Indian Tricolor Cupcakes

5 from 1 vote

Cupcakes in Indian Tricolor for India's Republic Day + a tutorial on how to make Tie Dye Cupcakes and make 3 Color Swirls!

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Indian Tricolor Cupcakes

Happy Saturday everyone! What are you plans for the weekend? Doing something exciting? Back home in India, it’s actually Republic Day weekend and if I was there I would be looking forward to watch the parade on TV and oh and if you guys aren’t already aware, US President is our chief guest this Republic Day! Dad was telling me it’s pretty crazy in Delhi right now with the security and everything.

And so because it’s our Republic Day on 26th January, I had to make these tricolor cupcakes or tiranga cupcakes as we would call in Hindi. Of course I could have made any tricolor food but since I love making & decorating cupcakes, I didn’t have much choice! Next year maybe! Last year I made these tricolor cookies and that was the first time I actually worked with royal icing. I remember being so excited after I was done decorating the cookies. Oh by the way please ignore those crappy pictures of the cookies but in a way it makes me happy that I have come this far in a year but there’s still a LOT to learn.

Indian Tiranga Cupcakes

Anyway these are simple vanilla cupcakes, I used a box mix for these. I generally never use a box for baking but sometimes you just want to do things quickly and it’s then that the box mix comes in handy. You can very well use this vanilla cupcakes recipe on my blog and make cupcakes from scratch. I created a tie dye effect in the cupcakes and I did it basically in 2 ways which I will explain below. The tricolor cupcakes were topped with tricolor swirls of basic butter cream frosting.

This is exactly how you make tie dye cupcakes as well. You can use as many colors as you want or use colors according to occasions. They are super easy to make and look very festive. Like for Valentine’s Day you can do red, white and pink or for Christmas you can do red, green and white.

Cupcakes In Indian TriColor

To make the swirls I used wilton tip #2D, which is basically my favorite tip for decorating cupcakes. You make swirls applying constant pressure and if you want more ruffles, apply more pressure. I tell you cake decorating is all about pressure control. I hope you like this mini tutorial.

 

Method

Prepare cupcake batter using a box mix [follow instructions on the box] or use your favorite recipe to make a batch of vanilla cupcakes. Divide the batter into 3 equal parts. Color 2 parts of the batter with green and orange color respectively. Leave the 3rd part as such.

Now there are two ways you can make these tricolor cupcakes.

#1

Place the green color batter at the bottom of the cupcake pan/liner.

Place orange color batter next, on top of the green batter.

And lastly put the white color batter on top.

Indian Tricolor Cupcakes Design-1#2

Drop random spoons of different color batter in the cupcake pan/liner. Just be careful that you don’t drop the same color adjacent to each other.

Once the cupcake liner is 2/3 full, take a toothpick and make swirls just like in the middle picture above.

And that’s how the cupcakes will look when they are ready to go in the oven.

Indian Tricolor Cupcakes Design-2

Bake the cupcakes according to instruction of the package or the recipe you are following. Once baked, cool the cupcakes completely before frosting them. The bake cupcakes will have different patterns and look like this. Colorful, isn’t it?

Cupcakes In Indian Colors

 

Prepare buttercream frosting by following the instructions here. Once the frosting is done, divide it into 3 parts and color accordingly.

1. Green: This part should have the maximum frosting as we use green to cover the outer rim of cupcakes.

2. White: Basically you don’t color one part of the frosting and the quantity should be lesser than the green part.

3. Orange: Lastly color the frosting in orange color. Since we will make a small swirl with orange color on top, this part should be the least in amount.

 

And now it’s time to decorate the cupcakes!

Fill three piping bags fitted with Wilton tip #2D with the 3 color frostings.

– Take the green color frosting piping bag and make swirl [make 2 swirls for extra ruffles/frills] on the outer edge of the cupcake, starting from one point on the edge.

– Now take the white color frosting piping bag and make swirl on top of the green swirl. This swirl should be smaller than the one below it.

– And finally take the orange color frosting and make a swirl on top of the white swirl. This should be the smallest swirl.

Indian Tricolor Cupcake Swirl

Decorate with some white decorating balls. I place the white balls only on the orange part of the frosting, you can decorate in whatever way you want.

