4th of July Mini Cupcakes

If you want to make an easy dessert for the 4th of July, this is it! I made about 90 mini cupcakes (which seems like a lot of work, but it isn’t bad at all!), frosting them red, white, and blue, and assembled them into an American flag! Easy squeezy!

4th of July Mini Cupcakes
Print Recipe

2 box cake mixes (your choice; I used white cake and chocolate cake)
Mini cupcake liners
1 stick salted butter, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup shortening
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 lbs powdered sugar
4-6 Tablespoons milk

1. Preheat oven to 350F and make box cake mixes according to directions. Line a mini cupcake pan with liners and add a scant Tablespoon of cake batter to each. Bake for about 12 minutes; remove from oven and cool on wire racks.  To create a full American flag cake, you’ll need about 80 mini cupcakes.
2. Make frosting by creaming the butters and shortening together. Add vanilla and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar until incorporated, adding milk if you need to thin it out.
3. Divide the frosting into thirds. Dye one third blue and one third red. Can we just talk about red food coloring for a minute? It’s seemingly impossible to get a RED result! Always looks pink-ish. Oh well!
4. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. I used a star pastry tip. About 15 of the cupcakes should be blue, and about 32 should be red and white.
5. Assemble into an American flag.