Fourth Of July Cupcakes

Cupcakes are one of my favorite desserts to bake.  I mean what is not to love?  It is portable cake...no fork required.  I have seen cupcakes where they have dyed the batter different colors on different blogs.  The first time I had ever seen that done, of course, was on a blog.  I thought it was the cutest idea ever.  Someone had made rainbow colored cupcakes.  So I thought that would be a great idea to do for Fourth of July, using red, white, and blue.  I was a little worried at first because I thought the colors might run together and they didn't.  I also was worried that I would not be able to get the batter to color red.  Luckily, I had these food coloring pastes from Williams Sonoma.  Not only did they dye the batter red, they came out the most beautifully vibrant red.  The blue was also quite vibrant, though not the navy blue which I would have preferred.  However, the end result was just the cutest Fourth of July cupcakes I have ever made.  

The possibilities for dying the batter are endless.  You could color these to match the school colors for a graduate.  Mix different pinks for a real girly girl's special day.  Cookies and Cups made the cutest camouflage colored ones (here) which I think are so cute for boys or to honor a soldier who has just come home. 

Now I must confess usually when I bake cupcakes or a cake I use a boxed mix,  They are easy and taste pretty good, but I found recipes that I had clipped from Woman's Day last year for vanilla cake and chocolate cake, and to be honest, after tasting how good these two recipes are, I will probably never go back to boxed cake mix again.  I used the vanilla cake recipe to make these cupcakes, and I will share the chocolate cake recipe with you in an upcoming post.  You definitely could do these with a boxed mix, though.  For the frosting, I used the butter cream recipe from Domino Sugar which was very good.  I also dyed the frosting to decorate.

To make the cupcakes, in the bowl of a mixer, beat together butter, sugar, baking powder, and salt for one minute until fluffy. 

 Add eggs.  Beat two minutes.

  Reduce mixer to low and beat in milk and vanilla.  The batter will look curdled.  Add flour gradually until just blended.

Separate the batter into three equal portions.  Leave one portion white.  Add blue food coloring to one portion until it is desired color.   Add red food coloring to one portion until it is desired color.  I used these food coloring gels from Williams Sonoma which gave a really beautiful vibrant color to the batter. 

Spread a heaping tablespoon of the blue color batter into the bottom of a cupcake liner in a cupcake pan.  Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the white batter on top of the blue batter.

 Spread gently to cover the blue with the white completely.  Next, place a heaping tablespoon of the red batter on top of the white, spreading gently to cover the white completely.  

You can also do the colors by placing the colors side by side.  This way also gave a nice effect.  For this way, I just put a heaping tablespoon of the red on one side of the cupcake liner, then the white in the middle and the blue on the other side. 

 It makes 24 cupcakes.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow to cool and top with frosting and decorate if desired.

This is how they looked before frosting.  Seen here are the two different versions.

This is how the ones with the horizontal layers of batter look.

Here is how they look with the layers side by side.

Vanilla Cake/Cupcake recipe Woman's Day May 2009

2 Sticks of butter (1 cup), unsalted, softened
1 1/2 Cups of sugar
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon of salt
4 large eggs
1 Cup of milk
2 Teaspoons vanilla extract
2 2/3 Cups of flour
Food coloring to dye batter, if desired

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners. 

Beat butter, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl with a mixer on high speed for one minute or until fluffy.  Add eggs; beat two minutes.  Reduce speed to low and beat in milk and vanilla (batter may look curdled).  Then beat in flour until just blended.   If coloring batter, separate into three bowls.  Keep one white.  Add blue food coloring to one and red food coloring to the other until batter becomes desired shade.  Layer  one heaping tablespoon of blue  batter in the bottom of cupcake liner, spread to coat bottom.  Top with one heaping tablespoon of white batter.  Gently spread to cover blue.  Top white with one heaping tablespoon of red.  Gently spread to cover white.  You can also place colors side by side, as above.   Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Allow to cool.  Frost and decorate. 

Buttercream Frosting Domino sugar

3 3/4 Cups of confectioners sugar
1/2 Cup of butter or margarine, softened
3-4 Tablespoons of milk
1 Teaspoon of vanilla

In a large bowl, with a mixer on low speed, combine confectioners sugar, butter, milk, and vanilla.  Beat at medium speed for one to two minutes until creamy.  If desired, add more milk until frosting is spreading consistency.


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