How To Make Clown Cupcakes

As you know we had a clown themed birthday party for Bob’s 2nd birthday. I have been very busy making many clown creations out of icing.

I make cupcakes on a regular basis but I usually frost them with buttercream or spread runny icing on top of them. As I wanted to make clown cupcakes I thought that the easiest way to do this would be to make the tops of them out of fondant icing. This also meant that I could make the tops in advance.

The weekend before Bob’s party I made my cupcake toppers. I then placed them in a safe place and covered them with a tea towel. I posted photographs of them on my Facebook page and I was asked by a fellow blogger if I was going to blog about them so I thought I’d share the process with you.

You Will Need
White Ready To Roll Icing
Colouring for the hair
Red Smarties
Strawberry Laces
Black Writing Icing (You could always mix your own but I found it easier to use the small writing tube.)
Round Cutter (Match the size of this to the top cupcake cases that you are going to use.)
Granulated Sugar
Boiling Water

Edible Glue Method
1) Place 4 tablespoons of granulated sugar in a cup and cover with boiling water. Don’t fill the cup with water! Just use enough to cover the sugar.
2) Mix until the sugar has dissolved.

Clown Cupcake Toppers Method
1) Roll out the icing until it is about 4 mm thick.
2) Cut out as many circles as you are making cupcakes. (I then placed mine on baking paper dusted with cornflour.)

3) Place a red smartie in the middle of each circle and press to form a slight indent. Remove the smarties, add a small drop of glue (using a small, clean paintbrush) and then press the smarties back in place.
4) Colour the left over icing ready to make the hair. I chose to use yellow and orange.
5) Roll our the coloured icing until it is about 2 mm thick cut out 2 blossom shapes for each clown. Stick them onto each side of the clowns face using the glue.

6) Cut strawberry laces into pieces about 1.5 cm long. Bend them into a smile and press them into the white icing circle, where you want the clown’s mouth to be. Remove the smile, brush a small amount of glue into the indent and then press the smile back in place.
7) Using black writing icing draw on 2 eyes.

Then on Thursday evening I baked some cupcakes using the cake recipe from my Strawberries & Cream Cake. When these had cooled I straightened the tops with a knife. I spread jam onto each cupcake and buttercream onto the back of each topper before sticking them together.

I worried that my toppers would be too hard as I had made them a week in advance but as I added jam and buttercream to the cakes first and then stored them in a tin overnight the icing was lovely and soft.