These 4th of July cupcakes are tender, moist, and so easy to make. These semi-homemade use boxed cake mix with sour cream for added moistness, sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting, and red and blue berries to create an easy, patriotic dessert perfect for your 4th party.
We're firm believers that cupcakes make everything better, especially fruity ones. We love serving fruity desserts like our raspberry lemonade cupcakes for parties during the summer months, and our patriotic cupcakes are the perfect red, white, and blue treat for any Independence Day party.
These were inspired by our fruit pizza cookies, a light and fruity dessert perfect for any occasion. They are an ideal treat for hot summer days, refreshing and deliciously satisfying your sweet tooth.
Why You’ll Love Patriotic Cupcakes
- Limited Ingredients: This recipe uses just a handful of simple ingredients, making it easy to prepare without needing a long grocery list. Perfect for an easy holiday dessert!
- Easy to Make: Made with a boxed cake mix with added sour cream, and the cream cheese frosting is just as easy.
- Colorful: The white cupcakes and frosting combined with red and blue berries make a colorful, patriotic dessert.
- Versatile: It's easy to tweak this recipe with different cake mixes, frosting, and fruits (or no fruit at all) to make all kinds of variations.
Ingredients
- White Cake Mix: Boxed cake mix makes this recipe much faster than making homemade cake batter.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream makes super moist and tender cupcakes.
- Butter and Cream Cheese: Butter and cream cheese make the rich, creamy base for your cream cheese frosting.
- Powdered Sugar: Powdered sugar gives the frosting its signature sweetness.
- Fruit: Adds a light, sweet flavor perfect for summer. Top with patriotic-colored fruit like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, sliced strawberries, or any of your favorite fruits. If you don't want to add fruit. You can easily swap it out for red, white and blue M&M's.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for a full list of ingredients and their exact quantities.
Flavor Variations
- Cake Mix: Use your favorite cake mix flavor to change it up. You can also make them from scratch for a more homemade dessert. We tried to keep it easy by using a cake mix.
- Frosting: For extra-sweet cupcakes, use buttercream frosting. You can even divide the frosting into thirds and add food coloring to make the red and blue. Then, add the different colors in layers.
- Fruit: Use your favorite fruit to make fruity cupcakes for any occasion, or leave the fruit off. It's up to you.
- Sheet Cake: Bake and frost the cake in a sheet pan for a patriotic sheet cake.
- Sprinkles: Add colorful red, white, and blue sprinkles. We have even linked some star sprinkles in the recipe card.
How To Make 4th of July Cupcakes
1: Mix the cake ingredients until just combined. Then, divide the batter evenly between two 12-count cupcake tins with liners.
2: Bake until slightly golden and cool completely.
3: Cream the frosting ingredients together until light and fluffy.
4: Frost each cupcake using a piping bag with a round tip. Top with a few blueberries and raspberries and an American flag.
Hint
Be sure your butter and cream cheese are fully softened for the lightest, fluffiest frosting possible.
Storage
You can refrigerate them for up to 4 days in an air-tight container. For longer storage, wrap the cupcakes individually WITHOUT fruit in plastic wrap and freeze them for up to a month in an air-tight, freezer-safe container. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
What To Serve with Patriotic Cupcakes
Pair these cupcakes with all your favorite backyard party dishes for a 4th of July party full of flavor. Taco Joes and homemade hamburger helper lasagna are both tasty main courses to serve to a crowd before treating them to this yummy dessert.
If you're planning a larger dessert table for your party, pair these cupcakes with other patriotically-colored desserts like our Cool Whip cookies, strawberry Jello poke cake, or strawberry and blueberry pound cake trifle.
Tips
- Lightly Mix: Mix your cupcake batter until just combined. Do not overmix, or your cupcakes could be tough.
- Baked To Perfection: Your cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool Them Off: Be sure your cupcakes are completely cooled before adding the frosting, or it will slide right off the tops.
- Liners: We like foil liners because paper liners can sometimes stick to the cupcakes. Also, you can get ones that are shiny or with bright colors.
- Don't Overfill: Resist the urge to overfill your liners. Filling them just past halfway, or at most ⅔ full, will be the perfect amount to not overfill the liners.
- Decorations: Mini toothpick flags and patriotic themed decor can be found at party supply stores or online. They come in a variety of colors and patterns, and you can even personalize them with messages or tiny tie-dye cutouts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Adding more moisture helps make cupcakes more moist. Sour cream is an excellent addition to cupcake batter because the acidity also helps make the cupcakes more tender in addition to making them more moist.
The usual culprit for tough cupcakes in overmixing. When the batter is overmixed, it creates excess gluten. That gluten tightens as they bake, creating tough cupcakes.
More Dessert Recipes
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4th of July Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 white cake mix
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Toppings
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 cup desired fruit
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Line cupcake pans with 24 liners.
- Using a hand mixer, cream together white cake mix, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract.
- Divide the batter evenly between each liner.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Using a hand mixer, cream together white cake mix, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract.
- Frost each cupcake using a piping bag with a round tip.
- Top each cupcake with a couple of pieces of fruit and an American flag.
Nutrition
*All nutrition information provided is automatically calculated and is an estimate and will vary based on ingredients, brands, and changes in cooking methods listed in the recipe. If you need exact numbers on your ingredients, I would recommend calculating them with your prefered nutrition calculator.
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