Since the Hello Kitty chocolate heads were a bust (har har) I decided to go simple and make some very easy fondant toppers. I always tell people, working with fondant CAN be easy. You don’t have to go over the top with it, a lot can be said with a little. While it’s true, I do work with brightly colored fondant, (case in point: Superhero Cupcakes) sometimes you can convey an image simply…with white.

I made up a batch of Ovaltine cupcakes, which were delicious of course, but so dark. I wanted to play up the dark and light aspect of them and be subtle with the cuteness.

I took some plain white fondant and just used cookie cutters to cut out ‘Tippy’ and ‘Cathy’. (Those are Hello Kitty’s friends, for those in the know. I know entirely too much about Sanrio, obviously.)

The size was perfect to top a cupcake and the image wasn’t over powering, just clean and sweet. Exactly what I wanted.

I hand frosted some cupcakes, no piping just freeform – with chocolate frosting and some with cream cheese frosting just so that the box had a nice balance.

Well defined cookie cutters are great for fondant work especially if you don’t want to spend hours cutting by hand.

These would be great for a tea party! A classic black and white with just enough fun to make you smile!

The best thing to serve at a Comic shop is comic themed cupcakes, right? Everyone liked being able to see my stationery in person – so many people came out for the event, I was really humbled and happy!

I made red velvet cupcakes and Ovaltine cupcakes and the hand carved fondant toppers were a hit!

The thing I love about Superhero logos are the simple clean designs, just the image and the colors can tell you instantly who is who. All of which are PERFECT elements for topping cupcakes! I knew I wanted to do some of the basics, Superman, Batman – but I figured that some of the more obscure logos would be fun and also appeal to the diehard fanboy/fangirl.

The only difficulty in this process was dyeing all the different colors of fondant. I certainly got an upper arm workout. You could buy pre-dyed, but I just love to make my life difficult, as you know.

Now, how to execute these, just like with all my fondant how-tos, I start with a template. A simple image printed off the internet. First scale it down to fit within a 2.5″ circle (a typical cupcake size).

A 2.5 inch biscuit cutter is perfect for cutting out the circle toppers and seeing how they’ll place, once on top of the cupcakes.

Then using an x-acto knife, I cut out the templates, lay them on the fondant and get to work. A lot of trouble? For sure. But in the end you get a really nice clean cut and are able to do images that don’t exist in cookie cutter form.

The trickiest was the Superman logo. It was three layers of cutting and amazingly enough it was the easiest to execute, that’s probably what also made it so stable. I think people really appreciated the amount of work I took carving out the logo. Captain America was another winner. People said they liked that I did the head gear instead of going the typical route of doing his shield. Again, I knew appealing to die hard fans would make them happy.

I knew I didn’t want to go with the obvious female logo choice – Wonder Woman, and so I chose Phoenix. Not only would it appeal to true comic book fans, but she was also my friend Sarah’s favorite!

It turned out to be the most difficult of all the logos. The tiny side cuts were extremely fragile and there was a lot of fondant breakage. Turns out it was a perfect choice though, Phoenix was the #1 sellout. People LOVED that cupcake! And it sure went fast.

These are NOT the simplest of cupcakes to make, but as with all fondant work, patience and practice can get you some nice results!

I think it’s about time I retired these ’sleeping baby’ cupcakes, as I tend to make them A LOT. However, for the Cupcake Camp O.C. amateur competition – they fit right into the theme of ‘childhood inspired’ cupcakes!

Since the cupcake were supposed to be memories of childhood, I used the sleeping babies and put them on a bed of Ovaltine cupcakes – that seems like what you’d drink to help yourself nod off for a good night’s sleep.

I topped them with a cream cheese frosting, and of course the baby blankets were made out of Starburst that I rolled out by hand – another childhood favorite!

I then made little signs of the babies dreaming happy dreams…

The babies looked great – and the crowd of over 800+ people (!) seemed to love them! I put out 48 cupcakes, turned around and literally they were gone in SECONDS! Wow!

Cupcake Camp O.C. was a great event for a good cause and though I didn’t win, I still made the TOP THREE!! I was so happy to be a part of it and can’t wait for the next one!

