Patriotic Cupcakes

My two favorite holidays are Christmas and the Fourth of July so of course I am excited about all the upcoming festivities and events that are going to be happening in the next couple of weeks.  I just love it!  And if you're looking for a treat to get you into the patriotic spirit than I have a fun cupcake decorating idea you might want to try.

If you have a favorite cupcake recipe you like to use than by all means, use that.  I simplified things by using a cake mix because this isn't really about the cupcake itself, just the way we're going to decorate them.

Don't these berries just make you think of summer and all it's delicious-sweet goodness?  Lovely.  I actually didn't end up using the berries in the cupcakes (I'll explain that later) but this picture was so pretty I just had to share.

While your cupcakes are cooking grab some white chocolate and melt it slowly until it is nice and creamy.

 

If you have decorating bags than use those or just do as I did and spoon the chocolate into a Ziploc bag and snip off a tiny piece of one of the corners.  Tinier is always better, you can snip off more if you need it but you can't put it back on if you snip too much!  So be cautious and then experiment with the size as you go on.   On a cookie sheet (or plate) covered in wax paper, begin drawing your designs with the chocolate.  They can be anything, and since I was going for patriotic I made stars, hearts, fireworks, etc.

While the chocolate is still soft cover the shapes with sprinkles- red and blue are perfect for this.

Place the sheet in the freezer until the chocolate has plenty of time to harden and the cupcakes are completely cooled and frosted.  Once the chocolate shapes have hardened they'll easily come right off the wax paper.

Here is where a little bit of real life comes into my cupcakes and why I didn't use the berries.  On the day I made these it was 95% humidity and raining like crazy outside.  It was like walking around inside a cloud.  After frosting the cupcakes I sprinkled some strawberry pieces and blueberries on top and within five minutes the frosting had "melted" and all the berries had fallen off onto the counter and some of the chocolate pieces were broken in the sliding.  It wasn't pretty.  So in the pictures below it is plain white frosting only.    But see how cute the decorations that did survive look!  It is a fun, easy, and unique way to decorate your cupcakes.

And colorful fireworks!  Perfect for any Fourth of July celebration.  What are your favorite patriotic treats?  Any recipes I must know about?