Take me out to the ball game

I have many friends who are Cubs fans. I also have many friends who are White Sox fans. Despite what you might think after this post, fear not - I am a fan of neither team. (I only grew up a Mets fan because I wanted to be just like my brother when I was little!) :)

Laurie Ryan and Nathan are both HUGE Cubs fans, and their birthdays sandwich August 16th. The creation: "Cub-cakes". I enjoy this name very much. :)
I got the inspiration by searching on google images! Some people are ridiculouslycreative.

If you're curious for the recipe, I just followed Paula Deen's red velvet recipe. Note: I halved the cream cheese frosting recipe and still had leftover! Also, the cupcakes were a bit greasy...

24 Red Velvet Cupcakes
2.5 C flour
1.5 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cocoa powder
1.5 C vegetable oil
1 C buttermilk (or mix together 1 C milk and 1 T of vinegar)
2 large eggs
2 T red food coloring
1 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick (1/2 C) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C powdered sugar

Directions:
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2) Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.
3) Mix together vegetable oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla extract.
4) Combine wet and dry ingredients. Please watch as Laurie demonstrates:

5) Line a muffin tin with paper liners and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
6) While the cupcakes are baking, cream the butter and cream cheese together. Add in the vanilla and gradually add the powdered sugar (sifted is better!).
7) For the baseballs: frost cupcakes in a dome-like fashion. Use a toothpick to drag the lines in your frosting. I used a size 2 tip to create the stitches in red:

8) For the cubcakes: I used Wilton's Buttercream Frosting recipe for the red and blue colors. Frost the cupcakes in a flatter fashion. Draw the blue circle (I used a size 4 tip), the "C" (12 tip), and "ubs" (2 tip).

9) Despite what team you enjoy, I assure you that these cubcakes are still delightful. :)