Easy 4th of July Cupcakes
4th of July cupcakes are the perfect sweet treat for your holiday celebration! These red, white and blue topped patriotic cupcakes will add a fun and festive touch to BBQs, backyard parties, and picnics.

These easy 4th of July cupcakes are sure to add a fun and festive touch to your upcoming celebration! Show your red white and blue pride by whipping up this easy to make vanilla cupcake recipe that features a gorgeous multicolored swirl frosting.
Yep, these patriotic cupcakes are perfect for backyard parties, picnics, BBQs, and a day at the beach.
And just like my Patriotic Pretzels you can make them advance, so you won’t miss out on any of the festivities. Plus the kids will love to help with the baking and decorating, which is truly something worth celebrating.

Why You’ll Love Them
- Easy to Make. This recipe comes together quickly and uses simple pantry ingredients. Plus the kids can help with mixing, baking, and decorating!
- Portable. Cupcakes are ideal single-serving desserts that you can pack and take to your celebration.
- Festive. The beautiful red, white and blue swirled frosting instantly transforms basic vanilla cupcakes into 4th of July cupcakes or Memorial Day cupcakes.
Tools Needed
- Muffin Pan.
- Hand mixer.
- Mixing bowls.
- Paper cupcake liners.
- Cooling rack.
So, are you ready to learn how to make these easy fun cupcakes? Gather up your ingredients and I’ll show you…..
Get the complete ingredients list and instructions from the recipe card below.
How To Make 4th of July Cupcakes
To Make The Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
- Place paper cupcake liners inside your muffin pan.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and beat to combine.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Using a scoop, fill the paper liners halfway with batter.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until risen, golden and firm to the touch.
- Remove from the oven and keep the cupcakes in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

To Make The Frosting:
- Combine half of the vanilla frosting with 2-3 drops of blue food coloring. Stir and continue to 1-2 drops of coloring at a time until you achieve the desired shade of blue.
- Place a large piece of plastic wrap on your counter and then add 3 rows of frosting; one row of red, and one row of blue, and then a larger row of the white. Fold plastic wrap over the frosting and roll into a tube.
- Add star tip to a pastry bag, and then slide the tri-colored frosting into the bag.
- Squeeze until you see the 3 colors coming out of the bag, then pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
- Decorate with red, white, and blue sprinkles, or as desired.

Recipe Tips
- Make sure to bring the butter and eggs to room temperature.
- Don’t overmix the batter; you want to stop once it is light and fluffy.
- Use a small ice cream scoop to fill the paper liners evenly.
- A cooling rack will allow your cupcakes to cool evenly and at the same rate.
- Wear plastic gloves to avoid staining hands with blue food coloring.

Decorating Ideas
- red, white, and blue edible sprinkles (as shown).
- candy stars.
- toothpick flags.
- blueberries, strawberries, raspberries.
- red licorice ‘firecrackers’.
Serving Suggestions
Patriotic cupcakes are the perfect dessert to serve alongside these cookout classics:

More Patriotic and Other Desserts Recipes
Thank you for reading my 4th of July Cupcakes recipe post. And please come visit again as I continue to slice, dice, and dream up affordable Air Fryer recipes, Instant Pot Recipes, Southern Recipes, and more. Thanks for supporting Recipes from a Pantry, food blog.
Get The Patriotic Cupcakes Recipe:
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Easy 4th of July Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 8 tablespoons (110 grams) butter softened
- 1 cup (110 grams) confectioner's sugar
- 1 cup (110 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the multicolored frosting:
- 64 ounces (4x16oz tubs) vanilla frosting 2 tubs for white and 2 tubs for blue
- 32 ounces (2x16oz tubs) red frosting
- 1 small bottle Wilton Sky Blue Icing Color
- red, white and blue sprinkles for decorating
Instructions
To Make The Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C and add lines to your cupcake pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and beat to combine.
- In a separate mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Using a scoop, fill the paper liners halfway with batter.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until risen, golden and firm to the touch.
- Remove from the oven, transfer to a cooling wire rack to cool,
- Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.
To Make The Multicolored Frosting:
- In a large bowl, mix half of the vanilla frosting with 2-3 drops of blue icing color. If you prefer a darker shade of blue, add more coloring, 2 drops at a time, until you achieve the desired shade.
- Place a large piece of plastic wrap on your counter and then add 3 rows of frosting; one row of red, and one row of blue, and then a larger row of the white. Fold plastic wrap over the frosting and roll into a tube.
- Add star tip to a pastry bag, and then slide the tri-colored frosting into the bag.
- Squeeze until you see the 3 colors coming out of the bag, then pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
- Decorate with red, white and blue sprinkles, or as desired.
Notes
- Make sure to bring the butter and eggs to room temperature.
- Don’t overmix the batter; you want to stop once it is light and fluffy.
- Use a small ice cream scoop to fill the paper liners evenly.
- A cooling rack will allow your cupcakes to cool evenly and at the same rate.
I love the cupcakes! What a great way to ring in the 4th of July.
These cupcakes look so delicious and perfect for the 4th of July celebrations. Thanks for sharing..
I made these for Memorial Day and everyone loved them! They were super easy to make and were so delicious!
Such amazing colours, they look so pretty. Perfect for celebrating and absolutely delicious. A great idea to make for 4th July.
These are so cute for a 4th of July BBQ! Can’t wait to serve these 🙂