Memorial Day Cupcakes!

I knew I wanted to make some Memorial Day Cupcakes, and I've had some fondant I bought a while ago still sitting around in the package because it intimidated me. But this past weekend, I conquered it! I planned everything out and knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I had to work all weekend, so I started to make cute little toppers the night before.

Problem #1- The rolled fondant I had was pastel. I had originally bought it for Easter. But you can't use pastel's for Memorial Day!

Solution- I decided to try and tint it darker. I broke out my food dye and started with the pink. First stuck the pink fondant in a small zip lock baggie and added the red food dye. I kneaded the fondant (while in the bag) with the red dye. Keeping it in the bag kept my hands and workplace neat and clean! As I was doing it I found that it was difficult to get a deep even red color but I'm really happy with how it came out...you'll see what I mean in a little bit. I repeated the same process with the light blue fondant.

Problem #2- After I rolled the red out flat, I realized that I didn't have a round cutter to make the base of my topper.

Solution- Sprinkle Bottle Cap! It worked to make the perfect size base for my toppers!

Next I used a small star cutter from William's Sonoma to cut out my blue stars. Making these was easier than I thought and most of the tools I used were everyday kitchen items.



Rolling Pin (used to roll out fondant)
Zip Lock Bag (helped me tint the fondant)
Red Food Dye
Fondant Shaping/Molding tools
Cheese Knife (used to lift the fondant shape off wax paper)
Sprinkle Cap (used to cut the base)
Star Cutter
Wax Paper

So I wanted to store these until the next day when I would be making my cupcakes. So I stuck them in an airtight container.



I love how they came out looking like TYE DYE!

So the next morning I started to make the cupcakes, Red Velvet of course. While my Cupcakes were baking I assembled my toppers. I used a little drop of water to attach the star to the base. After baking them and letting them cool. I frosted them with Vanilla icing and sprinkled about half of the Cupcakes. Then I frosted the other half (still using Vanilla) and topped them with the toppers. Next I used Clear Sparkling Sugar on the icing around the toppers. If you get sugar on the topper, just used a small paint brush to brush it off. I am so excited they came out as they did! ADORABLE!

















To make these Cupcakes you will need:

Red Velvet Cake Mix
Vanilla Icing
Red White & Blue Sprinkles, and Non Pareils.
Fondant (and the tools listed above)
Clear Sparkling Sugar


♥ ♥ ♥

cupcake