By: Jill Mills Updated: Jun 21, 2024

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These 4th of July Cupcakes are such a fun and festive dessert! Fluffy red, white & blue cupcakes with a delicious frosting that looks like fireworks. Kids and adults will love these for any patriotic Holiday.

Colorful Patriotic Cupcakes

These patriotic cupcakes are the perfect dessert for any Independence Day hoopla. Light, fluffy cupcakes made (super conveniently) from a store-bought cake mix are colored red, white, and blue and topped with a smooth, creamy (also red, white, and blue) buttercream frosting. They are easy to make and perfect for those of you with creative kiddos who like to get involved in the kitchen. Happy baking!

Why You’ll Love These 4th of July Cupcakes

So festive. We call these ‘firework cupcakes’ because of the explosion of patriotic colors in the frosting and in the cupcakes themselves. They are the perfect treat for a 4th of July celebration.
Great texture. The cupcakes themselves are wonderfully light, moist, and fluffy; a joy to sink your teeth into.
Fun and easy to make. With simple ingredients, a simple mixing method, and lots of opportunities to get your hands dirty with food coloring, these cupcakes are the perfect easy recipe to make with your kiddos. They’re just so much fun!

Ingredient Needed

Here’s what you’ll need to make these red, white, and blue cupcakes. Don’t forget to scroll to the recipe card below for precise measurements.

White cake mix – A yellow cake mix would also work, but you won’t get quite the same red, white, and blue color palette.
Eggs – The eggs should be at room temperature. If they are cold, they won’t mix as easily with the other ingredients.
Unsalted sweet cream butter – Allow the butter to soften at room temperature before using. Otherwise, it won’t mix easily with the other ingredients.
Whole milk – 2% milk would also do the trick.
Vanilla extract
Red and blue gel food coloring
Powder sugar – The powdered sugar works to sweeten the frosting and also to add structure.
Heavy whipping cream
Patriotic cake sprinkles – And any other 4th of July-friendly decor you’d like.

How to Make 4th of July Cupcakes

Here’s a quick overview of how to make these iconic fourth of July patriotic cupcakes. You’ll find more detailed instructions in the recipe card below.

Prep. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Make the batter. Mix together the cake mix, butter, milk, and vanilla extract.
Color. Divide the batter into 3 bowls. Mix the red food coloring to 1 and the blue food coloring to another.
Fill. Scoop 1 tablespoon from each bowl of batter into each cupcake liner. Rotate through the colors until the liners are 3/4 full.
Bake. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
Cool. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

Decorating

Make the frosting base. On medium speed, beat together the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Start with 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and add more if the frosting is too thick.
Add color. Split the frosting into three bowls and mix 2-4 drops of red food coloring into 1 and 2-4 drops of blue food coloring into another.
Fill the piping bag. Using a bowl to prop it open, scoop the red frosting onto one side of a piping bag, the blue onto another, and the white onto another. Squeeze the icing together.
Frost and decorate. Frost the cooled cupcakes and garnish with sprinkles.

Tips & Variations

Don’t over-mix. When mixing together the ingredients for the cupcake batter and then again when mixing in the food coloring, mix just until everything is incorporated. Over-mixing can cause the glutens in the cake mix to overdevelop and your cupcakes to turn out tough and overly dense.
Room temperature butter. The butter in the batter should be at room temperature so it can mix easily with the other ingredients. The butter in the frosting should also be at room temperature. If it’s too cold, your frosting will turn out lumpy.
Consistency matters. You want the frosting to be easily pipe-able BUT you don’t want it to be too runny. The runnier the frosting, the more the colors will bleed into one another. Start by adding 3 tablespoons of heavy cream to the frosting base and only add more if you need to.
Separate your colors. You don’t just want to load the frosting into your piping bag all willy-nilly. The colors will blend. Instead, open the piping bag over a bowl and fold the edges over the rim. Scoop the red frosting onto one side of the bag, the blue onto another, and the white onto another. Squeeze the colors together and pipe away.
Cool completely. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting them. If they are still warm, the frosting will slide off of the cupcakes.
Fun decoration ideas. These cupcakes are festive enough as is but feel free to take things up a notch by adding American flags or other fun 4th of July cupcake toppers. You could also load your 3 frosting colors into 3 separate piping bags and use small piping tips to draw American flags onto the tops of the cupcakes.
Frosting. I have also made this with our cream cheese frosting recipe and it’s delicious!

Red White and Blue Desserts

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