Fondant cupcake toppers

When my husband and I were married in June 2011, we (well...*I*) waffled back and forth between a traditional wedding cake and a cupcake-wedding cake. In the end, we liked the single-serving idea and knew that we could put our "spin" on each cupcake to make them personal. Plus, they were practical - having cupcakes meant we didn't have a cake-cutting fee, we didn't need to buy/rent forks, and didn't need someone to hand out cake. We ordered both white and chocolate cupcakes from a local bakery, topped with luscious white buttercream frosting. (and our dear friend ended up giving them to us as a [very generous] wedding gift!!)

After what seemed like months of searching for topper ideas, I found a magazine picture of a small fondant coin with the letter "M" stamped into it. I tore it out of the magazine and knew immediately I wanted to re-create it for our wedding!

I have used Rycraft cookie stamps before, and saw they had a monogram cookie stamp. I bought it online with the hopes it would be *just* what I was looking for...and it was!

Here's how's I (easily!) made monogrammed "B" fondant cupcake toppers for our wedding:

Ingredients:

• Wilton pre-made White fondant
• Cookie stamp
• Rolling pin
• cornstarch
• Small circle cookie cutter
• Parchment paper
• small, new paintbrush
• Wilton white shimmer dust

Step #1: Dust your working space (countertop is just fine!) with Cornstarch. Using my rolling pin, I rolled out 1/3 of the bag of pre-made fondant, to approx. 1/4" thick.It helps to knead the fondant to soften it a little before rolling it out.

Step #2: I took the cookie stamp, and with medium pressure, stamped a "B" (my future married-last name) in the fondant. 

Step #3: Then, I used a smallish circle cookie cutter (the middle one of that set) to cut a circle around the letter. Use a thin spatula to move circle to a piece of parchment paper to begin drying.

Step #4: Before the circles are dry, use a small, new paintbrush to dust them with a small amount of shimmer dust. No water is necessary - just dust the dry shimmer dust directly on the fondant. I used the white shimmer, and it gave the monogram toppers a very elegant sheen.

Step #5: Let the fondant harden. I made around 150 of them, so put them in several parchment paper-lined cardboard shirt boxes and stacked them in my dining room for several days.

The day of the wedding, my bridesmaids and I pushed them into the wedding cupcakes as beautiful toppers!! I received SO many compliments on how beautiful they were...they were the perfect decoration to add that little something special! (and no one could believe they were homemade) :)

I made a small 6" cake for the top of the cupcake tower, so we'd have a cake to cut for us...Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting...YUM!! 

And, in the South, a Groom's cake is a fun wedding tradition - sometimes you'll see it at the rehearsal dinner, and sometimes at the actual wedding. My hubby is a golfer, so in keeping with the cupcake theme, I ordered some additional cupcakes, covered in hunter-green sugar, and topped them with homemade white chocolate golf balls, and personalized golf tees that I ordered online. The golf balls and tees were added the morning of the Wedding.

Notes:
* Photos courtesy of Nicole Faby Photography
** I made our fondant circles about 2 weeks before the wedding.
*** I would recommend that your guests remove the fondant before digging into the cupcake...it doesn't have any flavor, and since the fondant will have hardened, they'd be difficult to bite into!
**** Don't put them on the cupcakes any sooner than the day of your event. Any earlier and the grease from the buttercream frosting would break down the fondant - you'd be left with a gummy fondant mess!

These cupcake toppers could be equally as beautiful at a bridal shower, baby shower, 

or a birthday, anniversary, or engagement party.

Rycraft makes cookie stamps for ALL occasions, so the options are endless!