Toppers are confectionery decorations that are popular not only among professional pastry chefs. Cakes, pastries and muffins can be decorated with letters, figures, plates, giving desserts a finished and elegant look. In this style, it is customary to decorate cakes for weddings, birthdays and other special dates. The decor can be purchased in the store, but it is much more interesting to make it yourself.
Classic and original toppers: what to choose
Toppers came to home cooking from American pastry shops. It was there that they came up with the idea of decorating cupcakes, muffins, pastries and cakes with various figures, voluminous inscriptions, monograms. Such decor visually enhances the confectionery products, making them more visible in the shop window. At the same time, a catchy topper helps to save money, because a small decoration stuck in a cake or cupcake will cost much less than an additional portion of marzipan, cream or chocolate ganache.
The idea was picked up by housewives who make confectionery on their own. Catchy decor distracts attention from small mistakes, makes modest homemade cakes festive, gives them originality and individuality. Toppers are sold in pastry shops, but they can be made by hand.
All decorations are divided into 2 large groups: edible and inedible. The second is much larger, it includes a variety of flags, monograms cut from cardboard, thin plywood or plastic, stars made of foil, figurines made of plastic or ceramics. Edible toppers are made from sugar paste, gingerbread dough, caramel, chocolate, waffle or rice paper. It is more difficult to make such jewelry, but the product turns out to be very beautiful and unusual, it looks spectacular in photographs and videos. Edible jewelry is very popular in children's products.
Simple crafts for beginners: step-by-step making
The easiest and most affordable option is paper or cardboard decorations. In order for the craft to succeed, you need to act step by step, without rushing. First, the overall design of the cake or cupcake is thought out, taking into account the style, color scheme, products used for cakes and cream.
Paper flags hanging between skewers stuck into the cake look spectacular. It is easy to make them: rhombuses are cut out of thin colored paper according to a template, folded in half, hung on a harsh thread and the edges are glued. The thread must be tied between 2 wooden skewers so that it sags slightly. It remains to strengthen the skewers on top of the cake. Instead of flags, you can stretch a ribbon, a strip of gathered lace, a garland of corrugated paper lanterns.
It is easy to decorate cakes or cupcakes with mini snowflake toppers. This decor is perfect for a New Year's table or a winter themed wedding. Cut snowflakes from foil, make another blank from cardboard. For one skewer, you will need 2 foil blanks. They are glued on both sides of the cardboard blank by placing a wooden skewer inside. After drying, the snowflakes on sticks can be stuck into the tops of the cupcakes.
Another simple option is miniature pom-poms, which can be made from fluffy rayon threads of the desired shade. They are wound on a cardboard circle with a hole in the center using a thick needle. Then the workpiece is cut along the contour, in the middle the pompom is tied with a thread. To make the product lush, you need to wind several layers of thread. It remains to attach the pom-pom to the skewer and decorate the cake with it.
Delicious mastic topper: step by step instructions
Kids love the edible sweet decorations. They should be bright, beautiful, completely safe. For work, food dyes are used, the image is conveniently transferred to sugar or waffle paper. The first option is preferable, the printout on wafer paper is paler. It is worth considering that sweet decor contains a lot of calories, so you need to eat it in moderate doses.
First, images are selected, these can be heroes of your favorite cartoons, fairy-tale characters, toys, flowers. You can order printing with food dyes on sugar paper at a candy store. An important condition is to store edible images in a tight envelope that does not allow air to pass through, otherwise the picture will become fragile and may crumble.
Characters are cut with a slight indentation. Roll out the finished mastic of a neutral color into a layer, attach a picture and circle the contour with a special stack or a sharp knife. Insert the skewer and make sure it is holding tight enough. Remove the protective film from the picture and attach the image to the mastic blank, carefully straightening the folds. A little trick: to add a beautiful gloss, the surface of the topper can be greased with honey diluted with water.
The mastic does not need to be rolled out too thin, otherwise the stuck skewer will not be able to hold the figure. At the same time, the finished product should not turn over, therefore, it is also impossible to make it too heavy.
After all the toppers are ready, dry them at room temperature, this will take 1-2 hours. Place the skewers on top of the mastic cake. No additional decorations are needed, just add a congratulatory inscription or a beautiful ribbon.
Sweet toppers can also be made with gingerbread dough. It is rolled into a layer, figures are cut out: silhouettes of animals, clouds, stars or flowers. The products are baked in a preheated oven until tender. Wooden skewers are stuck into hot gingerbread. After cooling, the gingerbread cookies need to be covered with sugar glaze and painted with chocolate or colored fondant. To prevent the gingerbread toppers from flipping, they should not be made too large.
