The patriotic part of this is for the USA but the sale part is for everyone! That said, here we go, knocking out a bunch of stuff with three birds. Yes, that’s a paraphrase because using the original “old saying” might trigger some orinthologist somewhere. Am I the only one who has notice folks on various social media platforms doing weird alternate spellings and capitalizing random letters? I’m guessing it’s to avoid the censor bots or something. Anyway, that’s not why I’m here today. Are those birds too stinkin’ cure or what? I came across this recipe and at first glance, I decided it had to be way above my pay grade because a decorator of cakes and cupcakes I am soooo not! Then I actually opened the recipe. A bit time-consuming but hey, pretty easy, says the untalented decorated. Anyway, these cupcakes are sure to be a hit at any 4th of July cookout. And since ALL my self-pubbed titles are currently 50% off on Smashwords for the whole month of July, I figured, two birds, one…post.

Yield: 16 bald eagle cupcakes (but instructions call for 20 of stuff so ???)
Prep time: 15 Minutes
Cook time: 20 Minutes
Total time: 35 min (+time to assemble the decorations and that isn’t mentioned and I can say because I haven’t made these…)

Ingredients
One box Devil’s Food cake mix
20 giant roaster marshmallows
One can each of chocolate frosting and white (vanilla) frosting
One cup shredded coconut
20 to 24 whole cashews
32 to 38 Candy eye decorations
20 solid brown baking cups
20 toothpicks

Instructions
1. Begin by baking a batch of cupcakes according to the package’s directions. Use solid brown baking cups to line the cupcake tins. They allow cupcakes to look more like eagles when finished.

2. After the cupcakes have cooled, frost the cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Be generous with the frosting (That’ll probably garner no complaints—LOL)

ASSEMBLE THE BALD EAGLE CUPCAKES
1. Make the eagle’s head. Trim about ¼ inch off the top of the giant roaster marshmallow. Turn it so the remaining flat portion and the cut portion are on the sides and stick a toothpick at the bottom. The toothpick allows you to hold the marshmallow while frosting it.

2. Evenly spread white frosting on the entire surface of the marshmallow. Roll the frosted marshmallow in the shredded coconut.

3. Place the coconut head on top of the cupcake. The toothpick makes it easy to secure the eagle’s head to the body. You may need to remove a few of the coconut flakes from the chocolate icing. The sharp tip of a clean knife makes this easier.

4. To finish, place two candy eye decorations firmly into the coconut head. In between the eyes, firmly place a single whole cashew (wide portion down) between the eyes to create the beak.

5. Repeat the process for as many cupcakes as you’re making.

If you want to grab my books on sale, here’s the link for SMASHWORDS, or you can just click on the pic. If you’d like more info on the recipe, you can CLICK HERE. What could be better on the 4th than munching on cute, chocolatey cupcakes with a cold drink and a good book? Sounds like a great way to spend the day to me! What about y’all? Any plans for the 4th?

*Ju-Lo-Wri-Mo July 1 statistics:
Starting word count: 102,966
Ending word count: 103,001
Net word count change: 41
Chapters/words edited: 1/3454