Fourth of July Cupcakes

Happy belated 4th of July!

My day was spent at the wave pool with my cousins, where we happened to find five dollars at the bottom of the pool! The tricky thing was the fact that the waves were going on as we were trying to catch it. So every time a wave came by the dollar would move and we would get washed over. It was really funny, but slightly aggravating...

We all then headed over to our cousins house for some grub and cupcakes. This was the first time I've baked something not in my own kitchen. It's interesting because you are using all new bowls, measuring equipment, mixers, and an oven that you aren't accustomed to. In the end, the cupcakes turned out wonderful! We were going to divide the batter into three and dye them red, white, and blue in true spirit, but that would have called for more dishes to clean up. Instead, we divided the icing into three and dyed them red, white, and blue. Yeah, I realize this is still using dishes, but it was done at my other aunt's house so the mess was more dispersed.

We left some cupcakes at my one aunt's house and these one's to my other
aunt's house. We were one short of an (almost) perfect flag!

We made these cupcakes especially for my cousin Jeffery. He recently had back surgery so he couldn't spend the day with us. We decided to surprise him and show up with cupcakes. We had a great evening and he said, I quote, "Those cupcakes were AWESOME!!!!!" That is very (unusual) high praise coming from him. We ended the evening with illegal fireworks in the backyard. =) Hehehe.

For the cupcakes I used Martha Stewart's vanilla buttermilk cupcakes with her fluffy vanilla frosting. You can find the recipe HERE. I'm actually completely in love with these cupcakes. I am a purist. I will pick vanilla over chocolate any day and everyday. Most people call me crazy for this, but I find it completely sane. So I have to say I just love these to death.