Only one weekend into the NCAA tournament aaaaannddd my bracket is officially busted. Kelly’s too. We tried to be different and not pick Kentucky to win it all, but that clearly didn’t work out in our favor.

Filling out brackets is a yearly tradition. I remember when we were little, Dad would print out brackets for my sister and I. We would fill them out round by round, so each game we had a 50/50 chance of choosing the correct winner.

I like college basketball, but I don’t follow it religiously. So when tournament time rolls around and everyone else is using statistics and over thinking how to choose that perfect bracket, I rely on my trusty secret method. Wanna know what it is? Pick the teams with random letters in their names. Xavier. Marquette. Villanova…

Obviously it didn’t work well for me this year (thanks a lot Nova :/) but hey…the odds of a perfect bracket are 1 in 2.4 trillion! May as well have fun with it. We’re a Syracuse family, so it’s been a rough year for us without our team in the tournament, but this is always a fun time of year regardless.

Even if you don’t participate in March Madness, I’m sure you have friends and coworkers that do. And I guarantee these basketball cupcakes will be the Cinderella story of the viewing party.

~Stephanie

March Madness Cupcakes

• cupcakes
• orange frosting
• small amount black frosting
• small round piping tip (I used Wilton 2)
• piping bag (or ziplock bag)

1. Frost cupcakes smoothly with orange frosting. Let dry.
2. Fit piping bag with tip, then fill with black frosting. (If using ziplock bag snip corner, place piping tip through opening, and fill).
3. Draw a vertical line down the middle of the cupcake.
4. On either side, draw another vertical line slightly curving inwards.
5. Draw a horizontal line through the middle of the cupcake.