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Simple Sparkling Cupcake Toppers

8 Mar
Sparkling Fondant Cupcake Toppers

Sparkling Fondant Cupcake Toppers

I recently did a Wizard of Oz, Over The Rainbow Theme party for my daughter’s fourth birthday. Happy Birthday Nora! I wanted to do a Pink Lemonade Cupcake and thought a cupcake topper representing Glinda, The Good Witch of The North would be perfect.
These toppers are so easy to make and were a big hit! My son ate a couple like cookies! :)

Glinda the Good Witch of the North

Glinda the Good Witch of the North

What you need:

1 recipe Marshmallow Fondant

Pink gel food coloring

Pink Sparkling Sugar

Small food safe paint brush

Rolling pin (one which can be set to certain widths is helpful)

Powdered sugar (for surface dusting)

Star Cookie Cutter

What to do:

  • Make and tint your Marshmallow Fondant
  • Roll your fondant out to 1/4 inch on a surface dusted with powdered sugar
  • Cut as many stars as needed
  • using very little water, brush one side of a star
  • sprinkle sugar all over star
  • gently press sugar into fondant using your fingertips
  • repeat with remaining stars
  • let stars sit out on a cookie sheet overnight, covered with a paper towel, to harden
  • the following day shake excess sugar from stars and store in a airtight container until you are ready to use them. Light will cause the fondant to fade so store in a cool, dry, dark place
  • when storing, separate the layers of stars with parchment paper
  • Put your toppers on cupcakes close to the time of display, the fondant will absorb moisture from frosting and soften
  • this would work with any number of smaller shaped cookie cutters, when choosing a cutter make sure it is similar to the size of cupcake. 2 inch cutters generally work for regular cupcakes and 3 inch cutters for jumbo cupcakes
brush fondant stars with water

brush fondant stars with water

Cover with Sparkling Sugar and gently press with finger tips

Cover with Sparkling Sugar and gently press with finger tips

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes with Sparkling Fondant Toppers

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes with Sparkling Fondant Toppers

You May Also Like:

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

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Fall Cookies: Royal Icing Wet on Wet Technique

29 Oct
Fall Sugar Cookies

Fall Sugar Cookies

Fall Cookies: Royal Icing Wet on Wet Technique

I made these fall cookies the other day and used cutters to “stamp” on a large 4.5 inch round cut out sugar cookie. I then used basic outline and fill and some wet on wet techniques. I’ll show you how I used wet on wet to add detail to leaves and pumpkins.

  • Start by using royal icing to outline the outside of the cookie plus the “stamp”: you can view the previous blog post to learn how to stamp a image on a cookie with a cutter
outline

outline

  • Fill in the background
fill

fill

  • Fill in the base color for your leaves and pumpkins
fill pumpkin

fill pumpkin

  • Using dark brown icing with a size 2 tip, dot the pumpkin 3 times on the bottom, and tree times on the top of pumpkin
dot the pumpkin

dot the pumpkin

  • Using a tooth pick drag from one dot to the top coordinating dot on the opposite side of the pumpkin to create a smeared line of dark icing across the pumpkin
  • repeat with remain two dots
  • This must be done immediately after you fill in the orange base, before it starts to set

finished pumpkin cookie

Leaves

  • Fill in the leaf base
  • Using the dark icing with a size 2 tip, pipe a line along the center of your filled leaf, while the yellow icing is still wet
fill in leaf

fill in leaf

pipe a line of dark icing along the center of the leaf

pipe a line of dark icing along the center of the leaf

  • Using a tooth pick drag the dark icing out into the leaf to create dark lines similar to the veins in a leaf.
  • This must be done immediately after you fill in the yellow base, before it starts to set
Finished Leaf

Finished Leaf

You might enjoy these posts:

Royal Icing Wet on Wet Techniques

Royal Icing: outline and fill

Almond Sugar Cookies

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Using Cutters as Cookie Stamps

26 Oct
Fall Sugar Cookies

Fall Sugar Cookies

How to use cookie cutters as stamps

Since cookies with thin parts tend to break easily and are not ideal for mailing, I decided to use some of the cutters I had to “stamp” the outline onto just a round cut out cookie. This is a really easy technique and can help those of us with out projectors or who aren’t that great at free hand make some nice looking cookies.

The theme of the cookie set I used this on was “fall”, and it was being mailed. I didn’t want the recipent to end up with apples without stems and leaves broken in half so I used a large round cutter and a medium round cutter and assorted smaller cutters that fit nicely inside the round cutters.

Make and refrigerate your dough as normal, I used my Almond Sugar Cookie recipe but omitted the almond extract.

