sugar (I’ve found the easiest way to do this is to dump the sugar in a bowl and then dip the top of the cupcake in there and gently roll it around until it is covered).  Cut a licorice whip into small strips and form basketball design as shown above, pressing ends of strands gently into frosting.