Spring Fondant Toppers

Our neighborhood got together last Sunday afternoon. We grabbed out chairs and sat around our cul-de-sac, keeping our 6 foot distance. It almost felt normal. We chatted, laughed, and ate. I made vanilla cupcakes with these spring fondant toppers to share with everyone.

If you’ve never made fondant toppers, they are really quite fun and not too hard to make. You’ll make cupcakes with frosting like you normally would (and you can find the recipe for vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting here) and add the completed toppers once the fondant is dried.

I have a couple of tutorials for fondant toppers, so you can see here (scroll down to later in the post) and here if you’re interested. A new thing I tried this time: painting food gel on a stamp and pressing into the fondant. It was a bit time consuming, but I thought it turned out cute.

A few tricks I have learned along the way:

1. Only use gel food coloring. Water-based color will change the consistency of the fondant. (I love Americolor gels.)
2. Have all your supplies ready and on-hand. To make things easier, you can always use fondant molds. If you find the fondant sticking in the mold, add a little powdered sugar inside the mold before pressing in the fondant. It’ll make it come out easier.
3. When working with the fondant, if it starts to feel sticky or gummy, add a little powdered sugar to your hands. Be careful though, because if you overwork the fondant, you’ll create cracks when it dries, often called elephant-skin (because that is what it looks like!).
4. Let the fondant dry completely. I usually make these toppers a day ahead of time and place on parchment or wax paper to dry. Once you place the toppers on your cupcake, the oils from the frosting will soften the fondant slightly and your design. The last thing you want is a wilted design!
5. Let each piece of your design dry fully before “gluing” it together. When gluing, use piping gel. It’s tasteless and dries fully, so you don’t see it. Water makes indents in your fondant and ruins the design. It will not glue the pieces together well.
6. When painting, use a stamp that is brand new or only used for food. Take a thin paintbrush to paint the gel color onto whatever portion of the stamp you want colored. Press gently into the fondant. You’ll have to reapply the color each time you stamp.

I hope you give this fun technique a try! You can even make the toppers ahead of time. Once they are fully dry, place in an airtight container for up to a month. They are so much fun and the possibilities are endless. Happy baking! xoxo