Chicago Cubs Red, White, and Blue Celebration Cupcakes

Guess what?! This is my 150th post, woo hoo! Boy that's a lot, huh? Sometimes I look at this blog and I can hardly believe that it's mine. Speaking of which, have no noticed how little I've been posting lately? Well, I think I the baking blahs. Maybe it's just the warm days of summer? Who knows! I am not saying that I'm going to stop blogging, but I think I just need a little break from it for a while so don't be alarmed if you don't see anything new from me between now and the beginning of August. My hope is that with a nice long break, I'll come back ready and raring to go. Knowing me, I'll probably be back to posting well before then.

In the mean time I wanted to post these red, white, and blue cupcakes in anticipation of the big holiday month of July. Not only is it Independence Day here in the USA, but it's Canada Day (just red and white, of course) on the 1st and Bastille Day in France on July 14th. All three holidays can benefit from the theme. I made these cuppies for a friend at work as gift for her friend's 27th birthday (that's where the idea for the jersey came from). Since she asked me to come up with something that a Chicago Cubs fan would love, I thought it would be fun to try to do a swirly red, white, and blue "tie-dye" theme along with some fun decorative Cub logos I made out of fondant and gum paste. They came out so good I decided to use the same technique on Emma's Beachy Keen Cupcakes.
I used Martha Stewart's Versicle Yellow Cake recipe for these cupcakes. I'm totally in love with this cake and it worked well for this recipe as well. I have to say those that because of the extra moisture from the food coloring gel, the cupcakes tend to shrink after they bake, but they still taste really yummy!

Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes
Yield: around 30-33 cupcakes
adapted from Martha Stewart

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs plus 5 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (or lemon if you prefer a lemony cupcake)
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk

Your choice of Food Coloring Gel (America Color Red-Red and America color Navy Blue are the colors I used)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with white cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined. (Beware! The batter is super yummy! Try not to eat it all!)

Divide the batter between three bowls. Set one aside. Using gel based food coloring, add drops of red food coloring gel until you reach the desired color. Be prepared to add a lot of color to get really vibrant colors, especially with the red. Be sure to mix really well with a small fork or spoon and to scrape the bottom of the bowl too to look for any pockets of white batter. Repeat with the second bowl of batter using the blue food coloring gel.

Using a normal everyday tablespoon, take your time and fill the cupcakes with a layer of batter in each of the three colors (or how ever number of colors that you're using). There's really no wrong way to do this -- just have fun! Just use small blobs and try to focus their placement towards the edges of the paper, instead of the middle, but be sure to put some in the middle too. Fill the cup until they are a little more than 2/3rds the way filled. Using a toothpick, gently swirl the cupcakes, being careful not to touch the cupcake paper. This isn't a totally necessary step, but it does make the cuppies look really pretty!
Bake the cupcakes for 18-22 minutes, until the centers come out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cupcakes sit for about 5 minutes before removing them. NOTE: The cupcakes will look big and glorious after you take them out of the oven. However, the will shrink like a shrinky dink! Don't worry though -- they will still look and taste good. Let them cool completely before frosting them.