  • Roll out your dough
  • Cut out circle cookies
  • place another cutter on top of uncooked cookie, and push the cutter almost all the way through the dough. You want to go almost to the bottom, if you go all the way through that’s fine, when you bake the cookie it will meld back together
  • circle cut outs

    circle cut outs

    Place cutters on uncooked circle cut outs

    Place cutters on uncooked circle cut outs

     

    uncooked cookies with "stamps"

    uncooked cookies with “stamps”

     

     

  • Using a spatula move the cookie to a baking sheet place the cookie sheet in the fridge or freezer for 5-6 minutes to let the dough firm up and then bake as normal. This helps to keep your cookie hold its shape while baking
  • When the cookie is done you will have a nice outline on your round cookie
baked cookie with "stamp"

baked cookie with “stamp”

  • Using royal icing decorate the cookie using the outline as a guide
outline and fill

outline and fill

Materials Needed for this project:

1 recipe for cut out cookies

rolling pin

flour

cookie sheets

1 recipe royal icing

size 2 tip and icing bag

Cutters used for this project:

4.5 inch circle

3.5 inch cirle

Squirrel

Pumpkin

Apple

Maple leaf

Oak leaf

Mini Acorn, maple leaf, oak leaf

Other Post you may enjoy:

Royal Icing: Outline and Fill

Almond Sugar Cookie

Spiced Orange Gingerbread Cookies

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How To: Make a Barn cookie

20 Aug
Blueberry Hill Farm Cookies

Blueberry Hill Farm Cookies

To celebrate my Mom’s birthday I made her these Almond Sugar Farm Cookies. My parents farm is Blueberry Hill Farm and you can check out their facebook page here. They raise Registered Hereford cows.

I used a 5 inch cow cutter from The Cookie Cutter Company, a small flower cutter and made a barn from a large heart cutter. Here’s how to make the barn cookie, super easy and you could use this idea for any simple building cookie.

Start with a large heart cutter

Start with a large heart cutter

 

  1. Roll out chilled dough on a slightly floured surface
  2. Cut your dough with a large heart cookie cutter
Cut off the sides and top

Cut off the sides and top

 

3. Using a sharp knife cut off the top off the heart and the sides

4. Bake your cookie and let cool

5. Outline and fill with red royal icing let set 6 hours or overnight

Outline and fill

Outline and fill

 

6. Use black royal icing to add the details (roof and doors)

 

 

 

Finished Cookie Set

Finished Cookie Set

 

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Star Spangled Crisp Rice Treats

3 Jul
Star Spangled Crisp Rice Treats

Star Spangled Crisp Rice Treats

What you Need:

1 recipe Crisp Rice Treats

Red-Red gel food coloring

Royal Blue food color

Bamboo skewers

Star cookie cutter

1 mason jar

different ribbons in red/white and blue

To make Crisp Rice Treats:

  • Melt one 10 oz package of marshmallows and four tablespoons butter in a pan on low heat
  • Stir frequently
  • Once the marshmallows and butter are completely smooth, divide to three parts
  • Use about 1/8 teaspoon food coloring to color two parts of the melted marshmallows
  • stir until color is even throughout melted marshmallow
  • mix about 2 cups of crisp rice cereal to each of the melted marshmallow parts
  • stir until incorporated
  • in a cookie sheet, spread out each of the crisp rice mixtures and smooth until a even layer, I was able to fit all three colors on one large sheet
  • let set for at least 1 hour

To make Star kabobs

cut out stars with cookie cutter

cut out stars with cookie cutter

  • using a star cookie cutter, cut out star shapes from all three colors, wash and dry cutter in between each color
star crisp rice treats

star crisp rice treats

  • skewer one of each color (red/white/blue) on the bamboo skewer
bamboo skewers

bamboo skewers

To display:

  • layer ribbon in bottom of mason jar, I used about 2 and 1/2 rolls per jar
  • tie on 8 inch lenth of ribbon around the lip of the jar
  • slide in skewers with stars into the jar, using the ribbon to help separate the skewers
Star Spangled Crisp Rice Treats

Star Spangled Crisp Rice Treats

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Patriotic Cupcakes

29 Jun
Patriotic Cupcakes

Patriotic Cupcakes

 

What you need:

Red-red gel food coloring

Royal Blue gel food coloring

1 recipe vanilla cupcakes

1 cupcake pan

12 cupcake liners

1 recipe vanilla buttercream

1 1M icing tip

1 icing bag

Start with the cupcakes

  • Make vanilla cupcakes per recipe
  • Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners and preheat oven 350 degrees
  • Divide batter into 3 parts, about 1 ¼ cup per part
  • Tint one part red using about 1/8 teaspoon Red-red gel food coloring
Add gel food coloring to batter

