Farmyard Cupcake Toppers

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Working with fondant is far from my strong point when it comes to baking. But I have, over the years, being trying to improve my skills, which admittedly remain very basic.

When we settled on a Farmyard theme for Miss M’s recent birthday party, I decided to carry over the theme for a batch of cupcakes she would be taking to daycare. And while I was initially tempted to purchase the toppers (there are so many great cake decorators out there!) I figured that perhaps it was a good opportunity to work on my fondant skills.

Armed with fondant of various colours, – along with edible glue, eyes  and 3 little helpers who were more than eager to assist – we got to work.

First – the pigs!

I rolled out some pink fondant, then cut four large circles for the faces, four smaller circles for the nose, and four more circles that I cut in half and shaped into ears. Glued together with the edible glue, and finished with the pre-made edible eyes…

Next up – the chickens!

I rolled out yellow fondant, and cut four large circles for the bodies, and four small circles that were then cut in half to make the wings. I used red fondant cut into small triangles for the beaks, and again, edible eyes.

And finally, the cows!

These were probably the most fiddly. I used four circles of white fondant for the faces, four smaller pink circles for the noses, then shaped smaller black circles (again, cut in half) for the ears and the “spots”.

After a few hours of construction, we had ourselves some farmyard cupcake toppers! I let them sit out (uncovered) overnight, so that they could firm up a little, then attached them to cupcakes with a swirl of buttercream. And thanks to a cardboard cupcake box (purchased from Latorta), we were able to easily transfer them to daycare for the kids to enjoy!

I was so happy with how they turned out – and can’t wait to try my hand at another theme sometime soon! Using pre-coloured fondant (as opposed to colouring my own) was probably not the cheapest option, but it definitely saved me a bit of time – not to mention avoiding the inevitable staining of hands…

How to make an edible cake topper

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Happy Saturday! I hope that you are all enjoying this Easter long weekend. Day 3 of  MOVE it, TONE it, DRINK it challenge went very well today. I hit the gym as soon as it opened to MOVE it. aka. Body Pump and 30 minutes on the elliptical. We had a new Body Pump instructor and she was super hyper and super fantastic! Actually, the class was crazy busy – I counted over 60 people in the class! I returned home full of energy and straight away launched into some domestic tasks I have been putting off for a while. The garage is now organised enough to fit my car in (yay!) and I also went through loads of boxes of photos – keeping aside the ones I want to put into albums and photo boxes, and throwing out a heap of bad quality ones. I also intended on going through the 10000s of photos I have on my computer, but I lost motivation after sorting the hard copies and will get to the digital ones over the rest of this long weekend. But, now, didn’t I promise you some details of my Good Friday cake?? When I was asked to bring something for dessert, I decided that I wanted to create something that was simple, yet different to anything I had done before. I also wanted something that was bright and colourful. I settled on a vanilla layer cake, with maple butter cream frosting. Simple yet sweet. IMG_8182 But the true star of this cake was the bold and bright edible cake topper. Which was actually quite easy to make, despite appearances. It had to be started the the day before, however… Want to know the secret? IMG_8104 Ready to roll fondant!!! IMG_8105 Why make your own when you can by it ready made ;)  The wonders of fondant being that when it is fresh, it will be soft and pliable (kinda like play doh) allowing you to shape it any way that you want. It then firms up overnight allowing your creations to hold their shape. White seemed a little boring, so I coloured the fondant using yellow food colouring… IMG_8107 Kneaded until it was a consistent yellow… IMG_8108 Then rolled out to around 4mm thickness. IMG_8111 Sliced into strips using my trusty pizza cutter… IMG_8113IMG_8114 Then, moving quickly while the fondant was soft… IMG_8115 I folded each strip over to form a loop, IMG_8116 Pressing the ends together. Repeated until I had used all the fondant.  IMG_8117 Oh, but be warned…. IMG_8119 Yellow food colouring may result in coloured fingers! With all the loops done, I left them on the counter-top over night to dry and become firm. Then, on the morning of our Good Friday lunch, I got to work putting the cake, and the topper, together. Starting with the cake. Or should I say, two vanilla cakes, with a layer of maple buttercream frosting in between. IMG_8160 Followed by a crumbs layer… IMG_8161 And then finished with a thick layer of the maple buttercream frosting. IMG_8168 As I mentioned before, putting the topper together was actually quite easy, despite appearances. Step 1:  Place a large spoonful of the buttercream into the middle of the cake. IMG_8169 Step 2: Working in a circle, press 6 of the loops into the buttercream centre, to form the bottom layer of the bow. IMG_8170 Step 3: Place a further spoonful of the buttercream into the centre. IMG_8171 Step 4: Place 4 to 5 loops on top of the others, pressing them into the icing in the centre to ensure they are stable.  IMG_8172 Step 5: Finish by placing a final loop into the centre of the bow.  IMG_8173 And voila…. IMG_8174 A fancy edible cake topper!  IMG_8184 I love the height of this topper, IMG_8180 And how it jazzes up an otherwise traditional vanilla cake.   IMG_8183  IMG_8185  And given the versatility of the ready to roll fondant…  IMG_8191IMG_8188IMG_8190 You could adapt it to fit in with any colour scheme! IMG_8192 I told you it was simple 🙂 ___________________________ Day 3 – MOVE it, TONE it, DRINK it

  • MOVE it – Body Pump 1hr / Elliptical 30 minutes
  • TONE it – Push ups 26!
  • DRINK it – 1.5 L (better than yesterday but still needs work 😉

___________________________ What about you? Do you use fondant often? This was my first time and I must say, I am sold! It was a lot of fun! Happy Baking 🙂