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    See More:   Comfort Food Desserts Raising Foodie Kids Recipes for Beginners

    Last Modified: Mar 12, 2025 by Tara Gerner Leave a Comment

    Watermelon Cupcakes Recipe

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    These adorable watermelon cupcakes are the perfect summer dessert! You will taste watermelon flavor in every bite of these moist, delicious cupcakes. With pink watermelon-flavored frosting and mini chocolate chips on the top to represent the watermelon seeds, these super cute cupcakes make the perfect dessert for any summer gathering you attend.

    a tray of watermelon cupcakes with chocolate chip seedsPin

    When a new family moved in at the end of our street, and my kids noticed that they had kids, they asked me to come up with a ploy to introduce them. My first thought: cupcakes!

    Watermelon is synonymous to summer for me, and I was pretty sure that a couple of late elementary aged kids would go crazy for watermelon cupcakes. I had a white cake mix and some watermelon Jello, and these beauties were born.

    These cupcakes are ridiculously easy to make because they start with, as I said, a small box or watermelon Jello and a white cake mix. They come together in minutes!

    a cake stand with four watermelon cupcakes on top and a red and white napkinPin

    What you'll need to make watermelon cupcakes

    Equipment

    To make these cupcakes, you'll need a mixer of some kind (either a handheld mixer or a stand mixer), a large scoop, and a muffin pan. To keep with the watermelon theme, I used dark green paper muffin liners. I made my cupcakes in a standard muffin pan, although there's no reason you couldn't make mini cupcakes or jumbo cupcakes; just use differently sized pans.

    To frost the cupcakes as in the photos here, you will need a piping bag with a fancy piping tip.

    Ingredients

    watermelon cupcakes ingredientsPin

    See the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page for measurements.

    For the cupcakes

    • A white cake mix - Starting with a cake mix makes this recipe super quick and easy. You could, of course, make a white cake from scratch if you're so inclined.
    • Vegetable oil
    • Eggs
    • Water
    • Clear vanilla - Because you're going to dye these cupcakes dark green, you could probably get away with using normal vanilla. I personally prefer vanilla bean paste to vanilla extract. But since you've probably already got the clear vanilla for the watermelon frosting recipe, you might as well use it here too.
    • Watermelon Jello - This powder is the secret ingredient that gives the cupcakes their sweet and delicious watermelon flavor! You'll only use half of a small box of Jello which leaves the other half for the watermelon frosting recipe.
    • Green gel food color - I used green gel food coloring for the cupcakes and pink and red gel food coloring for the frosting because gel food coloring is more potent and requires you to use less than liquid food coloring. Additionally, the liquid food coloring will add unnecessary liquid to your cake and could leave you with an unpleasant texture.

    Ingredients for decorating

    • 1 batch watermelon buttercream frosting - Head over to the frosting post for the full recipe. It's a homemade buttercream and is super easy to make with only 3 steps and a handful of ingredients (including unsalted butter, powdered sugar, red food coloring, pink food coloring, and the other half of that box of watermelon Jello).
    • White sanding sugar - The frosting recipe calls for you to add sanding sugar into the frosting, but I also dusted some of the cupcakes with extra sugar to give them a sort of glittery appearance.
    • Mini chocolate chips - These are your watermelon seeds.

    How to make watermelon cupcakes

    Directions for baking the cupcakes

    1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a standard muffin tin with green paper liners.
    2. Pour the dry cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Add the oil, egg whites, and water to the bowl and mix with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until everything is well incorporated.
      mix the cake mix with the oil and eggsPin
    3. Add the vanilla and ½ package of watermelon gelatin to the cake batter. Mix until just incorporated.
      add the jelloPin
    4. Fold in the green food coloring until desired color is achieved. Again, mix until just incorporated. Don't over mix the batter.
    5. Use a large scoop to measure the batter into the muffin tin so that each well is about ⅔ full.
      add green food coloringPin
    6. Bake cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
      cupcakes cooling on a wire rackPin
    7. Allow cupcakes to cool for 15 minutes in the cupcake pans before removing to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

    Directions for frosting the cupcakes

    1. Prepare a piping bag and fill it with watermelon frosting. (See link above for my watermelon frosting recipe.)
      watermelon frosting in a glass bowl with a spatulaPin
    2. Pipe frosting onto the top of each cupcake.
      pipe frosting onto each cupcakePin
    3. If you desire, sprinkle with white sanding sugar.
      sprinkle cupcakes with sanding sugarPin
    4. Then top each cupcake with a handful of mini chocolate chips.
      add chocolate chip seeds to the cupcakesPin

    Storing watermelon cupcakes

    If you frost your cupcakes with frosting from a can (make sure you add a half packet of watermelon Jello mix for flavor!), you can store them at room temperature.

    If you use my homemade buttercream recipe, you will want to store your cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge.

    one watermelon cupcake with watermelon frosting on a green paper circle with a forkPin

    Try these other delicious cupcake recipes

    • Grinch Cupcakes
    • Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies (AKA PB Cream Cheese Brownie Bars)
    • Rice Krispie Nests
    • Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast Muffin Cups

    Recipe

    a tray of watermelon cupcakes with chocolate chip seeds

    Watermelon Cupcakes

    These adorable watermelon cupcakes are the perfect summer dessert! You will taste watermelon flavor in every bite of these moist, delicious cupcakes. With pink watermelon-flavored frosting and mini chocolate chips on the top to represent the watermelon seeds, these super cute cupcakes make the perfect dessert for any summer gathering you attend.
    5 from 5 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Add to Collection Go to Collections
    Prep Time 10 minutes mins
    Cook Time 20 minutes mins
    Frosting Time 20 minutes mins
    Total Time 50 minutes mins
    Course Dessert
    Cuisine American
    Servings 24 cupcakes
    Calories 119 kcal

    Equipment

    • Electric mixer
    • Stand mixer
    • Scoop set
    • Muffin tin
    • Colored cupcake liners green
    • Piping bags

    Ingredients
      

    Ingredients for the cupcakes

    • 1 box white cake mix
    • ⅓ cups vegetable oil
    • 4 large eggs
    • 1¼ cups water
    • 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
    • ½ packet watermelon flavored gelatin
    • gel food color green

    Ingredients for decorating

    • 1 batch watermelon frosting
    • 1 cups white sanding sugar
    • ½ cups mini chocolate chips

    Instructions
     

    Directions for baking the cupcakes

    • Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a standard muffin tin with green paper liners.
    • Pour the dry cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Add the oil, egg whites, and water to the bowl and mix with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed until everything is well incorporated.
    • Add in the vanilla and ½ package of watermelon gelatin. Mix until just incorporated.
    • Add the green food coloring until desired color is achieved. Again, mix until just incorporated. Don't over mix the batter.
    • Use a large scoop to measure the batter into the muffin tin so that each well is about ⅔ full.
    • Bake cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
    • Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

    Directions for frosting the cupcakes

    • Prepare a piping bag and fill it with watermelon frosting. (See link above for my watermelon frosting recipe.)
    • Pipe frosting onto the top of each cupcake.
    • If you desire, sprinkle with white sanding sugar. Then top each cupcake with a handful of mini chocolate chips.

    Notes

    Because you are adding vanilla to the cake mix and the sanding sugar to the frosting, the watermelon flavor is more subtle and pleasant. It doesn’t punch you in the face like other recipes.
    Nutritional information does NOT include the frosting. The nutritional details for the frosting are on the recipe card specifically for the frosting.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 119kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 162mg | Potassium: 25mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 45IU | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 1mg
    Keyword cake, cupcakes, frosting, watermelon
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