Fourth of July Cupcakes

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Thank you to all of those who have served our country and made this day possible.

I have seen these cupcakes pop up on several blogs and thought they were so cute. These are so easy to make and the colors can be changed for any holiday or celebration. I used Dorie's Perfect Party Cake for the cupcake portion. You can choose any white cake recipe for the base of the cupcake or even use a box mix if you choose to. Enjoy!!



Fourth of July Cupcakes
Printer friendly recipe
Source: Baking: From My Home to Yours

For the cupcake:

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

Directions:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter 2 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the buttermilk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the buttermilk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divide the batter between the three bowls. Add red food coloring to one bowl and blue to another. Leave one bowl of batter white.



Layer the colors into the cupcake tins. I used 1 tablespoon of each color to fill the pans. Cook for 18-20 minutes – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean.

Transfer the cupcakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes. Remove from pans and cool to room temperature.


Easy Vanilla Buttercream:
Source: Annie's Eats as seen on The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Ingredients:

20 tbsp. (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds. Scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds. Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.