The Freshman Cook: June 2012

We are smack in the middle of our “15 Days of Red, White and Blue” series, and I just couldn’t wait any longer to post some really festive 4th of July cupcakes! I mean, what’s a celebration without cupcakes? These cupcakes are not only perfect for the 4th of July, but they would fit right into an Olympic Celebration!!

4th of July Cupcakes

 Cupcakes

1 box Duncan Hines White Cake Mix

1 cup Sour Cream

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

3 large Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Americolor Holiday Red

Americolor Royal Blue

Antonia74 Frosting

6 oz warm Water

5 tablespoons Meringue Powder

1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

2.25 pounds Confectioners Sugar

Marshmallow Fondant

1 cup of Mini Marshmallows

1 tablespoons Water

1 1/2 – 1 3/4 cup Confectioners Sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Place the cake mix, sour cream, vegetable oil and eggs

in a mixing bowl. Mix for 1 minute on low, then turn the 

speed to medium and mix for 2 additional minutes.

This recipe is from the Cake Doctor, white cake mix.

Divide your batter into thirds. I used three bowls, and tried

to distribute it evenly. Take the first bowl, and drop a few drops 

of Holiday Red into the batter. Stir until it is combined and

you are happy with the color.

Take your second bowl, and mix in a few drops of the 

Royal Blue. Mix well.

Use a small scoop or a tablespoon to place 1 scoop

of each color in your cupcake papers.

 Bake until done, about 20-25 minutes.

Let cool.

Let’s make frosting!

I have used this frosting recipe a lot. I just love it!

It is called Antonia74 Royal Icing. I found it several years

ago on the cakecentral.com recipe page. It was developed by Antonia74.

Thank you Antonia!

In a mixing bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue 

powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy

and thickened, about 30 seconds.

Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 more seconds.

Pour in all the confectioners sugar at one time.

Using your paddle attachment, and on the lowest speed,

mix slowly for a full 10 minutes.

You will not need all the icing this recipe makes for the

cupcakes. Scoop some into a bowl for the red, 

some for the blue, and then the white. Using a Wilton

#2A tip decorate the cupcakes with the icing like above.

As you can see,

I tried 3 different ways to put the icing on the cupcakes.

The middle one was my favorite, so I made

 the rest of the cupcakes just like it.

Let’s make fondant!

Place the marshmallows in a 1 cup measuring cup 

and push down to pack them in.

Microwave for 20 seconds. Just long enough for

them to soften and puff up. Stir with a spoon

until well combined. It should look soupy at this point. 

Add the sugar and mix until it is not sticky. 

Now take it out of the bowl and knead

with your hands. Knead for about 5-7 minutes. 

You only need a small amount for these cupcake

toppers. Pull three equal size pieces from your

piece of fondant. Flatten each piece out. 

Use gloves if you have them. Curve the flattened

piece a little, and drop a few drops of holiday red onto the small

fondant piece. Kneed the fondant piece until it is the color you want.

Do it again with the royal blue color. 

Once you have colored the fondant, 

take a small piece off of each color.

Place then together like above.

Start to knead the three colors together.

You want to create a piece of fondant that shows all the

colors clearly. Over kneading will make the 

colors meld together too much.

Once you have the colors looking pretty, 

roll the fondant with a rolling pun.

Cut out the letters USA from your piece of fondant.

The letters at the top were cut first.

Each time you knead the colors together,

they get a little more distorted.

They still look great, just darker.

Place the letters on top of the cupcake.

Happy 4th of July!

Thanks for joining me today! We are starting the party early for the 4th! Here’s where we are linking up:

Cupcake Tuesday

Patriotic Project Parade Linky Party