[ingredients]
Red White & Blue cupcakes
2 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 egg whites
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
2/3 cup salted butter, softened
Three bowls
Red and blue liquid food coloring
Three piping bags
Twist ties
Candy cup baking paper

Frosting
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
4 teaspoons milk
food coloring
Red, white and blue sugar crystals
Small plastic spoons

[instructions]
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift flour, sugar and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and then mix together on low.
In another bowl, stir egg whites, milk and vanilla together.
Add butter to the flour mixture and mix together. As it starts to combine, slowly pour the milk mixture in and mix until completely combined.
Divide batter evenly into three bowls. Add about 40 drops of red food color to one bowl and stir together until completely blended. Repeat with the blue food color and a second bowl, leaving the last bowl white.
Stand decorator bags in tall glasses for support and spoon batter into bags. Tie off the ends of the bags with twist ties. (Note: Three bags will hold about half of the batter, so you’ll need to repeat for the full amount.)
Lay the bags side by side and tape around the bottoms of the three bags to make it easier to hold them together in a row.
Cut the end of the bags off and slowly pipe batter into paper candy cups using a back and forth motion. Use your fingers to apply more pressure to the center bag if necessary.
Fill cups a little more than halfway. Bake for about 16 minutes or until done.
Remove and cool. Makes about 16 cupcakes.

For Frosting
Beat butter and vanilla together.
Add sugar slowly and beat until combined.
Scrape down the sides and add milk. Mix until smooth and creamy. You can also add a couple of drops cherry oil for extra snow cone flavor
Divide the frosting into three bowls and tint two of the bowls with a few drops of red and blue food color so when you cover in sugar crystals, there isn’t any white frosting showing through.
Makes enough to frost about 8 cupcakes with high domes of frosting. Double for this cupcake recipe unless you don’t plan on frosting your cupcakes this high.

To Decorate

Pipe white frosting down the center of the cupcake, lining up somewhat with the white cake section. Then use a knife to pull the frosting down towards the edge of the cup. Make sure to leave the white rim of the cupcake paper showing completely. You can wipe off excess frosting if necessary.
Sprinkle white sugar crystals on the frosting, letting the excess fall into a bowl underneath. You can then gently press the cupcake down into the fallen crystals to fill any uncoated areas.
For the red side, just use a knife to apply the frosting. Pull downward with the edge of the knife so the frosting meets at the base of the cup. Again, make sure to keep the rim of the cup free of frosting.
Sprinkle with red sugar crystals over a separate bowl, and press red section into the bowl of crystals to fill any gaps. Repeat with the blue frosting and blue sugar crystals.
When the cupcakes are coated with sprinkles you can easily, reshape the dome if necessary by gently pressing down any areas that look uneven.
Finally, sprinkle more white sugar crystals over the entire cupcake to give it an even icier look and insert a small spoon right in the top.