Hi, I am new to cake decorating and am wanting to make cupcakes mask toppers. I bought a little mould and have been practicing with fondant and the mould makes exactly what I want but I have a few questions.

Should the toppers be dried and therefore hard? Can people still eat the toppers if they are hard?

Is it possible to make them soft?

How far in advance can I make them?

I'm thinking about using the regal royal ice - will this work and taste ok?

Also what size piping nozzle should i use to pipe a nice swirl on the top of the cake?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Hi Lesley!

yes, the toppers should be dried (for several days), but because you are just using fondant (as opposed to gumpaste) they will go firm, but not ROCK hard. I think the general rule is that if you're making small toppers (as you do for cupcakes) then using fondant is a good idea, as it's way yummier than gumpaste. If you are making larger things (like people to sit on cakes), then gumpaste is the way to go.

To sum up the differences:
Fondant = yummy, but softer and a little bit harder to work with. It won't set as hard, but people will eat them happily.
Gumpaste = not so yummy, a bit easier to work with, and will dry hard as a rock. While it's edible, most people don't eat it, especially as it's so hard.

There is also the option of using half of each, or adding a little 'tylose powder'. That makes it easier to work with (firmer), and it dries harder, while still tasting yummy.

Hope that wasn't too much info on whether or not you can make them soft!

You can make the months in advance. Leave them in the open air for several days to dry before storing them though. If you put them into plastic straight away they will go glossy and kinda 'melt'. Once they have set, it's OK to put them into a container. Make sure you are gentle with them though, fondant will be delicate and might break if you are rough.

Not sure about the regal royal ice, I'm in NZ, never heard of it.

I suggest the Wilton 1M nozzle. If you do a google image search for 'wilton 1m', you'll see what I mean, they look fabulous, and they're really easy. If you start in the middle, you get the 'flower' look. If you start at the outside, you get the tall swirl look.

Hope that helps, when you're done post a picture in here, would love to see them!

Thanks, that was great info about when to use fondant and gum paste..I had been wondering about that myself.....

Hi Lesley,

Ditto to what Zespri said, I was almost going to explain the same way.
Never heard of regal royal ice either,
and could you point me to the website please where you bought your molds, I have been looking for different ideas for cupcakes for quite some time.

Thank You.

I am wondering what molds she meant as well....?

I just bought a book by Sheila Lampkin on cake decorating motifs. It's full of cupcake topper ideas. Most of them are not 3d, but a little flatter, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Thanks so much for your advice! It's exactly what I needed and not too much information at all!

I got my moulds from eBay. I'm in Australia but the seller is in the Uk.

http://shop.ebay.com.au/micaudwell/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

I will definitely post a pic when have made the cake - it's for my 30th in October so I have 8 weeks to go.

Thanks again for the advice.