Baseball Cupcakes

My boyfriend Luke's 26th birthday was on the 15th and I wanted to do something special. I baked cupcakes last year, but the frosting melted under the hot sun. This year, - thankfully - it was only around 75 degrees or so. It was a good thing too, because instead of just plain frosting like last year, I wanted something a little more festive. I've mentioned several times that we're both really into baseball (and we're both sad that the season is almost over!), so I decided to try making my cupcakes look like baseballs.

This was the inspiration:

[image source: Martha Stewart]

This is how mine turned out:

[photo by Faustina Sung]

Not too shabby for a first try, if I do say so myself. Obviously, mine aren't quite as perfect as Martha Stewart's. She used licorice for the baseball stitches and I used gel icing, just because I wanted to be more precise with the 2 and the 6. I just noticed too that the thicker stitches look like little hearts. :)

My amazing BestFriend Faustina was kind enough to come over and help me bake and decorate these cupcakes. In fact, she did most of the stitches since my first attempt looked a little lopsided. She did a pretty amazing job, don't you think?

And in case you're wondering, yes, Luke loved these! Yay me for scoring some girlfriend points. ♥