Wonder why the ice isn’t melting? It’s SUGAR!

Shave Ice is THE thing to eat in Hawaii, so for a Hawaiian themed 1st birthday party, I thought I’d make…SHAVE ICE cupcakes!

ingredients:
Cupcakes (I used Very Vanilla Cupcakes, recipe – here.)
frosting
red sanding sugar
blue sanding sugar
yellow sanding sugar
4 oz styrofoam cups
red cocktail straws
wooden spoons

The key to making it look like shave ice is to go with the typical ‘rainbow’ shave ice colors. Yellow in the middle, flanked by red and blue on the side.

Place the sugars into separate bowls, then use a spoon to carefully stick the sugar to a freshly frosted cupcake. The tiny granules of the sanding sugar start to look like fine pieces of ice.

Once the cupcakes are frosted and sugared, place them into the 4oz styrofoam cups, this really helps make them look realistic…

but if you really want to put it over the top, add a thin red cocktail straw and a wooden spoon: two things which complete any shave ice and make these faux ones look VERY real.

Lined up, they make a great addition to any summer dessert table. Best of all, they’ll never melt!

You know how I LOVE Disney – well these Minnie Mouse cupcake toppers are perfect for a Disney fan’s birthday!

ingredients:
fondant
black gel dye
red gel dye
white frosting

Start by dyeing the fondant black. I always use gel dye and might I suggest investing in some disposable gloves, as the black is UNFORGIVING on your skin. Dyeing fondant black is hard, you don’t want gray tones – so you have to just keep working with it. If it’s not dark enough, let it dry a bit, then add some more color. Just keep working it in.

Once you’ve got the black you want – get a template ready. I just printed out some random ‘Mickey head’ images and sized it to the scale I wanted (these were mini cupcakes, so they were only about 1.75″ in diameter). Roll our your fondant on a flat surface, lay the template over and cut out the image. Set aside to dry.

Now the bows – if you know Minnie she has a GIANT floppy bow on her head. I’ve seen people do ‘Minnie’ cupcakes and they have this itty bitty bow on a big ol’ head. Nope. This Disney fanatic is here to tell you to stay true to the characters, do your research, Minnie wears a giant floppy bow, and traditionally it’s red with polka dots.

To make the bows – dye fondant red, then sculpting it with just your hands, make two little triangles with rounded edges. Put them together, almost like a butterfly, then add a little round ‘knot’ in the middle.

Lay the bows on the black Mickey heads and suddenly…they are Minnie!

Now just pipe on some white dots on the bows and she’s ready to go!

Place the heads on top of the frosted cupcakes – I used chocolate-y cupcakes (recipe, here) in red and yellow wrappers. VERY Mickey and Minnie.

You can’t go wrong with Julia Child. I watch her old shows on dvd and peruse her books constantly. The book: Baking with Julia has some really great easy recipes.

I saw her “Lemon Loaf Cake” and adapted it to cupcake form – a really easy way to get individual servings. This cake is so flavorful and so much like a pound cake, but light at the same time. Don’t believe me – try it and you’ll find it just melts in your mouth. Best of all? You can make it all by hand in one bowl – no need for a mixer!

ingredients:
4 eggs
1-1/3 cups sugar
pinch of salt
zest of 3 lemons
1-3/4 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup heavy cream
5-1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and salt – just until foamy, don’t over do it.

Now add the lemon zest. It’s amazing how flavorful these are considering there is no lemon juice, just the zest. It really pulls this whole cake together.

Spoon the flour and baking powder into the egg mixture, whisking slightly until combined.

Whisk in the heavy cream, then fold in the melted butter.

Spoon the batter into the prepped cupcake pan. Bake for 20+/- minutes depending on your oven. Check for doneness with a toothpick. Let cool on a wire rack.

While I have frosted these, there is really no need – they are great on their own. Or maybe just sift a little powdered sugar on top to show people how fancy you are.

The one thing people say about my cupcakes is that they are not overly sweet. Well…here’s a remedy for that. Top them with candy.

