So, I got roped into making treats for a neighborhood potluck last weekend. Someone mentioned the game was on, so I thought, alright, baseball stuff. Seemed easy enough at first glance.
I decided cupcakes were the way to go. Less fuss than a whole cake. Went digging through the pantry, found a box of yellow cake mix. Good enough. Also grabbed some eggs, oil, the usual suspects. Realized I needed white frosting and something red for the stitches. Had to run to the store just for that. Grabbed a tub of vanilla frosting and one of those skinny tubes of red decorating gel.
Getting Started with the Baking
Got home, cranked up the oven. Mixed the cake batter following the box directions – can’t really mess that up, right? Poured the batter into the cupcake liners in the muffin tin. Tried to fill them evenly, but a few always end up bigger. Popped them in the oven.
While those were baking, I got the frosting ready. Just opened the tub. Easy peasy. The cupcakes came out looking pretty decent, smelled good too. Had to let them cool down completely. Seriously, don’t try frosting warm cupcakes. Learned that the hard way years ago. Total mess.
The Decorating Part – Where it Gets Interesting
Once they were cool, I started frosting. Slathered on the white frosting with a regular butter knife. Didn’t bother trying to make it perfectly smooth. They’re baseballs, they can be a little rough.
Then came the red gel for the stitches. Okay, this was trickier than I thought. The plan was simple: two curved red lines, little V-marks for the stitches. The first one? Disaster. Squeezed too hard, big red blob. Scraped it off, tried again on another cupcake.
Got a bit of a rhythm going after the third or fourth one. Made two C-shaped curves on opposite sides with the red gel. Then added the little sideways ‘V’ shapes along the curves. My hand wasn’t super steady, so some stitches looked a bit shaky, others kinda bold. They definitely weren’t uniform.
- Spread white frosting on cooled cupcakes.
- Used red gel tube for stitches.
- Made two curved lines first.
- Added small ‘V’ marks along the curves.
Ended up with two dozen cupcakes that vaguely resembled baseballs. Some looked better than others, for sure. One looked like it got hit by a pitch, the red smeared a bit.
The Final Result
Stacked them up on a platter. Stepped back. Yeah, okay, they look like baseballs. Good enough for a casual get-together. Didn’t take ages, but the decorating part was a bit fiddly with that red gel pen.
Took them to the potluck. People knew what they were supposed to be right away, so that’s a win. They disappeared pretty quick, especially with the kids. No one seemed to mind the wobbly stitches. It was a fun little project, made the kitchen smell nice, and added to the theme. A bit messy, yeah, but worth it I suppose.