Add gel food coloring to batter

tinted batter

tinted batter

  • Tint one part blue using about 1/8 teaspoon Royal Blue gel food coloring
  • Using a small ice scream scoop, start by putting ¾ scoop of red batter into the bottom on the lined cupcake pan
start with red batter

start with red batter

  • Using a the same size scoop, put the plain colored batter on top of the red, continue till all cupcake wells have both red and white batter in them
add white batter

add white batter

  • Using the same size scoop put blue batter on top of white batter
Add blue batter

Add blue batter

  • For a unified look, use the back of the scoop to evenly spread the different colored batters into a even layer. (I just scooped one on top of the other and left them slightly on even for a more fun spontaneous look)
  • Bake cupcakes at 350 until a toothpick inserted into batter comes out clean, around 20-25 minutes
  • Let cupcakes cool completely
baked cupcakes

baked cupcakes

*Tip: The cooked tinted batter will be darker then what the color it is before you pop it in the oven.

Wilton cupcake kit

Wilton cupcake kit

To Make Swirl Vanilla Buttercream

  • Make 1 recipe vanilla buttercream
  • Assemble icing bag with 1M tip
  • Using a food only paint brush, brush red and blue stripes along the inside of the bag with gel food coloring
paint gel food coloring onto the inside of piping bag

paint gel food coloring onto the inside of piping bag

  • Fill bag with butter cream icing
  • Pipe in a circular motion from the outside in
Swirled frosting

Swirled frosting

yummy!

yummy!

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Royal Icing: Wet on Wet Techniques Part 2

13 Jun
Wet on Wet techniques for Royal Icing

Wet on Wet techniques for Royal Icing

1 Recipe Almond Sugar Cookies

1 Recipe Royal Icing,

Various Round cutters

Blue Gel Food Coloring

Yellow Gel Food Coloring

Size 1 round tip

2 Size 5 round tips

Tooth picks

  • Bake cookies and let cool
  • Make Royal Icing (RI), divided into 3 parts
  • Use food coloring to tint 2 parts of the Royal Icing (RI) (blue/yellow)
  • Fill bag with white outline consistency RI, fit with size 1 round tip
  • Outline all your cookies and let set at least 15 minutes to allow the RI to firm up
outline cookies with RI

outline cookies with RI

  • Fill RI by spread it with a shallow spoon
RI fill consistency

RI fill consistency

spread RI with shallow spoon

spread RI with shallow spoon

  • Spread RI with a shallow spoon, pushing the icing from the center out towards the edges
  • Immediately pipe alternating colored RI onto the wet fill
pipe colored RI onto wet fill

pipe colored RI onto wet fill

  • Immediately drag a tooth pick across the cookie
drag a tooth pick through RI

drag a tooth pick through RI

drag a tooth pick in alternating directions to create desire affect

drag a tooth pick in alternating directions to create desire affect

Drag the tooth pick in the opposite direction to create desired affect

pipe colored RI onto white fill

pipe colored RI onto white fill

drag a tooth pick through RI

drag a tooth pick through RI

repeat to reach desired affect

repeat to reach desired affect

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Royal Icing: Wet on Wet Techniques Part 1

11 Jun

Royal Icing: Wet on Wet Techniques Part 1

Royal Icing Wet on Wet Technique Part 1

Royal Icing Wet on Wet Technique Part 1

These cookies look so cool and are relatively easy to make. The design possibilities are endless.

1 Recipe Almond Sugar Cookies

1 Recipe Royal Icing,

Various Round cutters

Blue Gel Food Coloring

Yellow Gel Food Coloring

Size 1 round tip

2 Size 5 round tips

Tooth picks

  • Bake cookies and let cool
  • Make Royal Icing, divided into 3 parts
  • Use food coloring to tint 2 parts of the Royal Icing (blue/yellow)
  • Fill bag with white outline consistency RI, fit with size 1 round tip
  • Outline all your cookies and let set at least 15 minutes to allow the RI to firm up
outline cookies with RI

outline cookies with RI

  • Fill 2 more bags with blue and yellow; fit them with size 5 tips
  • Use a slightly thinner RI to fill. DO NOT overfill since you will be adding more icing.
RI fill consistency

RI fill consistency

Spread RI with a shallow spoon

Pipe Different colored RI in circles onto wet fill

Pipe Different colored RI in circles onto wet fill

  • Immediately use a tooth pick to drag through the color icing rings from the outside into the center of the cookie.
drag a tooth pick from outside into the middle

drag a tooth pick from outside into the middle

  • Do the same to the opposite side, dividing the cookie in half, then continue by doing the same technique to divided the cookie in fourths
Repeat until desired affect is reached

