Christmas Themed Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
For Marshmallow Fondant
- 4 cups White mini marshmallow 8 oz / 225 gms
- 4 cups Icing Sugar
- 1 tbsp Water
- 1 tbsp Vegetable Shortening / Butter
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence optional
Instructions
- Place the marshmallows, water and vanilla essence (if using) in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on High for 1 minute to start melting the marshmallows. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Gradually add the icing sugar, one cup at a time, until you have a sticky dough. Reserve 1 cup of powdered sugar for kneading. The dough will be very stiff.
- Rub your hands thoroughly with butter, and begin kneading the sticky dough. As you knead, the dough will become workable and pliable. Turn the dough out onto a working surface dusted with confectioners' sugar and continue kneading until the fondant is smooth and no longer sticky to the touch, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Form the fondant into a ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and allow to rest it for an hour or so. To use, roll it out onto a flat surface dusted with confectioners' sugar. Cut or shape as per your requirements.
- Colouring the fondant
- I used Wilton food colours. I added the colours in the end. Initially the colours will create a marbled effect. Roll out the coloured fondant several times to ensure uniform distribution of the colour.
- Once the fondant is shaped, leave it out for sometime to dry it. Once it's dried completely, you can store the shapes in an airtight container.
- Make sure you the toppers are dried completely before placing it on the cake or cupcake.
Notes
I used cutters for some shapes like leaves and flowers. Shapes like socks, wreath, candy cane, santa cap etc; can be made without cutters. Please do a google search of Christmas Themed Cupcake toppers to get more ideas about shapes.
If you do not have a large micro safe bowl, melt the marshmallows in a small bowl and transfer to a large bowl and add sugar. In this case, make sure you grease the bowl in which you are melting the marshmallows.
Please check out here and here to see step by step pics of making fondant shapes.
Make sure that the sugar is incorporated completely. You need 4 cups of sugar for the above qty. Please watch the video carefully to see how it's done. I didnt use the whole qty of sugar, so my toppings became a bit glossy and sticky after placing it on the cupcakes.
Tightly wrap the unused fondant in a cling film and store at room temp for 1-2 weeks. You can refrigerate it for 3-4 months. Bring the refrigerated fondant to room temp and knead again before using it.
I think the above qty should be enough to make 40-50 toppers. Again this depends on your design. I havent used this to cover a cake, but I think this qty is enough to cover an 7 or 8 inch cake.
I stored the decorated cupcakes @ room temp for 2 days.