Fireworks Confetti Cupcakes

By carvalhohm

Ingredients

• Cupcakes:
• 1 package (18.25 ounces) sour cream white cake mix with pudding
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 container (2.5 ounces, 1/2 cup) mixed red, white, and blue sprinkles
• Butter Cream Frosting (recipe follows)
• Garnish:
• Red edible glitter
• White Edible glitter
• Blue edible glitter
• Miniature paper American flags

Details

Servings 22

Preparation

Step 1

Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set pans aside.

Place cake mix, flour, milk, oil, eggs,and vanilla extract i large mixing bowl. Blend with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Stop machine and scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down sides again if needed. Pour in sprinkles and blend on medium for 10 seconds more. Spoon or scoop 1/4 batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it two thirds full. (you will get between 22 and 24 cupcakes; remove empty liners, if any.) Place pans in oven.

Bake cupcakes until lightly golden and spring back when lightly pressed with finger, 16 to 20 minutes. Remove pans from oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Run dinner knife around edges of cupcake liners, lift cupcakes up from bottoms of cups using end of knife, and pick them out of cups carefully with fingertips. Place on wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

Meanwhile, prepare Buttercream Frosting.

Place about 3/4 cup frosting in pastry bag fitted with *8 tip or small plastic sandwich bag. If using plastic bag, cut off small piece of one of bottom corners. Pipe various-size spikes of frosting over tops of cupcakes. Some spikes should be short and squat, some a little taller and thinner--say 1 1/2 inches high. The idea is to make frosting look like fireworks display. Refill bag with more frosting as it empties. Garnish each cupcake with red, white, and blue edible glitter and place flag in center. Cupcakes are ready to serve.

_You can store cupcakes at room temperature for up to 3 days, but glitter garnish will begin to weep into frosting as cupcakes set, so they are really best if eaten day the are baked and decorated. Without frosting and garnish you can bake and freeze them, wrapped in foil or in cake saver for up to 6 months. Thaw cupcakes overnight in refrigerator before frosting and decorating._

*Buttercream Frosting:*
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter at room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place butter in large mixing bowl. Blend with electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds. Stop machine and add confectioner's sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and vanilla. Blend with mixer on low sped until sugar is incorporated, 1 minute, increase speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Add up to 1 tablespoon more milk if frosting seems too stiff.