Independence Day Cupcakes

To everyone in the US, and to Americans abroad - Happy Independence Day!

Today I set out to have some fun with cupcakes and fondant, and seeing as it's the fourth of July, I though nothing else would do - it had to be stars and stripes...

For a good basic cupcake recipe, click here.

The stars

There weren't quite 50, but certainly a lot for a batch of cupcakes! The blue was tricky to achieve.. I found a tiny touch of black food dye helped a lot - it took the colour from 'mediterranean holiday' to 'star spangled banner' in less than a drop.

The stripes

The stripes cupcakes were a lot less fiddly to make. I used a simple white background with three strips of red fondant laid across. To achieve fondant to fondant all you need to do is dap a little water on one and attach it to the other piece. In this case a brushed a tiny amount of water on the back of the red strips before laying them across the white background.

Put together - an edible tribute to the American flag...

So dear readers, did you make anything special today to mark Independence Day?

Ladybird x