Skip to Content

How To Make Camouflage Cupcakes

Step up your party game with these colorful camouflage cupcakes with camouflage frosting – they are super easy to make! Perfect for patriotic holidays like Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, hunting season, any kind of party honoring military members, or even birthday parties for the younger enthusiasts, these colorful desserts are sure to be a big hit!

camouflage cupcake with a bite out of it showing the white green and brown cake inside

How To Make Camouflage Cupcakes – It’s Easy Peasy!

Usually, I like to go the homemade route, but making camo cupcakes can be kept simple by using cake mix and ready-made frosting. We used Duncan Hines, but any brand will work just fine.

Ingredients

  • chocolate cake mix – check the box for ingredients. Some use butter and some don’t. Most require eggs and vegetable oil. We used Duncan Hines Devil’s Food cake mix.
  • white cake mix or vanilla cake mix – check the box for ingredients. Some use butter and some don’t. Most require eggs and vegetable oil. We used Duncan Hines White cake mix.
  • can of chocolate frosting – we used a 14.5oz can of Duncan Hines Whipped Fluffy White frosting.
  • can of vanilla frosting – we used a 14.5oz can of Duncan Hines Whipped Chocolate frosting.
  • green food coloring
bowls of cake mix, frosting, eggs, oil and green food coloring, all ingredients for camouflage cupcakes

Recommended Kitchen Tools and Supplies

  • mixing bowl
  • bowls for the two batters and for mixing the green batter and green frosting (4 total)
  • measuring cups
  • table spoons
  • mixer
  • spatula
  • spoons
  • cupcake tin
  • cupcake liners –
  • piping bag or pastry bag (plastic baggies work too!)
  • frosting tip – we used Wilton M1
  • wire rack
  • roll of paper towel – it can get a little messy!
cupcake pan with cupcake liners filled with variegated green, brown and white cake mix for baking camouflage cupcakes

How to Make Camouflage Cupcakes

Make the camouflage cupcakes with the different color batters from the box mixes.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Place cupcake liners in the cupcake tin.
  3. Follow the cake recipe on the box to prepare the mix in separate bowls for the chocolate and white batter in separate bowls.
  4. Pour 1/3 of the white batter into a separate bowl and stir, adding a few drops of green food coloring at a time until reaching the desired color of green. For a more muted ‘camo’ green, add chocolate batter one spoonful at a time, stirring between each.
  5. Spoon the different colors of batter into the cupcake into each lined cupcake tin. Try spooning two colors at once from either side, or spooning one color in before the previous one has settled to get a mottled camo look rather than flat layers.
  6. Bake 15-18 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean, according to the boxed cake mix instructions.
  7. Once cool enough to handle, you can set the cupcakes on a wire rack to cool faster. They must be completely cool so the frosting doesn’t melt!

Make the camouflage frosting with three different colors

  1. Divide the vanilla frosting into different bowls.
  2. While stirring, add a few drops of green food coloring at a time until the desired color of green is mixed. For a more muted ‘camo’ green, add small amounts of chocolate frosting while continuing to stir.
  3. Remember – always put the frosting tip into the piping bag first!
  4. If you’re careful, you can spoon the three colored frostings side by side into the piping bag, but this can get pretty messy and it’s harder to get an even distribution of color while frosting the cupcakes. (Which can be perfectly fine for a mottled camo look!) Another way is to put each colored frosting into a separate baggie, snipping a corner to provide an outlet, then placing all three frosting-filled baggies into the piping bag with the snipped corners side by side at the bottom. If you love kitchen gadgets (and who doesn’t?) Wilton has a special Three Frosting Swirl decorating set perfect for the job!
  5. Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.

Tips or Variations

  1. The camouflage pattern of the cupcake will show through white liners once cooked, or you may opt for camouflage cupcake liners.
  2. If you’re looking for more cupcake ideas, have fun using other colors. Traditional forest camouflage often has black, but camouflage can be found in many color motifs, including your favorite college or sports team colors!
  3. Your favorite homemade buttercream frosting and chocolate frosting will work just fine.
  4. Here’s a quick video on how to fill the bag and pipe frosting with the Wilton 1M tip. 
  5. Consider using mint leaves or green plastic army men as cupcake toppers.
  6. Scoop 1/3 of the vanilla and 1/3 of the chocolate frosting into the same bowl – this will give you equal parts of each color frosting.