I am trying to make graduation cupcakes - take cupcake - turn it upside down and then you ice the sides and the top and then you ice the graham cracker - sit it on top and then make a tassle out of royal icing, twizzlers, or fondant, etc... something like that - tah dah!!!!

Only when I made mine - I used regular muffin tins and made the cupcakes and then I iced it. Well, icing a cupcake all around and top is not only messy but, very time consuming... okay, then came the melting of candy melts for the graham crackers - so messy and did not come out very pretty - I spreaded it, but it was not the smooth finish I wanted... I wanted my chocolate to melt like fondue - what did I do wrong????

Well, I put it together and the cupcake is too BIG!!!! I looks more like the head instead of the bill of the cap (graham cracker) being the bigger part just like it is on a real graduation cap....

Should I just bake more cupcakes and this time do mini-cupcakes???? The party is not until 3:00p.m. on Saturday - but the thing is that I am the hostess so the money that it is going to cost to get new everything...

Please, help me!!!! The cupcake just looks to sloppy - I guess I am expecting the smoothiness that I get from a viva and it just looks messy.. but then again this is a party for 4 and 5 year olds. But, I am thinking well there are suppose to be like 30 people there - this will give me the foot in the door - to tell people that I decorate (or try to decorate)

HELP!!!!!

I add Crisco to candy melts to get it thin enough to coat smoothly. I add about a tablespoon to a bag of melts and microwave for 30 sec. at a time until I can stir them smooth. They coat much better and smoother this way and It doesn't effect the candy melts hardening.

Could you try piping the icing on first and then smoothing it with a small spatula? As for the size, I don't think I'd go smaller with the cupcake but bigger with the cap top. I'm just not sure what you could use that would be bigger??? If you cut the tops off the cupcakes first, would that help to make the sizes between the cap and the top part look more like a graduation cap?? It's a cute idea for graduation and I really hope it works out for you!!!!!

If you have time like you say, you could also make the top flat part of the cap out of fondant and let it dry. That way you could make them the size you need and you wouldn't have to use the candy melts, unless you had your heart set on using candy melts. You can also try a poured fondant like you do over petite fours. Just a thought.
elly