Fun, easy to make party cupcakes. ONE cake mix and THREE irresistible flavors! Starting with a strawberry cupcake, chocolate cupcake and vanilla cupcake. All topped off with a vanilla ice cream frosting. When it’s too cold outside to have your favorite ice cream make your favorite ice cream flavored cupcakes.

How to Make Semi Homemade Neapolitan Cupcakes

These strawberry cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes, and chocolate cupcakes combined to make the most magical cupcake! No one will ever know that the secret ingredient is a white cake mix. This delicious recipe is perfect for summer parties, summer barbecues, and pool parties. Not to mention ice cream themed birthday parties.

STRAWBERRY, VANILLA, AND CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS LIST-full printable recipe below in recipe card

CUPCAKE BASE INGREDIENTS

• 1 (15.25 ounce) white cake mix
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1¼ cups water
• 4 large egg whites

CUPCAKE ADD-INS FOR ALL THREE LAYERS

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 ounce semi sweet chocolate, melted
• ¼ cup strawberry preserves
• ½ teaspoon strawberry extract
• 1 drop red food coloring

VANILLA ICE CREAM FROSTING

• 1 (8 ounce) cream cheese softened
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• ¼ cup vanilla ice cream, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• Optional: 2 drops red food coloring
• Optional: white, chocolate, pink jimmies sprinkles

VANILLA CUPCAKE BASE BATTER INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line 18 muffin cups with cupcake liners and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the cake mix, oil, water and egg whites.
3. Mix until combined and all lumps are gone.
4. Divide batter into THREE bowls (about 1¼ cups each).

VANILLA LAYER INSTRUCTIONS

1. Stir vanilla into one bowl.

CHOCOLATE LAYER INSTRUCTIONS

1. Stir in the cocoa powder and melted chocolate into the second bowl.

STRAWBERRY LAYER INSTRUCTIONS

1. Stir in the strawberry jam, strawberry extract and red food coloring into the last bowl.

BAKING THE NEAPOLITAN ICE CREAM CUPCAKES INSTRUCTIONS

1. Spoon 1 TABLESPOON of the vanilla batter into each lined muffin cup.
2. Add 1 TABLESPOON of the chocolate batter to the middle.
3. Top with 1 TABLESPOON of the strawberry batter.
4. Bake 15-17 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Place muffin tin on a cooling rack; cool 10 minutes, take the cupcakes out of the pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
6. Frost cupcakes using a piping bag fitted with a tip or spread the frosting on top of the cooled cupcakes. Add fun Neapolitan white, pink, and chocolate jimmies. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

THE VANILLA ICE CREAM FROSTING INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the cream cheese and butter. Whip until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
2. Add the vanilla ice cream and vanilla extract. Whip an additional 2 minutes.
3. Add the powdered sugar in (3) 2 cup increments, making sure to all the lumps are gone and frosting is creamy.
4. Once all the sugar has been incorporated, beat on high 3 minutes.

FOR OPTIONAL PINK AND WHITE FROSTING SWIRL INSTRUCTIONS

How to Swirl Multiple Colors of Frosting: Imagine taking a bite of a cupcake and being met with a burst of colors and flavors, each one more delicious than the last. That’s the magic of swirling multiple colors of frosting.

1. Divide frosting in half, to one half of the frosting add the red food coloring.
2. Spoon pink frosting into a small piping bag (careful to not over fill).
3. Spoon white frosting into a small piping bag (careful to not over fill).
4. Snip the ends and flatten the filled bags so they can fit stacked on top of each other into a large piping bag.
5. Fit a large piping bag with a piping tip that has a wide opening at the top, insert small bags making sure the tips of the small bags are inserted into the piping tip.
6. Pipe on frosting. For a video and a better understanding, click here→HOW TO SWIRL FROSTING

How to Make Light and Fluffy Frosting

Mixing or whipping the frosting for three minutes may seem a little extreme. But trust me when I say in that three minutes you will see your frosting transform into a light color and double in volume. Mixing for the three minutes is one of the most important steps to creating the perfect creamy vanilla ice cream frosting.

Tips for a Light and Fluffy Frosting

• Good ingredients “real” butter (not margarine) and good vanilla ice cream
• Room temperature ingredients
• Be patient…you’ll need to whip the frosting at least 3 to 5 minutes (sometimes I do this step twice).  This will allow air to incorporate into the butter and create the lightness you want.
• That’s it!  It’s really not as hard as you might think.

How to Store Vanilla Frosting

Something I do when I have a large quantity of cupcakes and frosting to make is make the batter and frosting the day before. This makes making homemade cupcakes a lot easier.

STORE: Frostings that are made with shortening can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container on the counter up to 2 weeks. Frostings with butter and milk should be stored in the refrigerator with an air-tight lid up to 2 weeks or freezer up to 3 months.

REVIVE: For frostings that are frozen or refrigerated. Set them on the counter and wait for them to come to room temperature. Spoon into a large mixing bowl. Fit the mixer with a paddle attachment, beat on medium high until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).

How to Have a Moist Cupcake After a Month

Yes, you read that right. AFTER A MONTH! The only way of preserving your cupcakes past a few days is by freezing. The key is to freeze the cupcakes as soon as they’ve completely cooled. Not the next day or a couple of days. THE DAY. This works for frosted and non frosted cupcakes. For Freezing Neapolitan Frosted Cupcakes: Place them in a container for cupcakes ( I use the same ones the bakery uses). Wrap the filled container with plastic wrap and freeze. HOW TO GET THE SAME CUPCAKE CONTAINERS THAT YOU SEE AT YOUR GROCERY STORE BAKERY: Ask! If you only need a few you can usually purchase them from your grocery store bakery. If you need a lot you can also order them on line. For Neapolitan Cupcakes Without Frosting: Place them in a labeled freezer safe zip top bag. Freeze flat. They will stay fresh as the day you baked them.

MORE SEMI HOMEMADE PARTY CUPCAKE RECIPES

Below are a few of my favorite semi homemade cupcake recipes. Click here for the whole collection→CAKE MIX CREATIONS

• DARK CHOCOLATE ORANGE CUPCAKES
• BOMB POP ICE CREAM CONE CUPCAKES
• DARK CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES
• TROPICAL PINEAPPLE COCONUT CUPCAKES
• PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY CUPCAKES

LATEST POSTS

• Apple Butter Cinnamon Roll Bundt Cake
• Easy Homemade Soft Apple Cider Caramels
• Easy Spice Cake Mix Cookies with a Maple Glaze
• Homemade Pure Maple Syrup Butter Recipe
• Pumpkin Pancakes with Brown Butter and Apple Cider Syrup