My daughter loves whimsy – as much in her art as in her baking. She’s 5, so it’s more mess making than actual baking. Recently we decided to make Froggy cupcakes from the “Cupcakes, Cookies & Pie, Oh, My!” book. It took a long time and our result was fun and still delicious:
So somehow the idea of colored frosting and the upcoming 4th of July party gave me an idea to make these 4th of July cupcakes. I always have a great supply of berries – perfect in my oatmeal and any time for a snack, so it was easy creating the bottom “red” (strawberry) cupcake and the top “blue” (blueberry) cupcake. Of course, it is the food coloring in the frosting that gives it the vibrant color, since the berries cook to a milder hue. I originally made vanilla pudding for the in-between layer of white, but it turned out yellow. To stay true to red/white/blue, I simply used the vanilla whipped frosting and added shredded coconut to it for a little crunch. The result is delicious! The best thing is that I was able to make these cupcakes with my little helper from start to finish. Enjoy!
Makes 6 festive 4th of July Cupcakes!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose white flour
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 medium eggs, room temperature
- 5 large strawberries
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 cans white frosting, whipped
- red and blue food coloring
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- muffin cup liners or baking spray
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Line up a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin liners (or use baking spray).
2. In a separate bowl, mix & blend well the wet ingredients – 1 cup milk, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Set aside.
3. 
Cut the strawberries, place in the blender and pulse a few times – our mixture is a little more liquid than I would like. It’s OK to have some chunks of strawberries. Do the same with blueberries – pulse a few times in the blender. As you can see, we are using this old school blender, but I still love it. Don’t forget to add lemon zest to blueberries, it really brings out the flavor of the berries!
4. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt. It’s really important that your baking powder is fresh – check the expiration date on it. Fresh baking powder helps your cupcakes rise, while out—of-date baking powder may keep them flat.
5. Now you are ready to pour the liquid ingredients into the dry. There is a reason why I am mixing the dry ingredients last (step 4). This is because of that picky baking powder. It should be used in baking quickly once mixed, so I’m using it as late as possible.
6. Once you add your liquid ingredients into the dry, it’s crucial not to over-stir, so only stir for 5-7 seconds. Don’t worry about any clumps.
7. Split the batter in half. Add the strawberry mixture to one half and stir everything for another 5 seconds. Then, add the blueberry mixture to the other half and stir the blueberry half for another 5 seconds too.
8. We’re ready to spoon them into the muffin liners! Spoon the strawberry batter into 6 and blueberry batter into the other 6.
9. Lower the oven temperature to 400F and bake for 20 minutes (check at 17 minutes for done-ness). Cranking the temperature before you bake helps add a little glow and beautiful surface.
10. Let the muffins cool before you frost them. I like placing them in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.
11. Split your frosting into 3 cups and add blue food coloring to 1, red food coloring to another, add 1/4 cup of coconut to the 3rd.
12. Your 4th of July cupcakes are ready to assemble and frost! Take the strawberry cupcake out of the liner and slice the top off, so it’s flat on the top. Frost with your reddish frosting all around. Place a generous amount of white coconut frosting on the top. I also sprinkled a little on the top and added red decorating sugar for a more vibrant kind of color.
Slice the blueberry cupcake in half horizontally and place the top portion of the cupcake on top of the strawberry cupcake. Frost all around with blue frosting. It looks a little like a snowman, doesn’t it?
Place a few fresh strawberries and blueberries on the top and your delicious 4th of July cupcakes are ready to eat!
13. Refrigerate them before guests arrive! Of course, our cupcakes disappeared quickly.
