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Fourth of July is just around the corner! So today, I’m exploring some red white and blue cupcakes with delightful cupcake decorating ideas that will be fun for all the family, from the baking right through to the BBQ!

Red white and blue cupcakes

Today I’m sharing some inspirational red white and blue cupcakes for your 4th July celebrations. You’ll be creating show-stopping sweet treats for your cook-outs and parties in no time!

These colorful fourth of July cupcakes are impressive but simple to make! Use your favorite, go-to cupcake recipe as the base of your cakes; alternatively, you can use my super easy Chocolate Fudge Cupcake recipe with or without the chocolate as a base for your 4th of July cupcakes. And adapt my cream cheese icing recipe to suit your bake and taste.

Easy cake ideas you will love:

How to Decorate 4th July Cupcakes

Food coloring and colored icing are lovely ways to inject fun into both your baking and your red white and blue cupcakes. You can use liquid, paste, gels, and powder colorings to create the color hues and tones you’d like for your celebration cupcakes.

Great brands to look for are Wilton, Sugarflair, and Americolor for their color pre and post-baking strength. Liquid and gel colorings are most likely the easiest to get hold of at the supermarket or craft store and are great for both icing and batter. If you have anyone sensitive to dyes, additives, or processed food dyes, consider natural food coloring to keep everyone safe and well.

4th July Cupcake Toppers

Stripes & Stars

Drawing stripes and stars onto cupcakes using icing pens is a fun and interactive way to get kids of all ages involved in the baking.

Beyond icing pens, you can use a piping bag to create icing shapes, petals, stars, and, indeed, stripes to create your unique patterns for the festivities.

For all-over multicolor, create three circle shapes of Icing, one red, one white, one blue next to one another, then glide a spoon through them, across the naked cupcake top, creating a smooth covering of Icing in red, white, and blue.

Sparklers

This one, without a doubt, requires mom and dad’s supervision! As the fourth of July is such a special family celebration, why not add some sparkle to the celebration? A sparkler or mini firework cake centerpiece is excellent fun for when the fireworks go off. Alternatively, purchase 4th of July candles in red, white, and blue for the smaller family members to join in the fun safely.

Flags

Forth of July flags are everywhere come mid-June. Pick up some cocktail sticks and paper to create your own if you can’t find any shop-bought ones. Spike into the cupcake and ta-da! you’re good to go! Add these flags to a mountain of cream cheese icing, ganache, or star-sprinkled iced cupcakes.

Frosting & Sprinkles

Sprinkles are perfect for kid’s baking as well as adult baking! They’re fun to use, have no design rules and are bright and colorful, and come in rainbow packs, special the fourth of July confetti packs, and jumbo sprinkles for added bite and captivating cupcake toppings.

The brighter the coloring, the bolder the cupcake looks, so use whatever takes your fancy! Be sure to add your sprinkles onto frosting or cream cheese icing after cakes have been baked and chilled or cover all over in confetti sprinkles to make a ‘Funfetti’ cake.

4th July Cupcake Flavors

There’s nothing more spectacular than a rainbow-colored sweet table, cake, or treat! From simple naked tiered cupcakes and bakes in red, white, and blue to individually flavored cakes, trio cupcakes, or cake pops that together represent the American flag. There’s so much fun to be had beyond the decorating – the fun starts with the flavors:

Strawberry, raspberry, and watermelons are all tremendous red and pink flavors for 4th July cupcakes. Red velvet cakes are also a strong contender for best-ever cupcakes that would put the ‘Red’ in Red, white and blue.
White chocolate is the go-to choice for the fourth of July‘ red, white, blue’ flavors. Marshmallow is also a fluffy, fun option!
Blue – Now there are not many blue foods, so your best bet is a slight food coloring paired with a blue food flavor such as blueberries or blackberries.

Serve your 4th of July cupcakes with a seasonal, themed napkin and be sure to have some goodie bags handy for friends and family to take some cupcakes home with them!

If you like these fun ways to decorate your fourth of July celebration cupcakes, be sure to save this recipe to Pinterest and share it with your friends and family on Facebook.

4th of July cupcakes

What are the ingredients for patriotic cupcakes?

White cake mix – this is the easiest and fastest way to make these fun cupcakes.
Ingredients specified on the box, like vegetable oil and eggs
White frosting (or use my whipped cream recipe)
Red and blue food coloring – I prefer gel as it won’t make batter or icing watery and gives them a more intense color.
Red and blue sprinkles
Piping bag with desired tip (I love Wilton tip set)

How do you make red white blue cupcakes from scratch?

Preheat oven per cake box directions. Prepare cake mix per package directions. Prepare cupcake tin with liners
Equally divide the batter into 3 separate bowls. Using the gel food coloring dye one bowl red and one bowl blue, leave one bowl white.
Starting with the blue batter spoon about 1 tablespoon of batter into all the liners. Next spoon in the white batter. Lastly spoon in the red batter.
Bake until a toothpick in the center comes out clean then cool completely.
Spoon the frosting into a piping bag or simply spread it on with a spatula. Alternatively, you can divide the icing in 3 bowls and color each red, white and blue. Use the red and blue sprinkles to finish the decorating.

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