Play Ball! Baseball-Themed Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Filling and Frosting

My husband company had their first company softball game last Thursday. I wanted to make the a batch of cupcake courage in the for of Red Velvet and Cream Cheese Frosting, my husband's favorite!

Below is the recipe I have used from McCormick on several occasions and it has never disappointed! I add in the tidbit about the filling. Additionally, I always give an extra dash of sugar, cocoa, and vanilla extract for good measure :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes
(Makes 30 cupcakes)

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 bottle (1 ounce) McCormick® Red Food Color
2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Using an ice cream scoop with tradition release handle, scoop into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.

3. Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; use cupcake plunger in the center to inject the cream cheese filling, or use long cake decorating tip #230 with a pastry bag filled with the cream cheese when cupcakes are cooled completely. Fill and frost with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (below) when completely cooled.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
(Yields 30 cupcakes just frosted, 24 cupcakes filled)

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
2 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
1 box (16 ounces) confectioners' sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla extract in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth.


After frosting, I then topped them off with handmade fondant toppers of baseball bats, baseballs, and 4 monogram baseballs spelling out CBRE (CB Richard Ellis).