How to Make Bottle Rocket Cupcake Toppers

These bottle rocket cupcakes would be a fun finale to any Fourth of July celebration. Fondant rockets on wooden skewers are blasting out of a plume of buttercream smoke. They are so simple that your kids will love to help.

This is what I used:
Work surface
Fondant roller (not pictured)
Fondant in red, white and blue colors
Corn starch
Rolling cutter
3 3/4  inch wooden skewers
Wilton mini star punch

To make the base of the bottle rocket roll your fondant into thick snakes and cut 1.5 inch sections out. Flatten the ends.

To make the top of each rocket, start by rolling a smooth ball. Use you pointer finger and thumb to form a point on one end of the ball shape. Flatten the opposite end of the ball on your work surface. Continue hand forming the cone shape using the work surface and your fingers.

Once you have formed the all the shapes for the rockets, you can begin the assembly. Slowly twist a skewer up through the middle of the base until 1/4 inch stick out the top. With water, dampen the flat side of the rocket top and gently press it in place connecting it to the base.

Here are the assembled bottle rockets before decoration. You can use any color combination and any decorations for embellishment. I chose the Fourth of July colors and theme.

Next, I used the mini star press to punch out red, white and blue start embellishments from thinly-rolled fondant. A mini cutter would work, too, but the punch tool makes it very quick.

Moisten the back of each start with water (you can use a damp Q-tip, tiny brush or water pen) and attach them firmly to the rockets as decoration.

I wanted the rockets to look like they were taking off from a plume of smoke. To get this effect, I piped pale yellow buttercream with a Wilton 1M tip. I piped three tall swirls of varying heights on each cupcake. I arranged the cupcakes with the tallest swirl towards the back when inserting my skewers.

If traveling to a party with these cupcakes, I’d recommend inserting the decorations on location. I hope your guests enjoy them!

Happy Caking!
Renée