Bright green vanilla cupcakes are topped with a Kool-Aid infused watermelon frosting and topped with mini chocolate chips. These fun Watermelon Cupcakes are perfect for summer celebrations!
I’ve been busy baking up all sorts of delicious summer desserts! Have you seen my red, white, and blue cupcakes and layer cake?
While those are exactly what you need for the 4th of July, these bright green and pink Watermelon Cupcakes are perfect for every other summertime event.
If you’re looking for another dessert to take to that BBQ this weekend, check out my recipes for No Bake Oreo Pie and Blackberry Cobbler.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Fun and Easy Watermelon Cupcake Decorating – Pink frosting on green cupcakes plus some chocolate chip “seeds” are all it takes to create easy watermelon-styled cupcakes.
- Scratch Vanilla Cupcake Recipe – This vanilla cupcake recipe creates a moist, dense, and flavorful cupcake that will rival the ones you get from your local fancy bakery. Everyone will love them!
- Watermelon Flavor – Use a packet of watermelon kool-aid to make the best watermelon buttercream frosting!
- Step By Step Instructions – If you aren’t sure that you can make cupcakes from scratch, I’m here to tell you that you can, using this easy recipe and my tips and tricks.
Key Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make these fun and adorable summer cupcakes:
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Unsalted Butter: I almost always choose unsalted butter when baking sweet recipes. This allows us to ensure that the final cupcakes aren’t overly salty.
- Sugar: You must have sugar to make cupcakes! Regular/granulated white sugar is ideal for this recipe.
- Eggs: Allow your eggs to come to room temperature. They mix in more thoroughly that way.
- Yogurt: Plain yogurt, either regular or Greek style gives this vanilla cupcake recipe a dense crumb, like cupcakes you’d get from a bakery.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: The better your vanilla extract, the more delicious your watermelon cupcakes will be!
- Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt: The dry ingredients are just some simple pantry items.
- Food Coloring: you’ll need a bright green for the cake batter, and a red for the frosting. I always recommend gel food coloring, and a little goes a long way. I like this set that has all of the basic colors
- Watermelon Frosting: The secret ingredient in this buttercream cupcake frosting is a packet of watermelon Kool-Aid! Mix that in with butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream.
- Mini Chocolate Chips: These really finish off the watermelon cupcakes perfectly. They look like black seeds against the pink icing.
How To Make Watermelon Cupcakes
- Get Ready to Bake: Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners (I suggest using green ones here). Set aside while you make the batter.
- Cream: In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar at medium speed until lighter in color and smooth. Then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each until it’s well-incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and yogurt, and continue to mix until incorporated. Set the bowl of wet ingredients aside.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Combine Wet and Dry: Pour about one-third of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until combined using the electric mixer. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix just until everything is combined. Add green food coloring to get to your desired watermelon green shade.
- Bake: Fill the cupcake liners halfway to ⅔ full with batter. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow to rest and cool completely before decorating.
- Make Frosting: Make watermelon buttercream cupcake frosting by creaming butter in a large bowl. Then slowly add the powdered sugar and Kool-Aid powder and beat until smooth. Add the salt, vanilla, and heavy cream, and continue blending to get a smooth frosting. Add additional cream if needed to get the right consistency for piping. Add a drop or more of red food coloring to get the perfect watermelon pink shade.
- Decorate: Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Make a rosette or swirl on the top of each cooled cupcake, then top with mini chocolate chip “seeds”.
Tip!
No Decorating Tips? No problem! If you’d rather not pipe the icing on top of the cupcakes, simply spread it on generously with a knife or spatula.
Cupcake Baking Tips
- Don’t overfill. Filling the cupcake liners only halfway, and no more than ⅔ of the way is key to making sure that cupcakes don’t overflow.
- Measure Correctly: See my tricks for making sure you’re measuring your ingredients correctly! When baking, it’s important to accurately measure everything to get the best results in the end.
- Let them Cool. There’s nothing worse than putting buttercream frosting on a too-warm cupcake. It will sadly melt and slide right off. Be sure that the cupcakes are fully cooled before decorating.
Storing Tips
Store these cupcakes with buttercream in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Let them sit for a few minutes at room temperature before serving so that the frosting softens.
The Best Summer Recipes
There are just some foods that are best enjoyed when the weather is hot. Whether you enjoy grilling, fresh salads, or cool desserts, you’ll find all the best summer recipes here.
Try one (or all) of these favorites:
- Fresh Caprese Salad
- Grilled Spatchcock Chicken
- Classic Cherry Pie
- Creamy Zucchini Soup
- Pool Party Jello Shots
- Tuna Pasta Salad
- Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream (no-churn!)
More Cupcake Recipes
All Cupcakes →
FAQs
You can use liquid food coloring, but you won’t get the same bright, vivid colors that you see here. Liquid food coloring tends to create more pastel hues.
You can! Choose your favorite white cake mix. Mix and bake the cupcakes according to the directions on the box, just remember to add green food coloring to the batter.
Yep! Make watermelon cupcakes for a crowd by doubling all of the ingredients to make 24 little watermelon cakes instead of 12.
I recommend using my vanilla cake recipe instead, as it’s been scaled to create a layer cake. You can tint the cake and flavor the frosting the same way we’re doing in this recipe.
These are the perfect cupcakes for summer! The sweet watermelon flavor and scratch-made cupcakes will make everyone smile. Be sure to pin this recipe to make later!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Watermelon Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup yogurt natural or greek
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- green food coloring
Watermelon Buttercream:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup heavy cream or whole milk, or half and half
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 ounces watermelon Kool-Aid drink mix from a packet, unsweetened
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- red food coloring
Decoration:
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
- green cupcake liners
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and line a muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners. Set aside while you make the batter.
- In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar at medium speed until lighter in color and smooth. Then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each until it’s well-incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and yogurt, and continue to mix until incorporated. Set the bowl of wet ingredients aside.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Pour about one-third of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until combined using the electric mixer. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix just until everything is combined.
- Tint the cake batter with lime green food coloring, adding a drop at a time until you get the color you want.
- Fill the cupcake liners halfway to ⅔ full with batter. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Allow to rest and cool completely before decorating.
- Make a watermelon buttercream cupcake frosting by creaming butter in a large bowl. Slowly add the powdered sugar and Kool-Aid powder and beat until smooth. Add the salt, vanilla, and heavy cream, and continue blending to get a smooth frosting. Add additional cream if needed to get the right consistency for piping. If you want more color, add red food coloring and mix until the frosting is the desired shade.
- Add the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Swirl the frosting over the cupcakes and decorate with mini chocolate chips to look like watermelon seeds.
Notes:
- Be sure to use the kool-aid mix that comes in a small packet rather than the type that comes in a tub that is already mixed with sugar. We don’t need the sugar, only the flavoring!
- The amount of food coloring you’ll need will depend on the type you’re using and the level of color you want. I suggest using gel food coloring for the brightest colors.
- Cupcake liners should be filled half way, and definitely no more than ⅔ of the way full so that the cakes don’t overflow the liners.
- Make sure to let the cupcakes cool completely before adding the frosting.
- If you’d rather not pipe the icing on top of the cupcakes, simply spread it on generously with a knife or spatula.
- Instead of chocolate chips, you can use chocolate sprinkles or small black sprinkles instead.
- To store: Store these cupcakes with buttercream in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Let them sit for a few minutes at room temperature before serving so that the frosting softens.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
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