Patriotic Cupcakes

Patriotic Cupcakes are a fun, festive way to celebrate summer holidays! Whether it's Memorial Day, 4th of July, or Labor Day, I'm sure these star-spangled cupcakes will be a hit. Tender vanilla cakes topped with red, white, and blue frosting are easy, cute, perfect for a backyard picnic.

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• Key Ingredients Needed
• How To Make Patriotic Cupcakes
• How To Make The Red, White, and Blue Frosting
• Decorating Ideas!
• Expert Baking Tips
• Storing Instructions
• Frequently Asked Questions
• A quick note about baking in grams...
• Recommended Recipes
• Did you make this recipe?
• Patriotic Cupcakes

Looking for an easy dessert that is sure to wow the guests at your upcoming backyard BBQ? If that's you, then you have just got to make these patriotic cupcakes!

Not only are they fun, festive, and colorful, but they couldn't be simpler to make! I use a simple, vanilla cupcake recipe that's based of of my dairy free cupcakes, then bake, cool, and decorate with a patriotic themed frosting.

Quick, easy, and cute? Sounds like a winning recipe to me!

If you're looking for more picnic-worthy desserts, check out my crinkle top brownies, M&M Rice Krispie Treats, these 5 star dairy free chocolate chip cookies, or even red velvet cookie dough!

Why You'll Love This Recipe

1. These patriotic cupcakes are perfect for all of the American holidays!
2. The vanilla cake is moist, tender, and full of floral vanilla flavor
3. Th frosting is creamy, fluffy, and not overly sweet
4. I've included a few different decorating ideas, ranging from super simple to a little more advance
5. Cupcakes are easier than baking an entire cake and are much easier to serve to a large crowd

Key Ingredients Needed

*the full ingredients list and measurements can be found in the recipe card below*

• Flour: I like to use a high quality all-purpose flour for this recipe. A brand like King Arthur or even Gold Medal are both great!
• Sugars: You will need both granulated sugar and brown sugar. These work together to sweeten, add structure, and a little extra moisture to the cupcakes.
• Baking powder: This helps the cake to rise and be moist and fluffy instead of doughy and dense.
• Salt: A small amount of salt in both the cupcake batter and frosting keep the whole treat form being overly sweet!
• Oil: I usually use a neutral flavored oil like avocado oil when I bake so that the vanilla flavor can really shine through and isn't clouded by any more dominant flavors.
• Milk: Whole milk is preferable here! If you don't have whole milk, 2% will work, but I don't recommend using skim.
• Sour cream: For more added moisture, I like to mix a dollop of sour cream into the wet ingredients. It makes the cupcakes soft, tender, and SO delicious. You can use whole milk, plain Greek yogurt instead if needed.
• Eggs: Large eggs are generally used in baking, unless otherwise stated. You'll also want these to be at room temperature for best results.
• Vanilla: The sweet, floral taste of vanilla brings the entire cupcake together and makes it SO delicious.
• Butter: To help keep the buttercream from being too sweet, I usually make it with salted butter. Unsalted does work, just add another pinch of salt when mixing.
• Powdered sugar: When you're making buttercream, you generally want to use powdered sugar. It dissolves into the butter completely and won't leave you with a grainy, unappetizing texture.
• Food coloring: Whenever I'm dying cake batter or frosting, I always use gel food coloring. Not only does it give you the most vibrant colors, but it also doesn't add too much water like regular food coloring does.

Dietary Variations:

• Dairy Free: Make this recipe instead and decorate as desired.
• Gluten Free: You can use this gluten free vanilla cupcake recipe and make the frosting as directed below.
• Egg free: Try these eggless vanilla cupcakes and use the buttercream recipe in the recipe card below!

How To Make Patriotic Cupcakes

STEP ONE: Preheat the oven to 350° F and line a cupcake/muffin pan with paper liners

STEP TWO: To a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt with a wooden spoon until well combined.

STEP THREE: To the dry ingredients, add the oil and stir until the mixture resembles a wet paste.

