Fourth of July cupcakes - all dressed up and ready to go!!!

While on my recovery from surgery, I have rediscovered the abilitly to dress up a good old cake mix and make it special in your own way (call me a baking snob it's the ONLY way I can bring myself to using a boxed mix). Last night I was so tired after cleaning up the house and making a batch of pizza dough (recipe can be found here), but that didn't stop the kids from demanding that they wanted to make cupcakes. I did what all tired, at the end of her rope mothers do and grabbed a box of white cake mix and let my mind do the rest!!! Needless to say everyone involved was pleased with the results! I think that bringing these cuties to any Fourth of July gathering will leave you having the sensation of the event!

PS.) Will thinks they remind him of bomb pops. What do you think?

Fourth of July Cupcake Cuties

Ingredients

One white box cake mix of your choice

Butter Cream Icing - See recipe below

Wilton red and blue coloring paste

Cupcake papers

Directions

1. Prepare cake mix according to directions on the box.

2. Divide prepared mix into three containers - I used a digital kitchen scale and measured each one to be approximately 10 3/4 oz.

3.) After all 3 containers are equally divided tint one container with red coloring and the other with blue. Leave the remaining container white.

4.) Fill each cupcake liner with all three colors (I did them red, followed by while and blue on top). For each color I used between 1.5 to 2 tsps. dropping one on top of another. I tried to smooth each color out being careful not to dig or disrupt the color below.

5.) Bake according to directions on the box.

6.) Allow to cool for completely before frosting.

Butter Cream Icing

2 Cups shortening

2 tsp clear vanilla

7 TBSP of water

2 pounds of confectioner's sugar

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).
NOTE: Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency.
* For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.
**When using large countertop mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.

*Instructions can be found on the Wilton website.

Decorating Ideas:

I tinted my royal icing red and blue (leaving the remaining white). I used various Wilton tips to make the different size stars. They would also be cute with cupcake toppers as well as sprinkles. I think the next time I make them I might actually do them from scratch and flavor the cake them making them strawberry, blueberry and vanilla.

Enjoy!!