Hi I’m Sarah from Admiring Thoughts, and I am horrible at crafts. However, I a great conversationalist on history, pop culture, and politics, and if I can bake it in an oven I can make it outstandingly delicious. So today, I am here to tell you about the sole red, white, and blue craft I know I can ace: patriotic cupcakes!
But before we start, I just want to say that it’s OK to admit it if you’re not good at crafts, either. This is a safe space. (Let’s call this Why-Can’t-I-Make-Beautiful-Things-It-Looks-So-Easy Anonymous. )
I can work beside my best friend on the same Pinterest craft and her final product looks picture perfect, and mine looks like something made to be hung up on the fridge. Yet I am terribly attracted to craft blogs and have the urge to give everything a try. (This is why I have so many mason jars.)
Patriotic Cupcakes in Less Than an Hour
As the leader of Why-Can’t-I-Make-Beautiful-Things-It-Looks-So-Easy Anonymous, I’m here to tell you that you can do it—and you can probably do it even better than me—and it’s super simple. You cannot mess this one up, you can only improve upon it! And it’ll take less than 45 minutes! And this is a great craft/baking adventure for your young helpers, too.
it’s only 3 Ingredients
(I told you you couldn’t mess this up.)
Go out and acquire the following:
- White cake mix (or ingredients for a homemade recipe)
- Food coloring gel
- Frosting (or ingredients for a homemade recipe)
Note: This is why you want food coloring gel instead of dye drops.
world’s easiest Instructions
- Prepare the batter as your recipe or box recipe requests and separate your batter into thirds.
- Add 3-4 tsp/squeezes of red gel into the first third of batter. Mix until you get a vibrant red color, adding more gel if needed. Repeat this for the blue batter.
- Preheat the oven according to the mix or homemade recipe and add cupcake liners to the baking pan.
- Create a small, smooth layer of red at the bottom of each cupcake liner. The smooth, even layer will help make sure the color layers don’t mix. Repeat with the white (plain) batter, then the blue batter.
- Pop in the oven to bake.
Once your cupcakes have cooled, it’s time to add the frosting. You can purchase frosting or you can easily make your own with just some butter, milk, and powdered sugar. (That’s what I did!) To liven it up, add some sprinkles, or add dye to the frosting.
And that’s it! All in less than an hour, and all so very delicious. Congratulations everyone, you succeeded!
If you liked this simple recipe, check out my Pepperless Taco Seasoning. If you have bell pepper allergies like I do, there are so many delicious things you can’t have—unless you make it yourself!
Chelsea @ Life With My Littles says
These look delicious! And so simple! I love food coloring gels so much more than drops. But they stain way easy so be prepared haha!
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Sarah says
Chelsea, you’re so right! If you get the gel on anything, it’ll definitely stay that color. I have a tea towel I wiped my hands on that is now a shade bluer that it was before.