How to Decorate Cupcakes with Poured Fondant

Part of the charm of cupcakes bought from a bakery is their perfect frosting and decorations. With a little practice, you too can make impressive looking desserts. Poured fondant is one of many decorating challenges people at home don’t know how to use.

In order to cover cupcakes with poured fondant you will need: white fondant, apricot jam, hot boiled water, cupcakes (the firmer the better), a pasty brush, tea spoon, bowls, and any flavoring or food colors you might want.

The first thing you should do is to brush the cupcakes with a thin coat of hot apricot jam and let it cool and dry.

Put the fondant in a microwave safe bowl and heat it in the microwave for around a minute. It needs to get warm and melt but not so hot that it comes to a boil. Remove it from the microwave and stir it to make sure its nice and smooth. The consistency of the fondant is very important. If it is too thin it will look transparent on the cupcake once it has dried, and if it is too think you will have trouble dipping the cupcake properly in the fondant.

If your fondant is too think you can try stirring in a teaspoon of boiling water to thin it down. Repeat this, making sure to only use a teaspoon at a time, until you have the correct consistency. It might take dipping a few cupcakes to determine what consistency is correct. Once you have done this a few times you will know what to look for.

If the fondant starts to cool down reheat it in the microwave for a few seconds.

Once the fondant is ready, dip the cupcake upside down into it. Carefully shake the cupcake to let the excess fondant drip off. You can dip the cupcake as far in as you would like, to cover just the cupcake or to include some of the paper case.

Now set the cupcakes aside to dry. Once they are dry you can decide if you want to give them a second coat or not. If the fondant was on the thin side they might not be covered as well and will probably need a second coat.

Now you can decorate the cupcakes however you like. If you want the fondant to be a certain color, add the food coloring to the melted fondant before you dip the cupcakes. Any decorations you want to attach to the cupcake can be done so with royal icing.

Make sure you don’t store the cupcakes in the fridge because that can cause the poured fondant to dissolve.