Heat your oven to 350°F and line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners. I prep all my liners first, then measure my dry ingredients so nothing gets forgotten halfway through. This takes five minutes tops and saves you from scrambling later.

Cream together the softened butter and sugar until it looks light and fluffy, about three minutes with an electric mixer. Add eggs one at a time, then drizzle in vanilla while the mixer runs. The mixture should be pale yellow and basically doubled in volume when you're done.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl before stirring into the butter mixture. Pour in milk and mix until just combined—don't overmix or your cupcakes get tough and dense. Stop mixing the second you don't see dry flour streaks.

Divide batter into three bowls: one stays plain vanilla, one gets one teaspoon red coloring, one gets one teaspoon blue coloring. Stir each until the color is completely even and no white streaks remain. I do this step standing at my kitchen island because the food coloring sometimes stains my counters if I'm not careful.

Fill liners about two-thirds full, alternating between colors so you get a red-white-blue pattern when they bake. Add a few chocolate chips into some cupcakes if you want that surprise texture. Bake for 18 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops spring back when touched lightly.

Cool cupcakes in the pan for five minutes, then transfer to a wire rack until completely cool. Don't frost them warm or your frosting melts into a puddle—trust me on this because I learned it the hard way. Room temperature cupcakes hold frosting perfectly and let you make these patriotic pull apart cupcakes look magazine-worthy.

Arrange cooled cupcakes on a platter in your preferred shape—I do a rectangle but circles and hearts work great too. Frost each one with white frosting, then top with red and blue sprinkles to finish the look. Your sharing cupcake cake is now ready to impress everyone at the party.