Get ready to celebrate the red, white, and blue with this AMAZING patriotic cupcake cake!
Made with a boxed cake mix and cream cheese frosting, your guests will be amazed at how easy it is to put together and how beautiful it looks - perfect for any Fourth of July celebration!
Craving even more red, white, and blue deliciousness? Check out our other festive 4th of July Foods to complete your summer celebration!
Celebrate Independence Day with a patriotic showstopper! This easy dessert is in a fun design of the American Flag and is sure to wow your family, friends, and party guests.
Looking for more Pull Apart Cupcake Cakes? Try my Christmas Tree Cupcake Cake or my Reindeer Cupcake Cake.
Table of Contents
- Tips for Baking and Decorating a Pull-Apart Cupcake Cake
- Helpful Kitchen Tools
- Recipe Substitutions and Variations
- Step-by-Step Instructions
- Prepare the Frosting
- Frost the Flag Cupcakes
- LOVE this recipe? SAVE it for Later!
- Recipe FAQ
- Storage Tips
- More Recipes to Love
- Celebrate Summer with the Red, White & Delicious Recipes eBook!
- 📖 Recipe Card
- 💬 Comments
Tips for Baking and Decorating a Pull-Apart Cupcake Cake
- Two boxes of cake mix made 45 cupcakes; only 35 were used for the cake. Serve the extras on the side with fun patriotic picks to add to the display.
- You can prepare the cupcakes up to 3 days in advance—just don’t frost them! After baking, let the cupcakes cool completely, then store in an airtight container. On the day of your celebration, bring them to room temperature for about an hour before frosting and decorating.
- Gel food coloring darkens as it sits, so let your frosting rest for about 15 minutes before adding more color to achieve the perfect shade of red or blue.
- If your frosting is too thin to hold its shape when piped, add powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time until it firms up.
- Decorate the blue cupcakes with edible white stars for a festive finishing touch!
Helpful Kitchen Tools
Here's a quick overview of the ingredients for this recipe. Find the exact amounts and click the Instacart button to easily add them to your cart – all in the printable recipe card below!
Recipe Substitutions and Variations
- Instead of canned cream cheese frosting, you could use your favorite frosting flavors like vanilla buttercream or try my Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting.
- You could also use a homemade cupcake recipe like I did with my red velvet Patriotic Cupcakes.
- Gel Food Coloring - I recommend using gel food coloring instead of traditional food coloring. The colors are very vibrant when combined with the cream cheese frosting.
Step-by-Step Instructions
This section provides step-by-step photos and instructions to guide you through the recipe. For the complete printable version, scroll down to the recipe card below.
Step 1: Prepare the cupcakes according to the box directions.
Step 2: On a tray or cake board large enough to hold 35 cupcakes, place cupcakes 5 rows high and 7 rows across.
Prepare the Frosting
Step 3: Divide the cream cheese frosting into three parts—tint one red, one blue, and leave one white. Transfer each color to a pastry bag fitted with a 1M star tip.
Frost the Flag Cupcakes
Step 4: Leave the top 9 cupcakes unfrosted to start your design layout.
Step 5: Frost the second row by adding white frosting to the 4 rightmost cupcakes. Then, frost the entire fourth row white as well.
Step 6: Frost the 9 cupcakes in the top left corner blue to create the flag’s star section.
Step 7: Add red frosting to the 4 rightmost cupcakes in both the first and third rows, and frost the entire fifth row red to complete the stripes.
Quick Tip: Try adding edible white stars on top of the blue frosted cupcakes!
LOVE this recipe? SAVE it for Later!
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Recipe FAQ
To view the answers, simply click on the down arrow (⬇) next to each question. If you have any other questions not answered here, please leave a comment!
Add a pinch of salt to balance the sweetness, or whip the frosting using a whisk attachment to make it lighter and fluffier. For extra flavor, mix in a splash of vanilla or almond extract. You can also blend in 4 ounces of softened cream cheese to one container of frosting for a richer, homemade taste.
Storage Tips
Refrigerator: Store cupcakes frosted with cream cheese frosting in the refrigerator in an airtight container for about 3-5 days.
Freezer: If freezing with the frosting, flash freeze the cupcakes, then wrap in plastic wrap before placing in an airtight container. I like to freeze cupcakes without the frosting, then add the frosting once they've thawed.
Thawing tips: To defrost frozen cupcakes, remove any wrapping and let them sit at room temperature for 1–2 hours.
More Recipes to Love
- Check out my other recipe for American Flag Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizza
- Or you might enjoy this recipe for Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes or my Easy Patriotic Homemade Brownies.
- We love this easy cake mix cookie recipe for 4th of July Cake Mix Cookies.
Celebrate Summer with the Red, White & Delicious Recipes eBook!
This beautifully designed digital cookbook features 10 fun and festive dessert recipes perfect for the 4th of July, Memorial Day, or any red, white, and blue celebration.
📖 Recipe Card
Patriotic Cupcake Cake
Ingredients
Video
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place paper baking cups in each of the 12 regular-size muffin cups.
- Prepare one box of cake mix at a time according to the directions with the ingredients listed on the back of the box.
- Bake according to the box instructions.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
- Place the cupcakes on a tray or cake board large enough to form the shape of the American flag. You will need a total of 35 cupcakes. Place 7 rows of cupcakes across the width of the board and 5 rows high.
- Add 1 cup of frosting to a bowl and add blue gel food coloring until you reach your desired shade.
- Add about 2 cups of frosting to a bowl and add red gel food coloring until you reach your desired shade.
- Add about 1 ½ cups of white frosting to a pastry bag with a 1M piping tip attached. Do the same for the blue and red frostings.
- On rows 1-3, add blue frosting to the first 3 cupcakes on the far left. These 9 cupcakes in the left corner represent the stars.
- Frost the remaining cupcakes on rows 1, 3, and 5 red.
- Frost the remaining cupcakes on rows 2 and 4 white.
Nutrition
Notes
- Both boxes of cake mix gave me 45 cupcakes total. I only used 35 for the cupcake cake because of the size tray I used. I frosted the remaining cupcakes and served them on the side. You can add fun patriotic picks to them to help decorate around the cupcake cake if you want.
- Frosting colored with gel food coloring darkens the longer it sits, so allow it to rest about 15 minutes before adding more and more food coloring to get the right shade of red or blue.
- If your frosting seems a bit thin to hold its shaped when piped, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar at a time until it reaches the perfect consistency.
Beth says
LOVE that this recipe uses a boxed cake mix Lois! Thanks for sharing! Creatively, Beth
Olivia says
These cupcakes are so pretty and festive!
Maria says
What a fun and festive treat! These look perfect for a 4th of July celebration! I am excited to feature your post at the Senior Salon Pit Stop link party this week. Thank you for sharing!
Maria @ kraftyplanner.com
Dee | GrammysGrid.com says
Perfect for celebrating! I found your post at a party and wanted to let you know that I host parties too. Won’t you drop by and linkup with me? I have an Unlimited Party that starts on Wednesday, the current one is themed for All Things American and Patriotic.