Patriotic Swirled Cupcakes

I absolutely love these cupcakes!

I can’t wait to make them again and again in different colors and flavors. It is really simple to make these pretty little swirly cupcakes – no fancy pastry skills needed. And aren’t they just perfect for the 4th of July with the bright red, white and blue frosting?

You can make these in any color combo you like and it really is just a few extra steps to get this swirly wow factor for your cupcakes.

Here is what you will need:

Disposable Bags / Wilton Decorating Tips / Icing Color in Royal Blue and Red/ Wilton Star Sprinkles

First you will want to get your cupcakes ready. I used a box yellow cake mix to make mine- set aside to cool. Next whip up your frosting. I used this delicious buttercream frosting recipe. You want the frosting slightly firm so it pipes nicely- as you are adding the powdered sugar keep that in mind- I added just a tiny bit more sugar than I normally would so I didn’t have a creamy frosting but rather a stiffer frosting.

Next divide the frosting into three bowls- one is going to be red, one will be blue and one will be white. I used Wilton food coloring for mine and you add just a dab of food coloring, mix well, and add more for darker color. I did this 4 times to get the right shade of blue and red- better to keep adding color than make it too dark and try to correct the mistake.

Next stretch a piece of saran wrap over a cutting board. Use a spoon to create a thick stripe of frosting color #1 (I did red, white and blue in that order.) Add an equal stripe of the second color right next to it. Finally a third stripe.

Try to get the stripes to start at the same place– see the dotted line above? I tried to start the colors at the same spot and they are touching and as equal in quantity as possible.

Next gently roll the frosting like a sushi roll by gently grabbing one side of the saran wrap and pulling it to the other side to create a log. Do this firmly but not so firmly that you squish all the colors together. The colors will touch but unless your frosting is too creamy they won’t muddle together.

On the ends you have a little extra saran wrap and twist the ends tightly. At this point you can frost or if the frosting is a bit soft (as mine was) just pop into the fridge to let it firm up just a bit.

Next pop your roll into a disposable pastry bag fitted with a tip of your choice- the saran wrap is still on.

Pull that twisted end of the saran wrap through the tip and trim off as close to the tip as possible. Do a test swirl on a piece of parchment to be sure all your colors are coming out evenly.

Swirl away! This method worked beautifully for me. All three colors came out evenly and I just piped away without any trouble. Once the frosting was gone, I cut the tip out and tossed the pastry bag and saran wrap away.