Indian Cupcakes

* The frosting shouldn’t be too thin else you won’t be able to make these nice swirls. Add only 1 tablespoon of milk/cream at first and add more only if the frosting looks stiff.

Indian Tricolor Cupcakes

5 from 1 vote
Servings: 12
Cupcakes in Indian Tricolor for India's Republic Day + a tutorial on how to make Tie Dye Cupcakes and make 3 Color Swirls!

Ingredients 

Buttercream Frosting

  • 2 sticks salted butter [1 cup] at room temperature
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream you may substiute it with milk
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Instructions 

Tricolor Cupcakes

  • Prepare cupcake batter using a box mix [follow instructions on the box] or use your favorite recipe of vanilla cupcakes.
  • Divide the batter into 3 equal parts.
  • Color 2 parts of the batter with green and orange respectively. Leave the 3rd part as such.
  • To create a tie dye effect pour the 3 color batter randomly in the cupcake pan/liners.
  • To make another pattern, start by placing green batter at the bottom and then place orange and white over it respectively. [see pictures above]
  • Bake the cupcakes according to instructions of the package/recipe.
  • Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

  • In the steel bowl of your stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment or using your hand mixer, beat room temperature butter for 3-4 minutes till it turns pale and soft.
  • Start adding the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time.
  • Mix at a slow speed first and once the sugar is incorporated increase the speed to high and beat for 30 seconds or till mixture is smooth and fluffy.
  • Add in all the sugar, beating well after each addition.
  • Add vanilla extract and milk and beat till frosting is smooth.

Decorating the cupcakes

  • Divide the frosting in 3 parts. The 1st part should have the maximum frosting, color that green.
  • Next part should have little less frosting than the green and you need to leave it as such.
  • Third part should have the least amount of frosting, color that orange.
  • Transfer all the 3 colored frosting in piping bags fitted with Wilton tip#2D.
  • Take the green frosting first and starting at one point on the edge, make a swirl around the outer circumference of the cupcakes. Make 2 complete swirls for more ruffled look.
  • Next take the white frosting and make a swirl on top of the green one. This swirl should be smaller than the one below it.
  • Lastly take the orange frosting and make a small swirl on top of white. This swirl should be the smallest.
  • Decorate with white sprinkles or with any sprinkles of your choice.

Nutrition

Calories: 316kcal, Carbohydrates: 64g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 2mg, Sodium: 143mg, Potassium: 40mg, Sugar: 54g, Vitamin A: 40IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 56mg, Iron: 0.7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert
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Hi, I’m Manali!

Bringing you easy, delicious vegetarian & vegan recipes! Eating veggies can be fun, you just need to get creative in the kitchen with the right set of ingredients!


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27 Comments

  1. These cupcakes are too pretty to eat . I will try to make them . One question. Do we use salted butter to make butter cream frosting?

    1. I used unsalted butter for the frosting Hetal but salted would work too..just don’t any extra salt in the frosting then.

  2. Happy Republic of India day, Manali! These cupcakes are gorgeous! I love how pretty the colors are!

  3. So pretty Manali! I’ve been wanting to try making multi-coloured cupcakes. My kids are having a birthday party this weekend, so maybe that’ll be the plan!

  4. Happy Republic of India Day Manali! These cupcakes are so festive and look so great – I love the colours so much.

  5. Happy Republic of India day! What a beautiful and delicious way to celebrate! The colors are gorgeous and I love those big swirls of frosting! Pinned. 🙂

  6. These cupcakes are gorgeous, Manali! I never thought to make tri-colored ones. I love this idea! And that frosting is so perfect. Pinned!

  7. Happy Republic Day, Manali! These cupcakes are just too adorable! Love that you made both the cake and the frosting tricolored! Beautiful!

  8. Happy Republic of India weekend Manali! These cupcakes look awesome! Love the bright colors and the frosting is so nice! Pinned!

  9. Oh!!! Manali, these cupcakes look gorgeous,I don’t think I will eat one, just frame them! Just in-time for 26th January! pinned!

  10. These look amazing, Manali! LOVE the idea and those colours are just so eye-catching and vibrant!