Decorating can be the most fun part of cupcake making, but you don’t have to be an expert with the piping bag or a fondant master. Just buy some super colorful candies and be creative. Maybe it’s all my years of gingerbread house making but I love looking for new candies to use as decor. This is also a great way to get the kids involved too, but don’t blame me for the sugar high…

ingredients:
frosted cupcakes
candies

When it comes to choosing candies think of a type and look for texture and color. Chocolate is always a good topper. While I’ve made Hello Kitty heads and Lego men out of chocolate, you can find some pretty cool store bought ones right off the shelf.

Snocaps are cool because they are TINY enough for cupcake tops, and you can arrange them creatively. The nonpareils give it a really nice textural quality as well.

Japanese markets are GREAT for candies cause they have funky things you’ve never seen. I am a big fan of these cute little pyramid-y chocolate that are half strawberry half chocolate a yummy combo and just the right amount of color.

But you don’t have to buy special ones – ANY chocolate makes a good topper, from shavings, to chocolate chips – to crushed chocolate cookies. Chocolate is king!

Another good go-to is gumdrops. For one thing they are everywhere, so if you are at the drugstore you can pick up a bag for about a buck. They are stunningly colorful and fun and give a lot of height to the cupcake.

Lastly, persue the candy aisle. Go ahead, wander it. Take it all in. You’ll see candy in a whole new light. Flat strips, rolled bits, bean shapes – all work great. And if you can find them sugared – even better, it gives a nice sparkly quality to the cupcake.

You’ll be surprised at what nice display of different colors and textures you can come up with, just like a candy shop!

Sweet tooth – no joke, but decorating cupcakes can be really easy if you just keep your eye out for interesting candy and get creative!

Whee! My Tiny Rainbow Sherbet Ice Cream Cupcakes are one of three finalists for the Best Ice Cream Cupcake!

PLEASE go HERE and VOTE for me – you just might win a prize pack too!! Thanks!

Chocolate. Hello Kitty. What more could you want?

I adore ice cube molds – they are NOT just for ice. When I made little chocolate Lego men they were so cute – how could these Hello Kitty ice molds go wrong? Er…

ingredients:
6 ounces chocolate (I used Belgian : Callebaut)

In a double boiler melt down the chocolate until you get a nice runny consistency. Spoon or pipe the chocolate into the molds.

Using a toothpick I swirled the chocolate around a bit to get rid of any air bubbles and ‘dropped’ the mold once just to be sure there were no air pockets.

To set faster, I put the mold in the freezer for 5 minutes. Then just pop them right out! Easy, right? Uh oh.

Hm. NOT so easy. Because this mold was hard plastic, not lovely silicone like the Lego mold, there were problems. Big problems. Loss of limbs. Crushed ears. Kitty carnage everywhere. So very sad. So I did what any good medic would do and SEVERED THOSE KITTY HEADS CLEAN OFF. It pained, me, but it had to be done.

I hoped that when I placed them carefully with love on top of a cupcake no one would be the wiser. So I made up some Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting…I know, I know, two things I hate: banana and cream cheese?? Don’t worry – these weren’t for me.

I think they still turned out adorable, but I am definitely going to try this again with a little more patience. Hopefully the poor kitties will survive next time…

There’s nothing lovelier than a deep shade of purple. But what makes this ice cream so colorful? YAM of course. What.

I thought a nice color – as well as textural – contrast would be to pair it with a cupcake – not just any cupcake, a mochi cupcake!

ingredients:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup flour
3/4 cup mochiko
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup milk

Ube ice cream

Ube is the Filipino word for yam and you can make some amazingly colorful sweets with it. Don’t be scared – it’s really tasty, honest. At certain asian markets you can find Ube Ice Cream pre-made in the freezer section.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour, mochiko, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla. Alternate the flour mixture with the milk, until combined.

Pour into prepped liners. Bake for 15-17 minutes depending on your oven, testing with a toothpick. Let cool on a wire rack.

Keep the cupcakes in an airtight container or in the freezer (individually wrapped) until you are ready to use them. Then take a scoop of Ube Ice Cream and sit it right on top. A pretty little presentation – great for a hot summer day.