Repeat until desired affect is reached

you can add more rings and divide the cookie more as desired

Add colored circles to white fill

Add colored circles to white fill

drag a tooth pick from outside in to create desired affect

drag a tooth pick from outside in to create desired affect

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True Blood, Part 2

8 Jun

True Blood, Don’t Cry! It’s Back! Part 2

True Blood Cookie Platter

True Blood Cookie Platter

 

  • 1 Recipe Red Velvet Sugar, I used I am Baker (http://iambaker.net/red-velvet-sugar-cookies) recipe, they are excellent
  • 1 Recipe Royal Icing
  • 3.25 round cutter
  • Red Gel Food Coloring ( I used Wilton Red-red)
  • Black Gel Food Coloring

 

Create a base layer of black Royal icing with out outling by using a slightly thicker consistency and spoon the icing on to the cookie and spread. The icing should be thick enough not to run but thin enough so that when you spread and gentle shake the cookie it levels out. You may want to let cookies with a dark base set over night before applying light colored icing on top as the dark color may bleed.

(see True Blood Part 1 for pictorial on applying a base layer without outling)

 

  • Start with 2 cups of thick icing
  • Add 1 teaspoon vodka
  • Add ½ teaspoon water
  • Continue to add water a few drops at a time until the desired consistency is reached
  • Using a shallow spoon, spoon icing onto cookie pushing the icing towards the edges
  • Spread icing as evenly as possible with spoon quickly
  • Gently shake or tap the cookie to further even out the icing

 

Create the Title

 

I do not have a projector so I free hand my cookies. I find if I have a print out of what I am wanting to pipe in the correct size, right next to my cookie, I can free hand pretty well. You can also use edible markers to pre-draw your design onto the cookies and then pipe over. If you have errors simply remove the piped outline error with a tooth pick and reapply your outling.

 

The desired consistency for outlining is pretty thick. You want the icing to stay put and be able to act as a dam when you fill. But it needs to flow smoothly out of the bag as you pipe.

To see a full posting on how to make and outline with Royal Icing check out Royal Icing Outline and fill.

 

I used a size 1 round tip to out line following the True Blood Logo of white for “true” and red for “Blood”.

outline True Blood

outline True Blood

 

After outlining the logo I filled in the letters after allowing the outline set for about 15 minutes.

Fill in letters

Fill in letters

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True Blood, Don’t Cry! It’s Back!

5 Jun

Don’t Cry! It’s Back!

Season 5 of True Blood starts on June 10. To celebrate lets make cookies! I will be posting some How-to’s to help get your fangs out.

True Blood Cookies

True Blood Cookies

Blood Splatter Cookies

If I had to name one image dominate to True Blood it would definitely be blood splatters and drips.

  • 1 Recipe Red Velvet Sugar, I used a recipe from I am Baker
  • 1 Recipe Royal Icing
  • 3.25 round cutter
  • Small Heart Cutter
  • Red Gel Food Coloring ( I used Wilton Red-red)

Bake and let your cookies cool.

Make 1 recipe royal icing.

Red Velvet Cookies

Red Velvet Cookies

Since I was making a few different types of decorated cookies out of this one batch, I didn’t want to outline and then fill all of them. You can create a base layer of Royal icing with out outling if you use a slightly thicker consistency and spoon the icing on to the cookie and spread. The icing should be thick enough not to run of the side of the cookie but thin enough so that when you spread and gentle shake the cookie it levels out.

  • Start with 2 cups of thick white icing
  • Add 1 teaspoon vodka
  • Add ½ teaspoon water
  • Continue to add water a few drops at a time until the desired consistency is reached
RI Consistency

RI Consistency

  • Using a shallow spoon, spoon icing onto cookie pushing the icing towards the edges (I use baby and toddler spoons for this)
Spoon RI onto Cookie and spread to edges

Spoon RI onto Cookie and spread to edges

  • Spread icing as evenly as possible with spoon quickly
Spread RI as evenly as possible with spoon

Spread RI as evenly as possible with spoon

  • Gently shake or tap the cookie to further even out the icing
Smooth finish after shaking and gently tapping cookie

Smooth finish after shaking and gently tapping cookie

  • Let stand for 10-15 minute or until icing has started to harden

 To make “blood” splatters

  • In a small bowl mix 2 tablespoons water and ¼ teaspoon red gel food coloring
  • Mix until all food coloring has dissolved
MIx food coloring until dissolved

Mix food coloring until dissolved

  • Using a spoon, drip food coloring over cookies to create a splattered effect
  • Let dry over night
Blood Splatter Cookies

Blood Splatter Cookies

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