I am very new to cake decorating...I am going to be making cupcakes for my daughter's 1st Birthday party (on Valentine's Day) and I would love to be able to make some sort of edible heart decoration for the topper, instead of store bought picks. Any ideas? Keep in mind that I'm a newbie!
I found a gorgeous picture of some gumpaste hearts that another user did with her cupcakes (but she's a pro).
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_49873.html
Would this be too much for me? Can I buy the edible white pearls, or are they homemade?
What are some other options?
Thanks,
Heather
they look to me like they just cut heart shapes (cookie cutter) out of gumpaste that was colored pink and then just do some scrolls on top with white royal icing.......I don't think they have to be THAT difficult!! You would need to let them set up overnight though.....so make them ahead of time!
Yeah, I like the simplicity of the hearts in the picture. Are there candy molds out there that would make a flat heart, instead of hearts that are dimensional?
I've never worked with gumpaste...is it difficult to work with? It is edible isn't it? Tasty though?
edible yes........tasty no! lol........although I don't think royal icing is tasty either......but I tell ya what........never had a kid complain about either one!! You could always make the hearts out of MMF or hey even starburst or something........take a bunch of them and melt them slightly in the microwave....roll em out and cut them into hearts.......once they cool and stiffen up again they should stand up in the cupcakes! Or you could just make the hearts out of chocolate........spread a layer of melted chocolate on some parchment paper and when it's sort of set up (not hard, still soft...but set) cut out the hearts.......then let it finish hardening all the way then pop out the chocolate hearts and pop em' on the cupcakes!
Gumpaste is edible although it dries hard as a rock and isn't particularily tasty. You could make some hearts out of royal icing. Find some pictures of hearts about the same size and lay a piece of waxed paper over top and trace with royal icing. You could even make a fillagree look that way.
Another idea is to make a sugar cookie dough tinted to pink and then cut the heart shapes out and bake. Then pipe icing designs on top. You can get colored dragees at the grocerie stores to decorate with as well. They look like little mettalic balls and I have seen them in silver, pink and gold.
Another option would be to crush hard candies and melt and pour into heat shaped molds.
I have also seen bubble gum and starburst candies rolled flat and cut into shapes.
Hope this helps.
I like the idea of doing these as a choclate transfer, too.
You can buy a clear acetate report cover. Draw or copy an 8x11 page of hearts in the size and shape you like and put the pics under the acetate. Put that set up on a flat cardboard. Melt pink (or any other color) of candy melts/summer coating and pipe an outline of the hearts and then fill in with more. Let them set up and peel them off of the acetate. If you want, you can then pipe a scroll, or other deco, using more chocolate on the flat shiny surface.
Make sure that the "chocolate" (candy melts) flow nicely--you may need to add some paramount crystals or crisco--and after filling in each heart, pick up the cardboard and tap under the heart so that you get out the air bubbles and the outline fills in nice and evenly.
I've done this as flowers, butterflies, etc. and people really love them.
Rae
I'm definitely liking the idea of the chocolate transfers after reading up on it. If I want white hearts and pink hearts, I would buy white chocolate candy melts for the white hearts (obviously) and either pink candy melts, or candy color to make the pink hearts...does this sound right?
Yep, you've got it!
Post pics when you're finished. I bet they'll be really cute.
Rae
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