July 4th Cupcakes

cupcake with white frosting and patriotic sprinkles

Brighten up your summer picnic with these July 4th Cupcakes! White cupcakes filled with red, white and blue sprinkles and topped with homemade frosting.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword easy cupcake recipe, summer cupcakes

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Cooling Time 1

Servings

Calories 410kcal

Author Julie Clark

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

1 box white cake mix (15.25 ounces)
1 cup all-purpose flour 130 grams
1 cup granulated sugar 200 grams
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup water
1 cup sour cream
4 large egg whites room temperature
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the candy filling:

1/4 cup red and blue mini-M&M’s
1/4 cup red sprinkles
1/4 cup blue sprinkles
1/4 cup holiday stars

For the buttercream whipped frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
1 cup shortening
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
5-6 cups powdered sugar

Topping:

sprinkles optional sprinkles
candy holiday stars
fondant stars

Instructions

Make the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners and set it aside.
In a large mixing bowl whisk together, cake mix, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and salt.
With an electric hand mixer or a kitchen aid mix dry ingredients on low.
Slowly, add in water, sour cream, egg whites, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Mix until everything has been combined.
Pour or spoon batter into the lined cupcake pan. Make sure to only fill about 2/3 of the cupcake liner, since the batter will rise a bit.
Bake in preheated oven for 22 minutes or until the center is baked.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
In a small mixing bowl mix together sprinkles, candy stars, and mini-M&M’s.
Cut out the center of the cupcakes and fill with 1- 2 teaspoons of sprinkled candy mixture. Add top back to the cupcake to hold filling in.

Make the frosting:

With an electric hand mixer or a kitchen aid, cream together butter and shortening until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.
Add in heavy cream and vanilla extract.
Slowly, add in confectioners sugar a little at a time. If frosting is too thick you can add 1 teaspoon of heavy cream until you have reached the texture, you are looking for. Mix frosting for another 3 minutes.
If you are wanting to dye the frosting red or blue, do so at this time.
Add frosting to a piping bag and pipe cupcakes.
Top with sprinkles, star fondant, or candy stars.

Notes

Refer to the article above for more tips and tricks.

The calories shown are based on the recipe making 24 cupcakes, with 1 serving being 1 cupcake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box are calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.**

Nutrition