Patriotic Cupcake Cake

Get ready to celebrate the red, white, and blue with this AMAZING patriotic cupcake cake! Using the American Flag as my inspiration, this is a fun, creative and EASY dessert that will definitely make all your summer entertaining fun.

Made with a boxed cake mix, 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!

Check out all the other 4th of July Foods for even more delicious recipes this summer.

Celebrate Independence Day with a patriotic showstopper! This pull apart cupcake cake is in a fun design of the American Flag and is sure to wow your family, friends, and party guests.

This recipe was inspired by my Reindeer Cupcake Cake that's just as fun and easy to make for the Christmas holiday season.

Looking for more Easy Desserts and Patriotic Recipes? Try my Fourth of July Cake, Red Velvet 4th of July Cake, and even my Sugar Cookie Flag. Yum!

Table of Contents

• 💡What is a pull apart cupcake cake?
• 🛒Helpful Kitchen Tools
• 📋Ingredients
• 💡 Substitutions and Variations
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• 1️⃣ Make the Cupcakes
• 2️⃣ Prepare the Frosting
• 3️⃣ Frost the Flag Cupcakes
• ⏲Prep Ahead Tips
• 🍶Storage Tips
• ❄️Freezing Tips
• ➡️Top Recipe Tip
• 💡Recipe FAQ
• 🌟Try these recipes next...
• 📇Recipe Card
• 💬 Comments

💡What is a pull apart cupcake cake?

To create a pull-apart cupcake cake, bake the cupcakes according to the directions on the back of the cake mix box using standard cupcake liners.

Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, arrange them in the design on a cake board or large platter. This way, the cupcakes will look like a cohesive, single cake when placed next to each other.

The cupcakes are often decorated with frosting, sprinkles, or fondant to create a cohesive design, and can be easily pulled apart or separated for serving.

This type of cake is becoming increasingly popular as it is easy to make, eye-catching, and great for sharing at events such as birthdays, weddings, and other celebrations.

🛒Helpful Kitchen Tools

Large Cake Display BoardDisposable Icing Piping Bags - 12 Inch Pastry Bag Frosting Bags for Cake Cookies Baking Decorating - Plastic Tipless Piping BagsHobbyland Edible Sprinkles1M Open Star Piping Tip

 

 Good Morning Sunshine Breakfast eBookClick HERE for More Information

 

📋Ingredients

This is an overview of the ingredients and instructions. Be sure to see the recipe card below for exact quantities, detailed instructions and special notes.

💡 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

1️⃣ Make the Cupcakes

• Prepare the cupcakes according to the box directions.
• On a tray or cake board large enough to hold 35 cupcakes, place cupcakes 5 rows high and 7 rows across.

2️⃣ Prepare the Frosting

• Add about 1 cup of the cream cheese frosting to a bowl and add blue gel food coloring until it reaches the desired shade of blue.
• Do the same with another cup to make red frosting.
• Prepare pastry bags with a 1M open star tip attached with your 3 colors of frosting.

3️⃣ Frost the Flag Cupcakes

• Leave the top 9 cupcakes in the left corner for the blue. You can go ahead and frost these first, but I started with the white.
• Starting on the second row, frost 4 cupcakes from the right with white frosting.
• Frost the entire fourth row with white frosting.
• Add blue frosting to 3 cupcakes on the far left of rows 1 - 3. These 9 cupcakes in the left corner represent the field of blue and stars.
• On the first and third rows, frost the 4 cupcakes on the far right red.
• Frost the entire fifth row with red frosting.

📌Quick Tip: Make sure your cupcakes are completely cooled before frosting them so the frosting doesn't melt.

📌Quick Decorating Tip: You could purchase edible white stars to decorate the tops of the blue cupcakes!

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⏲Prep Ahead Tips

• You can prepare the cupcakes up to 3 days before you need to serve this cupcake cake; only don't frost them!
• After baking the cupcakes, allow them to cool completely. Then, store them in an airtight container.
• The day of your celebration, remove the cupcakes from the refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature for about an hour before frosting and decorating.

🍶Storage Tips

• Store cupcakes frosted with cream cheese frosting in the refrigerator in an air tight container for about 3-5 days.

❄️Freezing Tips

• If freezing with the frosting, flash freeze the cupcakes, then wrap in plastic wrap before placing in an airtight container. Remove the plastic wrap before defrosting in the refrigerator.
• I find it easier to freeze cupcakes without the frosting, then add the frosting once they've thawed.

➡️Top Recipe Tip

• Both boxes of cake mix yielded 45 cupcakes total. I only used 35 for the cupcake cake, so I served the remaining ones on the side. Add fun patriotic picks to them to help decorate around the cupcake cake!
• 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.

🌟Try these recipes next...

• Check out my other recipe for American Flag Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizza
• Or you might enjoy this recipe for Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes.
• We love this easy cake mix cookie recipe for 4th of July Cake Mix Cookies.

📇Recipe Card