How to make ‘Heart Air Balloon’ cupcakes

These romantic cupcakes were inspired by scrap booking designs I saw on Pinterest.

I thought the three dimensional, heart-shaped balloons would translate to pretty edible cupcake toppers!

This is what I used:
Work surface
Wilton fondant in dark brown and pastel pink
Rolling pin
Rolling cutter
Water pen
Cornstarch
Toothpicks
Foam wedges
Heart cutter (3” wide x 2.5” tall)

Step 1:

Dust the work surface with cornstarch and roll out the dark brown fondant to a medium thin consistency. For three cupcake toppers, you will need six full size heart cutouts and three half hearts.

The brown cutouts will look like this.

Step 2:

Roll out the pale pink fondant. Cut out three hearts and use your rolling cutter to halve them precisely.

Tip: Pick up each of your brown and pink cutouts and run your fingers gently around the outside to smooth the edges.

The brown and pink cutouts will look like this for three toppers.

Step 3:

Flip over one of the brown hearts and moisten the inside with the water pen. Gently press three toothpicks in place as shown making sure the bottoms are even.

Step 4:

Moisten the inside of the other brown heart and place it on top, lining up the edges. Press carefully all the way around to seal the edges.

Your shapes will look like this after you have completed this step.

Step 5:

Moisten the inner edge of each brown ‘half heart’ shape and stand it in the center of the full heart as shown.

Your toppers are taking shape.  They will look like this when step 5 is complete.

At this point, let the toppers dry for one hour to strengthen them.

Tip: Mine did not need supports, but this photo shows a way to use the foam wedges for support if needed.

Step 6:

The final step of assembly is to attach the pale ‘half hearts’ to the brown base at angles as shown. To do this, thoroughly wet the straight edge of each pink shape. Then gently but firmly position each piece into place. Use the foam wedge for support while they dry.

After this step, the toppers will look like this. Leave the supports in place and allow them to dry at least overnight. Additional drying time will continue to strengthen them.

To finish the look, I baked my cupcakes in paper muffin cases called Pink Chocolate. I found them in my local Home Goods store.

Tip: The toppers are fairly heavy. To make sure they stay upright, place them in dense cupcakes with stiff butter cream that have been refrigerated. Assemble them shortly before serving. Mine stood up beautifully like hot air balloons!

Happy Caking!
Renée