Want to have some fun with color? The Fourth of July is the perfect occasion!

These cupcakes pull double duty: they're delicious and they pack a colorful surprise. When your kids bite into this Tri-Color Patriotic Cupcake and see the red, white, and blue splendor, they wil be eager for more!

Ingredients

• 1 box white cake mix
• ingredients called for on the cake-mix box
• 24 cupcake liners

• red gel coloring
• blue gel coloring

Instructions

1.
Prepare the cake batter according to the package directions.
2.
Divide the batter evenly into three bowls.
3.
Using the gel paste, color one bowl of batter blue. You will find you only need a small speck of the coloring to get a bright, vibrant color that pops. Add more or less, depending upon the intensity you prefer (but color add very slowly and carefully; a litte goes a long way).
4.
Color the second bowl with the red coloring.
5.
Leave the last bowl as is (for the white layer).
6.
Place your cupcake liners in your muffin tin.
7.
Divide the red batter into the cupcake liners. Start by putting a teaspoon of red batter at the bottom of each liner, and then go back and add more if you have batter leftover.
8.
Repeat step #7 with your white batter.
9.
Repeat step #7 with your blue batter.
10.
Bake cupcakes according to package or recipe directions.
11.
After cupcakes have baked and cool, frost them with your butter cream frosting.

Tips

Regular food coloring just doesn't give you the bright, vivid colors that gel or paste coloring will. Gel coloring is a little more expensive (found in the cake section of your local crafts store, like Michael's or A.C. Moore), but a little bit goes a long way, and it takes your baked goods to a completely different level. The color pops—I promise you. The small box of color typically costs approximately $8, and be sure to bring along those 40%-off-any-item coupons that you can find in your Sunday paper.

Beyond the 4th of July, colored cupcakes can lend themselves to all sorts of occasions! Bring these to baby showers, school spirit events, graduations and more. Have a Caribbean party and celebrate with Marley-inspired or tie-dye colored cupcakes. Celebrate your daughter's birthday with cupcakes that are her favorite colors. The sky is the limit!