Red White and Blue Cupcakes

Ingredients

For Cupcakes

Perfect Cupcakes Recipe (using a White Cake Mix)
red and blue gel food color

For Vanilla Cream Frosting

½ cup butter, at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
1 to 4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
red and blue gel food color

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Line cupcake pan with cupcake wrappers.
Divide prepared white cake mix into 3 bowls. Add red gel coloring to one, and blue color to another (add gel coloring to batter until you reach the desired color), leave one bowl with white batter.
Spoon a little of each color batter into your cupcake liners, filling about 1/2 full.
Bake 20 minutes and let cool.
For frosting: Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
Add vanilla and sugar and blend on low until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy. (*I use clear vanilla and bright white gel color to keep my frosting nice and white)
Slowly add the cream a little at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don’t add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)

To Decorate Cupcakes
Place a 1M tip in a 16-inch pastry bag.
Using a small paint brush, lined the inside of the pastry/decorating bag with 2 stripes of each, red and blue gel color.
Fill the bag with white frosting and pip on to cupcakes
top with sprinkles

Let’s Make Red White and Blue Marble Cupcakes!

Marble cupcakes are so fun! Once you learn how easy it is to color cake batter and frosting then you can easily switch up the colors for any holiday or celebration.

Start by mixing up a batch of white cake batter, I use my favorite Perfect Cupcakes Recipe (using a mix)

Then divide the white cake batter into 3 bowls.

Add red gel coloring to one, and blue color to another, leave the third one white.

I highly recommend using gel-paste food coloring. The color is concentrated, so it does not require a lot to achieve the hue you’re going for. The liquid food coloring from the grocery store will “water down” your batter.

Spoon a little of each color batter into your cupcake liners, filling about 1/2 full.

Bake the cupcakes for 20 minutes then let them cool.

red white and blue cupcake batter in cupcake wells

Just look at how these red white and blue cupcakes bake up!

You can easily change the colors and make these for fun Tri-Color Christmas Cupcakes, a graduation party in school colors, or any party colors.

red white and blue cupcake with the wrapper pulled down.

Next, you’re going to make the frosting.

How To Make Tri-Color Frosting

Ingredients Needed For Vanilla Cream Frosting

butter, at room temperature
cream cheese, at room temperature
vanilla extract
powdered sugar
heavy whipping cream
red and blue gel food color

How To Make Vanilla Frosting

STEP ONE: Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat slightly with an electric mixer. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.

STEP TWO: Add vanilla and sugar and blend on low until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.

How To Keep Frosting Bright White

PRO TIP: I use clear vanilla and bright white gel color to keep my frosting nice and white.

How To Get Multi-Color Frosting

I like to use a new small paintbrush and line the inside of a pastry/decorating bag with 2 stripes of each, red and blue gel color.

*be sure to watch the video for these cupcakes (near the top of this post) to see how I make the multi-color frosting. It’s really easy, but the video visual might help you understand a little better.

Step back and admire your pretty red white and blue frosting!

Lastly, you can add patriotic sprinkles.

red white and blue cupcake in a muffin pan

See how fun they look when you bite in!