This 4th of July, fire up the party with these awesome red, white and blue 4th of July Cherry Bomb Cupcakes! These chocolate cupcakes are frosted with the best chocolate icing that is quick and easy to make!
Then, top them off with patriotic sprinkles and boozy (or not) chocolate covered cherry bombs for a festive explosion of color! Easy to make and fun to eat for the holiday!
We took our Perfect Hershey's Chocolate Cupcakes and just gave them a smooth patriotic make-over!
Other patriotic desserts you'll love are these Red White and Blue Chocolate Chip Bars, this Retro Red White and Blue Cake, these Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cup Double Stuffed Oreos and these awesome 4th of July Oreo Truffles!
Ingredients You Need for Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
- granulated sugar
- all-purpose flour
- HERSHEY'S Cocoa
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- eggs
- milk
- vegetable oil
- vanilla extract
- boiling water
Chocolate Frosting Recipe
- butter
- HERSHEY'S Cocoa
- powdered sugar
- milk
- vanilla extract
Chocolate Cherry Bombs
- maraschino cherries with stems, drained
- Fireball whisky
- whipped cream-flavored vodka
- white chocolate chips
- Blue sugar sprinkles
Omit the booze if you don't want alcohol involved.
How to Make Best Cupcakes
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and using mixer, beat on medium speed of 2 minutes.
- Stir in boiling water. Batter will be thin. (I placed my batter in a pitcher for easier pouring)
- Fill cupcake liners ⅔ full with batter.
- Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely.
- Frost with Perfect Chocolate Frosting.
How to Make Best Chocolate Frosting
- In microwave, melt butter. Stir in cocoa powder. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
- Add small amount additional milk, if needed.
Cupcake & Frosting Tips
- These cupcakes will rise about a half an inch while baking, so take care not to over fill with batter.
- When you add the frosting on top, you can frost the old-fashioned way and just slather frosting on top with a spatula
or knife. We loved using these large star piping tips
to get a beautiful swirl on top!
- Fill the piping bag about ¾ full with frosting, then twist the bag until the frosting pokes out of the tip.
- For a traditional swirl, start piping from the outside of the cupcake and work in a circle inwards. You can also pipe a “rose swirl” by starting from the inside and working outwards.
- Since we're going all red, white and blue for the 4th of July, we couldn't resist adding super delish chocolate covered cherries on top! That makes these the ultimate!
How to Make 4th of July Boozy Chocolate Cherry Bombs
- Place cherries in a medium bowl.
- If making these boozy, add Fireball and vodka and soak for 1 hour in the refrigerator. Drain cherries and pat dry with a paper towel. Do what you want with the reserved booze. 🙂
- Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 20-second intervals, stirring in between until melted.
- Dip each cherry two-thirds of the way into melted chocolate, twisting slightly to help chocolate stick. Dip cherry in blue sugar, coating halfway up the white chocolate coating.
- Chill in fridge for at least 20 minutes.
- Place a chocolate covered cherry on top of each of the cupcakes and add some colorful red, white and blue sprinkles! Devour!
OMIT STEP 2 if you don't want alcohol added to make them non-boozy.
Make Cupcakes Ahead of Time
- If you’d like to make these 4th of July cupcakes ahead of time, wrap the unfrosted cupcakes in plastic wrap and store them either at room temperature for a day or two, or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Simply unwrap and frost as desired.
Freezing Cupcakes
- You can freeze cupcakes when they’re frosted or unfrosted for up to 3 months. When freezing these cupcakes, keep them in a container with a lid that’s freezer-safe and will protect the frosting layer.
- Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored in a freezer-safe container as well, in a resealable freezer bag, or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.
- Thaw frozen cupcakes unwrapped at room temperature.
These delicious chocolate cupcakes are an easy and fun way to celebrate the 4th of July. Who's ready to celebrate the USA!?!
More Bomb Treats!
4th of July Cherry Bomb Cupcakes
This 4th of July, fire up the party with these awesome red, white and blue 4th of July Cherry Bomb Cupcakes! These chocolate cupcakes are frosted with the best chocolate icing that is quick and easy to make!
Ingredients
Perfect Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 - ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
- 1 - ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 - ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Perfect Chocolate Frosting Recipe
- ½ cup butter
- ⅔ cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cherry Bombs
- 1 10 oz. maraschino cherries with stems, drained
- ⅓ cup Fireball whisky
- ⅓ cup Whipped cream-flavored vodka, like Pinnacle
- 1 cup white chocolate chips or melts
- blue sugar sprinkles
Instructions
Perfect Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and using mixer, beat on medium speed of 2 minutes.
- Stir in boiling water. Batter will be thin. (I placed my batter in a pitcher for easier pouring)
- Fill cupcake liners ⅔ full with batter.
- Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely.
- Frost with Perfect Chocolate Frosting.
Perfect Chocolate Frosting Recipe
- In microwave, melt butter. Stir in cocoa powder. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
- Add small amount additional milk, if needed.
- When you add the frosting on top, you can frost the old-fashioned way and just slather frosting on top with a spatula or knife. We loved using these large star piping tips to get a beautiful swirl on top!
Cherry Bombs
- Place cherries in a medium bowl. Add Fireball and vodka and soak for 1 hour in the refrigerator. Drain cherries and pat dry with a paper towel. Do what you want with the reserved booze. 🙂
- OMIT adding booze, if you don't want non-alcoholic, but still drain and pat cherries dry.
- Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 20-second intervals, stirring in between until melted.
- Dip each cherry two-thirds of the way into melted chocolate, twisting slightly to help chocolate stick. Dip cherry in blue sugar, coating halfway up the white chocolate coating.
- Chill in fridge for at least 20 minutes.
- Add a decorated cherry bomb to each of the cupcakes!
Notes
Make Cupcakes Ahead of Time
- If you’d like to make these cupcakes ahead of time, wrap the unfrosted cupcakes in plastic wrap and store them either at room temperature for a day or two, or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Simply unwrap and frost as desired.
- You can freeze cupcakes when they’re frosted or unfrosted for up to 3 months. Keep them in a container with a lid that’s freezer-safe and will protect the frosting layer.
- Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored in a freezer-safe container as well, in a resealable freezer bag, or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.
- Thaw frozen cupcakes unwrapped at room temperature.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Cupcake Recipe from Perfect Hershey's Chocolate Cupcakes & Cherry Bomb Recipe from Delish
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