Cupcake Chronicles: The 4th of July

For the 4th of July, I wanted to be super patriotic in my color choices.  I'm not sure why I felt this pressing need for red, white, and blue food (and flowers), but it was fun.

First up? Chocolate-covered patriotic strawberries.  I started by making my own blue sanding sugar (see tutorial here).  I've seen these strawberries in passing on Pinterest before, but I figured I could handle it with no directions, which is often dangerous, but actually turned out okay here.  Wash and gently dry the strawberries.  Dip in melted white chocolate, then in blue sugar, then let set up on waxed paper.  Then arrange elegantly on a red, white, or blue plate, because patriotism, of course.

They not only looked great, but they also tasted amazing, which is way more important.

I also made these cute vanilla cupcakes with red, white, and blue frosting.

And these chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  Brown is not at all patriotic, so I added a toothpick flag.

Yep, I went a little overboard.  But it was really fun!!!

Love and Stars and Stripes,

Leah Joy