Baseball Truffle Topped Cupcakes

My friend Michelle and I are the baking dream team for our coworkers and friends.  Not only are we both mildly obsessed with trying new and unbelievably unhealthy recipes, we are both a smidgen anal and compulsive when it comes to planning.  When working on a team, you'd think having two chiefs with obsessive compulsive disorder and no Indians would be an inevitable disaster, but for some reason when we bake together we bring out the best in one another.

Part of it is because we both know how to take constructive criticism (and welcome it!) and part of it is because we both have different strengths.  Michelle is the cake and butter cream goddess, having made some of the most beautiful and delicious weddings cakes I've ever seen.  I am more into little details- tiny fondant roses, a million different desserts in a spread, things like that.  

This has been working incredibly well for the wedding dessert buffet we are planning together.  In fact, right after we delivered the following concoction, we spent 4 hours at my house mocking up the dessert buffet table-scape. Yup, we painstakingly placed cupcake wrappers on platters and trays and arranged them on a make-shift 12 foot table in my dining room to make sure we had enough room and platters for all the food.  We didn't.  Then we went to Walmart.  All is good now.

How did I get this far off topic?  So since our friends have realized how much we thrive on adorable baking projects, we occasionally get requests like this.  Michelle was asked to make baseball themed cupcakes for a kids birthday party, and she commissioned me to help.  Her idea was to have a baseball truffle (my part!) on top of a cupcake frosted in butter cream grass (her part!)  What resulted were the cutest darned cupcakes I've ever seen.  Yay us!

Cupcakes topped with Baseball Truffles (Cookie Dough Flavored)

Make a batch of cookie dough truffles (which I've made here) and dip in almond bark.  Make sure that the truffles will be small enough to fit on top of the cupcakes.  Let cool before proceeding.

Melt red candy melts according to package instructions and place it in a plastic bag (if this is too thick to pipe, thin it using shortening.)

Start by drawing the two half circles on the truffle with the red candy melts.  Add stitching.  Work quickly to avoid having the candy harden.

When they are dry, pipe butter cream dyed green onto your favorite flavor of cupcakes so that it looks like grass.  Top with your truffle and serve.  

Enjoy!