ooh la la...Paris cupcakes

Yes, Paris is on my mind. These cupcake toppers are crazy easy to make and Parisian-ize cupcakes nicely.

you will need:*

cupcakes
frosting
pink frosting color
pastry bag, coupler, and large circle tip (optional)
white rolled fondant
rolling pin
wax paper
1 1/2" circle cutter
black gourmet writer

*I used a tinted buttercream frosting (see below for recipe). The pastry bag, coupler and tip are optional, but I used these to pipe the frosting on the cupcake. Find ready-made fondant at the craft store. You can find edible pens there, but I use Americolor gourmet writers. I also use Americolor soft gel pastes for coloring.


how to make Paris cuppies:

step one: make your cupcakes
Prepare cupcakes and ice with pink-tinted frosting. I used buttercream tinted with a few drops of Electric Pink soft gel paste. To make buttercream, blend 1/2 cup softened butter, a box of confectioner's sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a few tablespoons milk (to desired thickness). I used a pastry bag fitted with a large tip, but you can also spread the frosting on the cupcake with a spatula.

step two: make your fondant circles
Briefly knead a piece of rolled fondant. (If the fondant gets too sticky at any time, simply let it sit out uncovered at room temperature for 15 minutes.) Roll fondant between two pieces of wax paper about 3/8" thick. Cut out circles with cutter and let stiffen an hour or two.

step three: draw your designs
When stiffened, draw your Paris designs with the edible pen (see the end of this post for poodle and Eiffel Tower detail). Let ink dry before packaging circles in a sealed container to keep until you serve the cupcakes.


step four: assemble your cupcakes
Before serving, pop the circle on the cupcake. That's it!

update!! So I can add these yummies to the "how to draw on food" collection over there on the right, I added some step-by-step how-tos:

la tour eiffel
1. draw a small vertical line and three rectangles
2. connect the top and middle rectangles and the middle and bottom rectangles with lines
3. make two more lines between the middle and bottom rectangles
4. make two "L"s on the bottom (one backwards)
5. make an almost-whole circle to connect the two "L"s
6. draw "X"s inside poodle
1. draw poof
2. draw another poof and two lines to make ear
3. draw face (a curved triangleish) with a dot for a nose
4. draw a line for the back
5. draw the hind leg (two loops)
6. draw a poof and two lines for the front leg
7. draw a poof and two lines for the tail
8. make a dot for the eye