Description
Celebrate Day of the Dead with these vibrant and festive cupcakes featuring colorful royal icing decorations on white fondant toppers. Chocolate cupcakes are topped with bright orange buttercream and intricately piped designs for a fun and eye-catching treat perfect for Halloween or themed parties.
Ingredients
Scale
Cupcake Base
- 32 chocolate cupcakes
Buttercream Frosting
- Buttercream frosting, tinted orange
Fondant Toppers
- White fondant
Royal Icing Decorations
- Royal icing tinted hot pink
- Royal icing tinted yellow
- Royal icing tinted aqua
- Royal icing tinted black
Instructions
- Prepare Fondant Base: Lightly dust your work surface with powdered sugar and roll the white fondant out to about 1/8-inch thickness to create an even and manageable surface for cutting the toppers.
- Cut Fondant Circles: Use a 2 1/2-inch diameter cookie cutter to cut circles from the rolled fondant, forming the base shapes for the cupcake decorations.
- Mark Facial Features: With a toothpick, gently mark the areas on each fondant circle where the eyes and nose will be placed. This helps guide the piping of royal icing details.
- Pipe Hot Pink Teardrops: Using a #3 piping tip, pipe 8 long hot pink teardrop shapes in a star or asterisk arrangement around the eye areas, adding vibrant color and form to the design.
- Fill Centers with Yellow Icing: With a #4 piping tip, carefully fill the centers of the hot pink teardrops with bright yellow royal icing to add contrast and detail.
- Dot Temples with Yellow: Pipe large yellow dots at the temples on each fondant circle to accentuate the decorative facial elements.
- Pipe Black Nose: Using a #1 piping tip, pipe an upside-down heart shape in black royal icing to resemble the nose of the sugar skull.
- Add Smile and Teeth: Using the same #1 tip, pipe the mouth and teeth details carefully to complete the facial expression.
- Forehead Heart in Aqua: Pipe a heart shape in aqua royal icing at the center of the forehead area of each topper with a #1 tip for a colorful and symbolic touch.
- Decorate Around Temples: Pipe small aqua dots around the yellow dots at each temple to add intricate detailing and balance in colors.
- Cheek Scrolls: Using the #1 tip, pipe aqua scroll designs on each cheek area to enhance the artistry of the decoration.
- Black Dot Accents: Pipe a large black dot above the aqua heart on the forehead and place two smaller black dots below, adding dimension and interest.
- Black Comma Shapes: Pipe two black comma shapes on either side of the large black dot to accentuate the focal point of the design.
- Yellow Dot Highlights: Pipe two yellow dots above the black elements and three yellow dots above each eye to finalize the colorful decoration.
- Dry and Harden: Allow all the fondant toppers with royal icing decorations to dry and harden overnight to ensure stability and durability when placing on cupcakes.
- Assemble Cupcakes: Top each chocolate cupcake with a generous amount of orange-tinted buttercream frosting, then gently press one decorated fondant topper on top to complete the festive look.
Notes
- Make these colorful Day of the Dead Cupcakes for Halloween or themed celebrations to impress your guests with their vibrant and artistic design.
- Allow adequate drying time (overnight) for the toppers to ensure they hold their shape and decoration on the cupcakes.
- Use powdered sugar when rolling fondant to prevent sticking without altering the fondant texture.
- Practice piping the royal icing decorations on parchment paper before applying to fondant toppers if you are new to detailed piping work.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 320
- Sugar: 28g
- Sodium: 180mg
- Fat: 18g
- Saturated Fat: 7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 40g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 40mg
