Summer is almost here! The weather is getting warmer, everyone’s feeling more relaxed, and soon you’ll want to bake up these 4th of July cupcakes for your patriotic picnic with all things red, white, and blue.
This is a simple patriotic cupcakes recipe where you’ll be making a red, white, and blue cake and frosting it how you like. It’ll look fantastic, and it doesn’t require much extra skill or any special utensils! We’ve even listed a few sprinkle mixes and other materials that we suggest to really ramp up the “Americana” on these 4th of July cupcakes.
Be sure to grab some sparklers because we added the perfect party touch to finish off your holiday celebration with than these gorgeous sprinkles. Even with this epic tri-color cupcake batter, you know we had to make the tops epic!
Enjoy the fireworks, and chow down on some patriotic treats! Check out how below.
Fourth of July Cupcakes: Ingredients & Utensils
Yield: 18-24
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 12-14 min
Ingredients
- 1 box (15.25 oz) white cake mix
- 4 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ⅓ cup vegetable or canola oil
- Red and blue food coloring
- Frosting, your favorite – try our vanilla buttercream or cream cheese recipe
- Decorations (see “tips for decoration” a few sections down!)
Note: Yes, you can use the whole egg instead of just the whites! Just know that your batter will be a little more yellow, so you may not get that precise red, white, and blue coloring you may want. The cupcakes will still look great, though!
If you are looking for a from scratch recipe, try our Vanilla Cupcake Recipe instead of this!
Utensils & Other Items
- Cupcake liners (see “tips for decoration” a few sections down!)
- Cupcake pan
- Large mixing bowl and 3 regular bowls
- Decorator bag
- Wire rack
- Toothpick
- Optional: frosting piping bag with jumbo piping tip for swirling, if you want!
How To Make Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and add cupcake liners to the pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cake mix, egg whites, buttermilk, and oil.
- Mix on medium speed until completely smooth.
- Divide batter into 3 bowls. You should have about 1 ¼ cups of batter in each bowl.
- Color one with red food coloring and one with blue food coloring.
- Transfer batter to disposable decorator bag to make it easier to fill cupcakes.
- Squeeze equal amounts of each color of batter into cupcake liners. (Note: It’s easier if you have another person helping you to squeeze the batter at the same time!)
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely on a wire rack.
- Decorate with the frosting of your choice, and add sprinkles or other decorations including little american flags as toppers.
4th of July Cupcakes: Tips For Decoration
It’s your favorite part of any Sweets & Treats blog post…the decoration tips! Read this section closely if you want to know just what we dessert experts recommend to make these cupcakes as patriotic as possible.
For the frosting…
Good news: we have a fantastic and SUPER easy buttercream frosting recipe right on the blog! You can also try our cream cheese frosting, too. Or you can just grab your favorite frosting from the store, which is fine…but you know making frosting yourself is way more fun. You can even dye it red or blue if you’re really feeling the stars and stripes!
For the liners…
We recommend using navy blue, red, or white-colored liners.
- Navy-colored liners: chevron patterned, dot patterned, rugby-striped, solid
- Red-colored liners: chevron patterned, dot patterned, rugby-striped, solid
- If you want white liners, it doesn’t get any better than a pretty solid white!
For the sprinkles…
Lots of options here! We have mixes already available for the 4th of July in addition to our Stars & Stripes mix we used here.
Or you can use a single kind of, or color of, sprinkle:
- Patriotic Crispy Sprinkles
- Quin Patriotic Star Sprinkles
- Navy or red sugar crystals
- Blue or red sugar pearls
Did you enjoy these patriotic cupcakes?
Get ready for fireworks and summer cookouts with these adorable little treats! Comment down below with your thoughts on these cupcakes for the 4th of July.
Did you adore them? Did you get creative with them? We always want to hear from you!
If you loved these 4th of July cupcakes, check out other patriotic party fun!
Check out our other patriotic desserts for your upcoming celebration.