Patriotic Cupcakes

I saw these fun red, white, and blue layered cupcakes somewhere a while back and thought they were cute and wanted to make them sometime. Then recently on Real Mom Kitchen she made some and so I decided to give it a try and celebrate July with them. I made them with a cake mix to make it quick and just separated the batter into thirds and dyed it with food coloring. When you fill your cupcake liners be careful not to fill them more than 3/4ths the way. I had a problem with that. I made homemade frosting because I don't like the store bought frosting and I've explained how I make mine below but sorry there's no measurements this time. I never measure when I make it. I'll post my measurements for frosting in the future because it's good stuff. People always ask me how I make it and not to make all you butter lovers cringe but I think margarine gives frosting better flavor so that's what I use. A little almond extract also makes great frosting. So have some fun with these cupcakes, your guests will be impressed.

Recipe:

1 white cake mix & ingredients on box

red food coloring

blue food coloring

cupcake liners

frosting

sprinkles

Make the cake batter according to box directions. Put about 1 1/3 c batter in separate bowl and dye it red. Take another 1 1/3 c cake batter and dye it blue in a separate bowl. Leave the remaining batter white. Fill cupcake liners 3/4ths the way full layering red, white, and blue batter about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of each color. Bake according to cupcake directions on box. Cool and then frost with blue or white frosting. Put red, white, and blue sprinkles on the top.

Frosting:

1/2 c margarine, softened

powdered sugar

around 1 tsp vanilla

a couple drops of almond extract

food coloring

milk

If you're piping on the frosting you will want to double the recipe using 1c margarine since it takes more. With a mixer cream together the margarine with powdered sugar. Add a little milk and mix until it's the consistency you like. Add in the extracts and food coloring. It usually takes around 4-5 cups powdered sugar per 1/2c margarine. Just play with it adding more or less until it is the right texture. If your piping your frosting you want it to be stiffer so don't add much milk.