Festive for the Fourth

Heres a quick and easy idea for the Fourth of July. Like super easy. And a fun little way to make your cupcakes look extra special without too much effort.

Its like having your cupcakes on parade for the day or for as long as they last before they get eaten up.

I was inspired by all the cute ideas Ive seen on Pinterest using cupcake wrappers. Its amazing how many ways you can use them for things other than baking in them.

You just need some red, white and blue baking cups in a couple of different sizes and patterns.

I had several on hand that worked out great.

Jumbo white baking cups
Red and white striped large candy cups
Stars and stripes regular baking cups
Solid red regular baking cups

But you can use any combination of sizes, color and pattern that you want to try out.

Check out bakeitpretty, cakeart, and confectioneryarts for tons more colors and designs.

Okay the easy part. But Im sure you already have that figured out.

All you do is spread open the wrappers and invert them so the colors are facing up when you lay them down. Super simple.

Then place the larger size on bottom and a smaller size on top. You can use a piece of double-sided tape to attach them together.

FYI the jumbo white baking cups I used are on the left and not the king-size baking cups shown on the right.I dont have the packaging any more but I wanted to show you them side-by-side for comparison. The king size would be too big.

So thats the scoop on the baking cups.

Now we need actual cupcakes.

Jimmies for July!!!

These are going in the cupcake batter.

You know I think this is the first time Ive added sprinkles to cake batter. How can that be? I mean itt totally makes cake happier.

I didnt measure how many I added. I know. Not very helpful. But however many you decide to add add more. Its all good.

I baked the cupcakes in the solid red baking cups and then layered two different sizes underneath. But you can also just use one baking cup underneath like on the right especially if its festive like this stars and stripes design.

They remind me of bunting and those tissue paper fan decoration thingys you see hanging for the fourth. Thats what I was going for anyway.

And theyd be a great way to put your cupcakes on display for a party.

For the cupcakes:

I used the vanilla cake recipe from this snow cones post a couple of weeks ago (minus the food coloring).

For the frosting:

Beat 1 package cheesecake instant pudding mix, 1 cup cold milk, and 1/2 cup powdered sugar for 2 minutes. Gently fold in 8 oz. COOL WHIP Whipped Topping (thawed).
When combined, place frosting in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up a bit for piping. Or simply spread frosting on top of cupcakes. Store cupcakes in refrigerator until ready to serve. Up to 2 days. Oh and dont forget to add sprinkles.

Yum. And yes, I could have used a few more of these jimmies inside.

Easy, right?

Well if you want to take the wrapper presentation a step further, try making them into ribbons.

Cute!

• Cut red card stock paper in 1.75 inch strips for the rich red border. Fold each strip in the middle to form a V.
• Print out this pdf artwork on white paper. Cut out the art and use double-sided tape to attach to the red card stock for a layered ribbon look.
• Then cut out triangle shapes at the end of each strip to finish off the look.
• Tape to the bottom of the layered cupcake wrappers.
• Voila ribbons!

Hope you have a Happy 4th! In a couple of weeks that is.

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