Every summer, my family would throw barbecues on nearly every nice summer evening. We would make burgers, chicken, corn, and a variety of salad. Someone would also bring over alcohol spritzers and other fruity drinks for us (we’d make Shirley Temples for the kids). We loved discovering new flavors and brands of drinks and trying to find the best of them.

When I found out about Palm Breeze, I was definitely intrigued and couldn’t wait to try some now that the weather is nice and we are already starting to barbecue. Palm Breeze isn’t like any other drink. It is a flavored malt beverage (FMB). Which basically means it’s an alcoholic drink made with a malt base, kind of like beer. They have two flavors: pineapple mandarin orange and ruby red citrus. Both are incredibly fruity and citrusy, I can’t decide which I like best because they were both so refreshing. Drinking them makes everything like a mini tropical vacation.

I knew I wanted to create a treat we could enjoy while drinking our spritzers after the barbecue. It had to be something small we can just pop in our mouths, and reflect that fruity citrus zing the drinks both have.

A mini cupcake with a surprise fruit center and a lemony frosting was the perfect little treat. I used my favorite cupcake recipe because it is so light and moist, plus it bakes up beautifully. You can use almost any fruit you want, but berries really work the best here. And if you want to more closely follow the flavors in the drinks, you can easily replace the lemon with either red grapefruit or orange in the frosting. There’s really no going wrong here.

Bonus: Palm Breeze has events coming up that you can attend! You can RSVP to your local event here:

• San Diego
• DC
• Austin
• Dallas

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.