Happy Memorial Day/Jack's birthday!

A weekend at the beach...

I've been lucky enough to have a wonderful aunt and uncle who allowed me to freeload off of them for many summers when I was younger.  They have a beautiful beach house on Long Beach Island, and I spent many teenage summers working, sun bathing, and swimming in the ocean.  Now, as an adult, they are still as generous and invited us to spend Memorial Day weekend with them.  I offered to bring desserts, and they asked that I make some cupcakes to celebrate their grandson's (our godson's) third birthday, which is Tuesday.  I decided to attempt to combine the celebrations and made red, white and blue star cupcakes.  I made a chocolate fudge cake recipe and Martha Stewart's Dark Chocolate icing.  The icing is certainly rich and smooth but a little difficult to work with since its a little runny.  I think the butter may have been too soft, and I didn't allow the chocolate to cool enough before combining it into the icing.  I'm hoping it will set up a little better as the day goes on, but we'll see. 

 I used a basic fondant recipe for the stars and numbers and some left over star sprinkles.

I found the cupcake liners at HomeGoods a few months ago.  Aren't they adorable?  This particular brand (which I am failing to remember the name of and have already thrown out the wrapper) is quickly becoming my favorite cupcake liners.  They are thick enough that you don't need to use cupcake tins, and the colors stay bright and visible, even after baking. 

I hope Jackie likes them!