4th of July Desserts: Red, White and Blue Cupcakes

Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup cake flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners or line 48 mini muffin tins.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt. Set the bowl aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter until it is smooth by using an electric or hand held mixer. Add the sugar to the bowl and beat the mixture on medium speed until it is light and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes). Add the eggs to the mixture. Add them one at a time making sure that you beat the mixture well (approximately 20 – 30 seconds) after each egg addition. (It is important to thoroughly scrape the sides and bottoms of the bowl with a spatula at the end of each step.)
4. Combine the milk cream and vanilla in a small bowl. With your mixer set to the low speed, alternately add 1/3 of the dry ingredients from the medium bowl to the mixture in the large bowl. Then, add 1/3 of the wet ingredients from the small bowl to the mixture in the large bowl. Keep doing that until the entire contents of the medium and small bowls are incorporated into the large bowl. Be careful not to overbeat the batter. (This mixing portion of the recipe should not take more than 2 minutes total to complete.)
5. Fill each cupcake liner until it is half full. Bake the mini cupcakes for 12 -14 minutes. The regular cupcakes will take18 – 22 minutes to bake. (For more even baking results, you can rotate the tins at the baking halfway point.)

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3/4 tsp vanilla

Cooking Directions

1. Using the paddle attachment of your electric mixer, cream the butter in a large bowl until it is smooth (approximately 2 minutes).
2. With the mixer on a low speed setting, slowly add 3 cups of sugar until it is fully mixed into the butter. Then add the milk and vanilla. Increase the mixer speed to medium high and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy (3 – 4 minutes).

Recipe Notes:

-If the frosting becomes too soft, you can gradually add an additional cup of sugar to reach your desired consistency.

-Frost each cupcake with the buttercream and decorate as desired with red (1/2 pint raspberries or strawberries) and/or blue (1/2 pint of blueberries) fruit.

-You can also create a 4th of July cupcake station.  Simply put out the white frosted cupcakes along with an assortment of red, white and blue topping options (including the healthy fruit).  It will be fun to see what combinations your kids and guests will create!