Here in the USA, the 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I’m a total summer girl at heart, so I always love a good outdoor hangout regardless, but my family used to live next to the main park of our township so we could actually see all the firework festivities from our front yard.
I love seeing all the fun red, white and blue foods and treats that people come up with for their celebrations, but when I saw that you can make cupcakes look like snow cones, I knew I had found the winner for this year’s celebration.
It’s not much more work than making regular cupcakes, so with just a few decorative tweaks, you can have the cutest treats on the block!
Supplies:
-box cake mix
–red, white, and blue sugar crystals
-white sugar
-white icing
–food coloring
–paper cupcake liners
-small spoons or straws to decorate with
Mix your box cake with the ingredients listed on the package. Fill each paper liner with cupcake batter until it’s a little over 1/2 full (make sure you buy paper liners that are for baking though, some are lined with a wax lining that can’t go in the oven).
Place the liners on a baking sheet and bake until a toothpick inserted in the cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before icing.
Also, if you can’t get a hold of paper baking cups you like, you can also bake them in regular cupcake liners and then place them into short styrofoam cups to hide the liners.
Take your white icing and divide it into the number of icing colors you want. Use the food coloring to create your desired hues.
For the solid colored snow cones, ice the cupcakes until it just touches the paper rim of the cup.
Mix together some plain white sugar, white crystals, and the colored crystals that match your icing color. Place your iced cupcake on a large plate and pour your crystal mix over the top and sides of the cupcake until it’s covered.
Use your fingers and palm to gently push the crystals into the icing so more of them will stick, and gently shake off any excess.
For a multi-colored snow cone, ice a mohawk of icing down the middle of your cupcake, shake that color of crystal on top, and press the crystals down gently.
Ice the side of your cupcake the second color, and repeat the process.
I found it easiest to hold the iced cupcake over the plate at an angle and then pour the second color of crystals onto the icing getting as close as I could to the cupcake so I could control where the crystals fell. Repeat again with the third color and you’re done!
To make it a little easier if you aren’t as confident in your icing skills, just frost the whole cupcake white and sprinkle on each sugar color with a small spoon to get the multi-color effect.
I think it looks best with the colored icing underneath, but it would still be pretty darn cute either way…
Complete your look with tiny spoons or cut paper straws into shorter pieces and stick those in each one to add a bit of fun. Aren’t they just the best??
I love novelty food ideas that only take a little bit more effort to make a much bigger impact than the regular version.
Of course, this can be done at any summer gathering if you tweak the color selection a bit, so don’t feel like this is only a 4th of July treat. Hope these make an appearance at one of your summer parties! xo. Laura
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Ingredients
- 1 box cake mix
- colored and white sugar crystals
- sugar (white)
- icing (white)
- food coloring
- paper cupcake liners
- small spoons or straws to decorate with
Instructions
- Mix your box cake with the ingredients listed on the package. Fill each paper liner with cupcake batter until it's a little over 1/2 full (make sure you buy paper liners that are for baking though, some are lined with a wax lining that can't go in the oven). Place the liners on a baking sheet and bake until a toothpick inserted in the cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before icing.
- Also, if you can’t get a hold of paper baking cups you like, you can also bake them in regular cupcake liners and then place them into short styrofoam cups to hide the liners.
- Take your white icing and divide it into the number of icing colors you want. Use the food coloring to create your desired hues.
- For the solid colored snow cones, ice the cupcakes until it just touches the paper rim of the cup.
- Mix together some plain white sugar, white crystals, and the colored crystals that match your icing color. Place your iced cupcake on a large plate and pour your crystal mix over the top and sides of the cupcake until it’s covered. Use your fingers and palm to gently push the crystals into the icing so more of them will stick, and gently shake off any excess.
- For a multi-colored snow cone, ice a mohawk of icing down the middle of your cupcake, shake that color of crystal on top, and press the crystals down gently. Ice the side of your cupcake the second color, and repeat the process. I found it easiest to hold the iced cupcake over the plate at an angle and then pour the second color of crystals onto the icing getting as close as I could to the cupcake so I could control where the crystals fell. Repeat again with the third color and you're done!
These totally look worth the work! They’re beautiful!
These look great and they look fun to make too!
Alison At Home!
I’m definitely going to try this! With REAL cake! I’m not a cake mix girl.
These are so cute! 🙂
tonixox.blogspot.com
Oh I love these! Thinking for my daughters frozen party they would go down perfectly!
Yum, this looks really good and it actually looks like a snow cone. Love it!
These are so cute and look super easy to make!
Such a cool idea!
x
The Losing Struggle | Bloglovin’
oh my, this makes me want to run to the store to pick up these ingredients like right now. this is too cute! and looks sooo yummy. love a good cupcake.
How cute are these?! Perfect for this holiday weekend!
-M
www.violetroots.com
These cupcakes are super cute. Also, how cool is it that you had a front yard view of the fireworks! I would’ve definitely got a blanket and laid outside to watch the vibrant/fun lighting display.
Happy Friday
www.lovecompassionatelee.com/thinkoutloud
we don’t have fireworks where we live now, but I grew up with them, and totally miss them. these cupcakes could be the next best thing. :0)
Debbi
These look amazing! I know what I’m making for my 4th of July gathering tomorrow.
www.emmabyers.com
They look fabulous!!!!!!!!
Love those little white paper cups. They just change up your regular cupcake a bit whith this easy idea. I dream of making these whith only the white icing…that’ll be super cute 🙂
I am in love with these cuteest ever cupcakes!
I am in love with these cutest ever cupcakes!
I’m so giving these a go this weekend! May not be American, but there is always time for a new cupcake recipe!
This is so fun! Love the addition of the crystals!
Erin | http://www.beingerin.com/
they look amazing! Nice post… Maybe i’ll try ti make them soon 🙂