Red, White, & Blue Swirl Cupcakes
Beautifully swirled cupcakes that taste as great as they look! Perfect for any patriotic celebration or any time you want some American pride in your dessert.
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Ingredients
CUPCAKES
- 1 and ⅔ cup all-purpose flour be sure to measure properly
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup yogurt plain, vanilla, Greek, or regular, any fat content; you may also use sour cream
- ¾ cup milk any
- 1 and ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon red gel food coloring
- ½ teaspoon blue gel food coloring
FROSTING
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 4 to 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ to ⅓ cup milk or cream
- salt to taste
- red and blue gel food coloring* as needed
Need to keep track of your ingredients?Check out my Printable Ingredient List!
Instructions
CUPCAKES
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave and allow to cool a bit. Whisk in the sugar, egg, yogurt, milk, and vanilla extract until combined. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until no lumps remain.
- Pour the batter evenly into 3 bowls-- one for white, one for red, and one for blue. Add the red food coloring to one of the small bowls, stir, and add more coloring until it is to your liking. Repeat with a second bowl and the blue coloring.
- Using a Tablespoon measure, add 1 heaping Tablespoon of batter to each cupcake liner, starting with whatever color you prefer. Remember that whichever color you end on will be the color of the top of your cupcakes. You should have enough batter for 3 heaping Tablespoons of batter in each liner, and any leftover can be distributed evenly.
- Bake cupcakes for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Allow to cool completely before decorating.
FROSTING
- In a large bowl with a handheld mixer, or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes.
- With the mixer on low, add in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk or cream. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until completely smooth, about 3 minutes. If frosting is too stiff, add more milk. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar. Add salt to taste.
- For more buttercream troubleshooting tips, see my book, The Home Baker's Guide to Basic Buttercream.
DECORATE THE CUPCAKES
- Separate the frosting into 3 equal portions-- one for white, one for red, and one for blue. Add the red food coloring to one of the small bowls, stir, and add more coloring until it is to your liking. Repeat with a second bowl and the blue coloring. Set aside.
- Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap, approximately 18" long. Line three stripes of frosting side by side in the middle of the piece of plastic. Stripes should be about 6-8" long.
- Once all 3 colors are in there, roll it up into a log. Log should have about 4-6" of "tail" on either end. Refrigerate log for about 10 minutes.
- While the frosting chills, fit a piping bag with the tip of your choice (I like a Wilton 1M for cupcakes). When the frosting is ready, thread one end of the log through the bag and pull it through the tip, snipping off the tail when it's seated nicely in the piping bag. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes.
- Alternatively, you can forego swirled frosting and dollop the three different frostings onto the top of the cupcake and swirl with a small offset spatula. Cupcakes stay fresh covered tightly at room temperature up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator up to 5 days.
Notes
*I prefer AmeriColor gel colors
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
