Hello Kitty Cupcake Toppers for Valentines Day - Rolled Fondant

The Finished Cupcake

Inspiration for the cupcake - an image I found online. I was going to make a cookie but chose a cupcake instead, because I'll be making close to 200 cookies next week.

I placed the jpeg image in word and re-sized, because I hadn't decided yet what I was going to do with this image. I ended up using one of the small ones for the cupcake toppers. I will make a cookie of this, but not today. It's a no flour mess kind of day.

Step 1, gently roll fondant

To start buy some fondant, I used a Joann's cupon and bought some Wilton prepared fondant 50% off. It has been so much fun playing with this and I wonder why I would waste money on play dough when I could just buy fondant and for men and the kids.

To dye the fondant, use either Wilton or Americolor food dyes and gently knead. Wear non-latex gloves if you don't want red hands and to keep it very clean. Place a small amount of shortening on your counter to prevent sticking. You will notice the fondant will loosen up as you go.

Step 2, quickly roll fondant

Using a small fondant rolling pin, flatten and roll the fondant using the purple (higher) band. Important note, because I'm just making embellishments I'm not going to get carried away by taking out too much of the fondant. It dries very quickly here in Arizona and I usually have to discard all the scraps. So less is more.

Step 3, place fondant through Kitchen KPSA pasta roller

If you don't have this attachment you will have to continue with the plastic rolling pin until the sheet of fondant is very very thin using the thinner pink band. I love this attachment. I took a fondant/gumpaste flower class and this is how the instructor quickly prepared roses. I returned one of my Christmas presents and bought this three set of Kitchenaid attachments - this one is called the Kitchenaid KPRA set as it includes the roller and the cutters for fettucine. You can buy the KPSA alone, but for me it was worthwhile to buy the set of three. I had to do a lot of research beforehand to make sure I was buying the right one. Kitchenaid says it shouldn't be used for this, but I'll spend more time rolling fondant than I will rolling pasta.

Put it through the KPSA pasta roller two times to get it very thin. I have the knob turned on the number two to get it just the right thickness. Again, without the attachment just gently roll and roll. No big deal! This is how I prepared the fondant for my Valentines Cookies a couple of weeks ago. It saves a lot of time.

Nice thin sheets of Fondant - keep covered to prevent drying.

Sort of carve the image onto wax paper

Trace the image on to wax paper - you can see how the pattern transfers as you scrape off the wax layer.

You can also outline the trace marks with an edible marker to make it easier to see. Be careful with the marker because it will get on the Fondant. In this case I can just flip the cut-out over.

Gently place the image transfer on top of the fondant

The wax paper goes over the fondant and you will use a small tool (I used one of my metal pics) to trace the image. Very gently push into the fondant to outline the image. You will later cut around these lines. I used a paring knife to cut out the shape. You could also use an exacto knife. Just make sure whatever you use is sharp. After cutting you can place the shape back over the original image or the wax paper and make adjustments as necessary. I don't have any fancy fondant tools so I just used knives and spoons to smooth the edges. Hello Kitty is pretty symmetrical so I don't really have to worry about the direction. With other shapes I would need to pay attention to right and wrong sides.

Outline and transfer the bow

I got a picture of one of my favorite tools. I need to take a better picture. This is sold at the dollar store with turkey ties and is supposed to be used for poultry. I decided it would be great for helping me flood cookies. The tips are so small it works great to clear the clogged decorating tips.

Transfer Heart Image

My heart cookie cutter was not quite right so I made it the shape of the jpeg image.

Add Details

I placed the template back on the Hello Kitty and gently pressed where the head and the nose needed to be placed. I drew on the eyes and whiskers with a black pen. I used yellow royal icing for the nose (just because I already had it prepared) and used royal icing to glue the pieces together. You could just use water to stick fondant to fondant. I used my favorite little fondant PME plunger cutters to make the flowers and hearts with the scraps.

Completed Toppers, I could stop here but thought I'd make some cupcakes.

Use a coupler with a ziploc bag to make clean up easy. 1 part butter + 1 part shortening + a lot of powdered sugar and just a little milk and vanilla. Thank you Cathy Olsen.

Frosting ready to go.

Completed Cupcakes

Look at Cathy's info and tips on making delicious cupcakes.

I have to also acknowledge sweetsugarbelle for her post about transferring with pins for her Hello Kitty Cookies.

I also want to show this cute little Angry Bird cupcake Julianna (age 10) prepared.

Thanks to those helping me and encouraging me to have fun with this hobby.