Preheat your oven to 350°F and line two muffin tins with cupcake liners. Grab a medium bowl and whisk together 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set the dry ingredients aside while you work on the wet part.

In a large bowl, beat 1/2 cup softened butter and 1 cup sugar together until it's light and fluffy—this takes about 2 minutes. Add your 3 eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix until everything's combined smoothly.

Divide your batter into two separate bowls, then add 1 teaspoon red food coloring to one bowl and 1/2 teaspoon blue food coloring to the other bowl. Stir each one until the color spreads evenly through the batter (don't skip this—uneven colors look kinda sad). Leave about 1/4 of the original batter plain white for those patriotic layers.

Here's where it gets fun: fill each cupcake liner about 1/3 full with white batter first. Top that with a small spoonful of red batter, then finish with blue batter on top. Don't mix them together—let them stay in distinct layers so you get those gorgeous red, white, and blue stripes.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The tops should be very lightly golden—mine always have a tiny bit of bounce when I touch them. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack.

Once your cupcakes are completely cool (this matters or the frosting slides right off), arrange them on a platter in a fun pattern. You can do a square, a circle, or honestly any shape you want. Frost each cupcake generously with 1 cup whipped cream frosting and top with patriotic sprinkles while the frosting's still soft.