It's a Grand Old Cupcake

We always celebrate my Grandma's birthday over 4th of July because her birthday is today, July 5th!  We also started celebrating her birthday here in Nags Head, and we started the tradition of making cupcakes a couple years ago.  This year I spotted red, white and blue cupcakes in a back issue of Coastal Living while my Mom was getting her haircut and decided to try it.  It was so easy and they turned out gorgeous!
We picked up white cake mix and fluffy white icing, along with white cupcake liners and red and blue sprinkles.  The food coloring is the most important ingredient, however, the white cupcake liners are also crucial, as you'll see later.  Mom also picked up some sparkler cupcake toppers from Martha Stewart on sale at Macy's a couple years ago.

Prepare the batter as usual and then split into three bowls equally.  Use food coloring to get the shades of blue and red that you like.

Layer the batter into the cupcake liners starting with blue, then white, then red.  This takes a little patience but it's worth it!  Below are the various stages of layering.

Bake as normal and they come out looking so patriotic!

I frosted them with the white fluffy icing, and topped them with red and blue sprinkles.

Lastly, I stuck in the Martha Stewart sparklers!

Adorable, right?

Now for the crucial white cupcake liner secret.  Of course, it's important because you can see the red, white and blue through the liner for serving.  But also, when you go to eat the cupcake, it leaves the red, white and blue design in the liner!

Happy Birthday America - and Happy Birthday Grandma!