A Cake for Kickoff!

It's College Football Bowl season! After your New Year's Eve festivities tonight, you can snuggle in for the big six bowl games tomorrow and even more games throughout the weekend. The season culminates with the College Football Championship Game on January 11.

My team -- the Minnesota Gophers -- already played (and won!) the Quick Lane Bowl earlier this week, but others in my family are gearing up to watch that other team to the south of us -- the Iowa Hawkeyes -- play in their first Rose Bowl in 25 years. (This calls for at least one "Who Hates Iowa?" reference.)

With all of these football games, there often comes watch parties. Are you hosting one? Attending one? Still not sure what to make? I've got an idea for you that will wow your fellow football fans.

Meet the stadium cake:

Last year, Chris and I were pondering what in the world to take to a watch party for the Gopher bowl game. All of the sudden Chris emerged from the garage with a William Sonoma stadium cake pan. Yes, that's right, he owned this pan! Apparently, a past Christmas gift. How fun, right?! Although it appears William Sonoma is no longer carrying this gem, Nordic Ware has a version for sale on Amazon. A cheaper version is available here. 

The cake pan came with a simple spice cake recipe (any cake recipe will do) that Chris whipped up while I was crafting the Minnesota stadium flags. To make the flags, I dug up some Minnesota ribbon I'd bought at Michaels. Your local Michaels is likely to have local teams, as I saw they had similar ribbon again this year. My store also carries local NFL teams, which could come in handy for playoff games or a Super Bowl party. If all else fails, you can likely find some online.

I cut the ribbon where each "M" ended and then used a little bit of hot glue to secure them to toothpicks. When the cake had cooled, we put a piece of parchment paper underneath and added some green sprinkles to make the "field." We also put some gold sprinkles in the seating area. You could also use frosting or other items to make the field.

No time to order a stadium cake pan? Don't want to spend the money? Take to Pinterest and search for "stadium cake" for ideas on how to construct one with pans you likely have around the house. 

Here's a photo with Chris and I and the finally product. The cake even made my top 9 Instagram posts of the year -- that's how much people loved it!