MSC Club July Bonus: Red, White and Blue Cupcakes

This month's bonus assignment for the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club was to do 4th of July cupcakes, either just like the ones in the cookbook or inspired by them.  I decided to go the "inspired" route and create red, white and blue cupcakes.  The beauty of these cupcakes is that on the outside they look normal, but on the inside...red, white and blue surprise!


I know these look complicated, but they are actually pretty easy to make.  I made one recipe of Dorie's Perfect Party Cake (sorry Martha) and then divided it into three bowls.  I tinted one bowl red, one bowl blue and left the other one white.  You really need a white cake as a base, not yellow.  Then you spoon in some of the red batter, until the bottom is covered.  Then, put some white batter right on top of that and some blue batter after that.  It should form concentric circles, not layers.  Then, bake away and frost as you wish.  These baked for 20 minutes, but you should keep checking on them to make sure they don't burn.  I got 19 cupcakes out of a recipe for a 2 layer cake.  


I used cream cheese frosting and colored sugar to decorate these, but you could use berries, food coloring, flags or whatever you would like.  I think they look very cute and very patriotic.  Happy 4th of July!