STEP FOUR: Next, in a medium sized bowl with a spout, (large glass measuring cup) whisk together the milk, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract.

STEP FIVE: Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently stir until everything is combined into one smooth, silky batter.

STEP SIX: Fill your paper cupcake liners ¾ of the way full with cupcake batter and place into the preheated oven. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

STEP SEVEN: Carefully take the cupcakes out of the oven and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

How To Make The Red, White, and Blue Frosting

STEP ONE: In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the softened butter on high until light in color. About 2-3 minutes.

STEP TWO: Next, add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt into the butter and mix on low speed until everything is incorporated. Once incorporated, turn the mixer up to medium/high for 1-2 minutes.

STEP THREE: Scoop about ½ cup of frosting into 2 smaller mixing bowls. Dye one bowl blue and the other red.

STEP FOUR: To a piping bag fitted with your tip of choice (I use a 2D), use an offset spatula to spread a small stripe of the blue frosting up one side of the bag. Clean the spatula and use it again to spread a stipe of red frosting opposite the blue in the piping bag.

STEP FIVE: Once the stripes are made, fill the entire piping bag with some of the undyed, white buttercream that's still in your mixing bowl. Gently squeeze until the frosting begins to come out of the piping tip.

STEP SIX: Pipe a swirl of the patriotic frosting onto the tops of your fully cooled cupcakes.

PRO TIP: If you run out of frosting before you're done with all of the cupcakes, use a new piping bag and repeat steps 4-6 for a more clean look. If you want more of a tie-dye effect, you can just add any remining frosting and have at it 😉

Decorating Ideas!

There's a couple of fun ways you can go about decorating these patriotic cupcakes! Here's a few ideas:

1. Red, white, and blue frosting: Divide the frosting into 3 separate bowls, dye one red, one blue, and keep the other white. Transfer each to a piping bag and frost the cupcakes with a layer of each color, or put them all into one piping bag for a tie-dye effect.
2. Sprinkles: Looking for a super simple decorating option? Frost the cupcakes with white then add your favorite patriotic sprinkles!
3. Use berries: Another simple option is to frost them with white buttercream, then add fresh blueberries and raspberries in the middle for a natural patriotic theme.

These are just a couple of decorating ideas! You can totally get super creative and festive or keep them simple and sweet. It's up to you, just remember to have fun 🙂

Expert Baking Tips

1. Use room temperature ingredients: When all of the ingredients are the same temperature, the batter comes together much smoother and results in a more tender cupcake.
2. Reverse creaming method: I use this method in my recipe because I really wanted a tender, moist cupcake. This is a different method than you may be used to, but trust me it's amazing.
3. Measure properly: The ingredient measurements are listed in grams so that you can bake the best treats every single time. The scale eliminates a lot of the errors and mismeasuring that can occur when you're measuring with cups.
4. Don't overfill the cupcake wells: You'll see in the recipe card below I clearly state to fill each well ⅔ of the way full. That creates a nice round top without overflowing and looking like a muffin.
5. Use an oven thermometer: Every oven heats differently and may not always be accurate. I like to use an oven thermometer so I know I'm baking at the correct temperature and that the time listed is pretty accurate.
6. Cool completely: Before piping on the frosting, allow the cupcakes to cool completely to room temperature, otherwise the buttercream will melt off.
7. Serve fresh: These patriotic cupcakes are best if served within 24 hours of baking them. I do not recommend baking them a few days in advance, or else they'll be stale by the time you need to serve them.

Storing Instructions

You can store leftover cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

As long as it's not too hot in your house, the buttercream is ok to sit at room temperature. If it is hot, you'll want to keep the cupcakes in the fridge to prevent them from going bad too quickly.

Frequently Asked Questions

A quick note about baking in grams...

You may notice that most of my newer recipes are listed in grams instead of cups. That's because it's really the most accurate way to measure and bake exceptional treats every time with little room for error.

I do try and include cup measurements, but I highly suggest investing in a $10 kitchen scale. It's really worth it!

Recommended Recipes

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