Israeli Flag Cupcakes for Yom Ha’atzmaut

Sometimes it’s fun to go all the way with a theme, especially when it’s Yom Ha’atzmaut. As promised, here’s how to make your own Yom Ha’atzmaut cupcakes.

So I did get a little silly, and decided to make the batter blue! This isn’t essential, but can be fun, and a nice surprise for your guests. Basically, all you need to do is add about a half a teaspoon of blue coloring gel to your favorite cupcake batter. (If you’re not keen on the coloring, you can leave it out and keep the cupcakes white.)

Israeli Flag Cupcakes

My favorite cupcake batter is my white cake batter, which never fails and tastes great. I top the cupcakes off with cream cheese frosting. But if you’re having a Yom Ha’atzmaut BBQ, and you’re looking for a parev version, here’s a recipe. I can’t promise that they will taste better than their dairy counterparts, but as a fun centerpiece for your Yom Ha’atzmaut dessert table, these cupcakes will be a hit. You can also use this recipe for party cupcakes, using other colors as well for the cupcake batter – red, green, etc. I decorated mine with frosted Israeli flags – very easy to do for those of use without any artistic talent – but you can also decorate with blue colored sugar, blue and white sprinkles or just stick in an Israeli flag on a toothpick, which you can find at any dollar store or disposable kitchenware store around Israel.

PAREV CUPCAKES FOR YOM HA’ATZMAUT

Ingredients 

A very blue batter

1¼ cup sugar

1½ cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

⅓ cup oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

½ teaspoon blue coloring gel

1 cup cold water

How to do it

Baked and blue

1. Preheat oven to 180°c, line a muffin tin with #5 cupcake liners (about 16)

2. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl by hand

3. Add all liquids and mix together till combined. Make sure you mix the gel in very well so you don’t get streaks.

4. Pour into the prepared cupcakes liners (about 2 tablespoons per cupcake).

5. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

PAREV FROSTING

Ingredients

Decorating the frosted cupcakes

1/3 cup margarine softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

About 3 cups of powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon blue coloring gel

How to do it

1. Mix the margarine and the vanilla till combined.

2. Slowly, add the powdered sugar, mixing until the frosting reaches spreading consistency (make sure it’s not runny at all – the frosting should stick fast to a spoon)

A decorated cupcake

3. Using the back of a spoon or a small palette knife, spread the white frosting over each cupcake (I don’t make the frosting too thick.)

4. Once all the cupcakes are frosted, add the blue coloring gel to the remaining frosting and mix well till combined, making sure there are no streaks. Use immediately, otherwise the frosting separates.

5. Take a piping bag (I use the disposables, which are great) and a small round frosting tip. Snip the bottom of the bag with a scissors so that the tip fits snugly into the bottom of the bag, with the plastic of the bag ending no more than halfway up the tip. Fill the bag with your blue frosting. Holding the lower part of the bag with your left hand (if you’re left-handed) firmly squeeze with your right hand from the top part of the bag to frost two parallel lines (some of mine aren’t too parallel!). Don’t pull the tip across the cupcake too quickly to ensure that the line isn’t too thin. Then make your Magen David in the middle. If your lines are a little too thin, pipe a second line over them.

Makes about 16 cupcakes. Can be frozen.