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4th of July Patriotic Cupcakes

4th of July patriotic cupcakes with dramatic tri-color buttercream swirls and gold glitter finish. A fluffy vanilla cupcake base gets piped in red, white, and blue before topping with star sprinkles and mini flag picks.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Calories: 360
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

All-purpose flour
  • 1.5 cup all-purpose flour
Baking powder
  • 1.5 tsp baking powder
Salt
  • 0.25 tsp salt
Butter
  • 0.5 cup butter, softened
Sugar
  • 0.75 cup sugar
Eggs
  • 2 eggs
Vanilla
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Whole milk
  • 0.5 cup whole milk
White buttercream frosting
  • 3 cup white buttercream frosting
Red gel food coloring
  • 0.5 tsp red and blue gel food coloring
Blue gel food coloring
  • 0.5 tsp red and blue gel food coloring
White star sprinkles
  • 0.5 cup white star sprinkles
Gold edible glitter
  • 0.25 tsp gold edible glitter
Small American flag picks
  • 12 small American flag picks

Equipment

  • 1 sheet pan

Method
 

Bake the vanilla cupcakes
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin tin with white cupcake liners.
  2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
  3. Fold in flour and milk until just mixed, then divide batter evenly among liners.
  4. Bake for 18–20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  5. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.
Tint and pipe the tri-color frosting swirls
  1. Divide buttercream into 3 portions; leave one portion white, then tint one red and the other blue using red and blue gel food coloring.
  2. Load a piping bag with all three colors side by side so the layers appear together as you pipe.
  3. Pipe large patriotic swirls onto each cupcake.
  4. Finish each cupcake with white star sprinkles, a dusting of gold edible glitter, and top with a mini flag.

Notes

For the cleanest tri-color swirl, keep the frosting portions thick and load the piping bag with the colors side by side rather than mixing; if your kitchen is warm, chill the frosted cupcakes for about 20 minutes before adding the small American flag picks. Store cupcakes covered in the refrigerator up to 3 days; freeze unfrosted cupcakes up to 2 months (thaw and frost after). For a lighter option, use a reduced-fat butter in the cupcake base and a lighter buttercream frosting.