These patriotic 4th of July cupcakes are so pretty and they’re SO EASY to decorate! This red, white and blue dessert will be sure to impress everyone at your Independence Day get together.
American Flag 4th of July Cupcakes
Oh say can you see how CUTE these 4th of July flag cupcakes are?! I absolutely love how they turned out. Best of all, they’re really simple to decorate!
Below you’ll find a step by step tutorial for how to decorate these American flag cupcakes. We used a vanilla cake mix and tubs of frosting from the store, but you can feel free to use your favorite cupcake recipe. The flag design looks surprisingly impressive, but it’s easy to make the design using a star icing tip.
No special decorating skills required! If you’re looking for a red, white, and blue dessert that will impress your friends and family, then look no further. These flag cupcakes are the perfect addition to any Independence Day gathering!
Check out our July 4th Cupcake video tutorial:
*Note: Scroll down for the step-by-step photo tutorial.
Looking for more cupcake decorating ideas? Here’s some of our favorites:
Here’s what you’ll need:
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The full printable instructions are at the end of this post, but here’s a list of products on Amazon that are similar to the supplies we used:
- Vanilla cupcakes
- Vanilla frosting
- Piping bags
- Gel food coloring
- Wilton #18 star tip
- Piping coupler
- White star sprinkles
How far in advance can I make my cupcakes?
You can bake your cupcakes up to two days in advance and wait to decorate them until the day before. Be sure to wrap the undecorated cupcakes tightly after they’ve cooled off or store them in an air tight container. If you want to freeze your cupcakes before frosting them, you can make them three to four weeks in advance!
You can decorate these cupcakes one day ahead. Just be sure to store them in an air tight container and take care to make sure the frosting around the edges isn’t touching the cupcake next to it.
Where can I buy cake decorating supplies?
Walmart has a cake decorating section where you can usually buy food coloring, piping bags, piping tips, and couplers. If you can’t find gel food coloring or the specific tip you’re looking for, the bulk store, Michaels, or another craft store are other good places to look.
If you’re looking to purchase online, Amazon sells most of the cake decorating supplies that you’ll need.
How can I get bright colors for my frosting?
The answer is gel food coloring! Gel food coloring is concentrated, which means you can use a lot less of it to get super bright colors.
A few drops of gel color gives you the same result as a teaspoon or so of liquid food coloring – without the strange aftertaste!
Where can I get star sprinkles?
We got our white star sprinkles at Michaels, but you may also be able to find them at Walmart, the bulk store, or any craft store that carries cake decorating supplies. You can also find star sprinkles on Amazon.
If you can’t find star sprinkles, you can use regular white sprinkles or white pearl sprinkles.
What if I want to make these from scratch?
We used cake mix and store bought frosting to save time, but you can definitely use your favorite recipes! For the cake, you can make whatever flavor you like, whether it be vanilla, chocolate, or red velvet.
The frosting can also be any type you want, as long as it’s light in color. I recommend this “magical” vanilla frosting, but why not try a cream cheese frosting?!
American Flag 4th of July Cupcakes
Materials:
- 24 cupcakes (baked and cooled)
- 3 tubs vanilla frosting
- gel food coloring (red and blue)
- white star sprinkles
Equipment:
- 3 piping bags (12 inch)
- 3 couplers (optional)
- Wilton #18 star piping tip
- 2 bowls
- 3 spoons
Instructions:
Step 1: Prepare Frosting
- Scoop one tub of vanilla frosting into a bowl. Add red gel food coloring using a toothpick or wooden stir stick. Start with a very small amount.
- Mix the red frosting with a spoon. Add more food coloring if needed (using a clean toothpick!), until you're happy with the color.
- Scoop another tub of frosting into a second bowl. Using the same technique as above, add blue gel food coloring and stir until you're happy with the color.
- Cut off the tip of the piping bag (if using disposable).
- Insert one piece of the coupler into the tip of the piping bag. Insert the icing tip into the other piece of the coupler, then screw it in place onto the piece on the piping bag.
- Fill your piping bag with the white frosting.If you have more than one star tip or are using couplers, you can repeat this process now with the red and blue frostings. If you are using a single tip with no coupler, wait until you are finished with the white frosting before filling the red and blue bags.
Step 2: Frost cupcakes
- Starting at the bottom of the cupcake, pipe one row of white stars.To pipe a perfect star, hold the piping bag vertically and squeeze from the top of the bag (farthest away from the tip). Apply pressure while holding the bag still, and then release the pressure as you pull the piping bag straight up off the cupcake. The more pressure you apply, the bigger the star.Pipe two other partial rows of white stars, leaving space between them for the red stars. Don't complete these rows: leave a space on the left for the blue portion of the flag.
- If using the same icing tip, remove it from the white bag and clean it before attaching it to the bag with red frosting.Using the same technique as the white stars, make one full row of red stars and two partial rows.
- Remove the icing tip from the red bag, clean it, and attach to the blue frosting bag. Pipe several short rows of blue stars in the remaining space.
- Add the white star sprinkles to the blue corner of the cupcake.
- Your 4th of July cupcakes are complete!
Helpful Tip:
Celebrate Independence Day with these super cute flag cupcakes. They’re the perfect red, white, and blue dessert for your 4th of July party!
Here’s even more cupcake decorating ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon |  Barnes and Noble |  Books- A- Million |  Indiebound |  Indigo |  Amazon Canada
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