Candy Mold Cupcake Toppers

When is a cupcake not just a cupcake? When it's got a candy bonus on top!


I recently got pictures from my homeboy AJ's 3rd birthday party last month. I made the cupcake centerpiece for the celebration, and it looks like AJ's enjoying the topper more than he is the chocolate bavarian cream-filled cupcake. KIDS.

AJ is my favorite neighbor - he's the only one in the building who I can 

count on to give me zerbtts (click here if you don't know what a zerbtt is.)

AJ's got a candy baseball in his hand, but there were also football, soccerball and basketball cupcakes. 

Recognize the sports cake pops in the background? Those were
the cake pops I featured in my post about cake pop disasters.

The cupcake toppers were a breeze to make, with the help of a $1.99 cookie candy mold from Michael's. The regular candy molds are smaller, but the cookie sized ones were perfect for cupcake toppers. I made these a few days before I even started on the cupcakes and they stored perfectly in a tupperware in the fridge.

There was some intricate detail work involved - such as piping the stitches on the baseballs and the football, and filling in the black hexagons on the soccerballs. 

You can nuke your candy melts right in the piping bag or freezer bag for the detail work. 

When it's time to fill the rest of the mold with melted candy, you may find it easier to just use a bowl and a small spoon to spread it out. Just be sure to tap the mold on the table a few times to release any bubbles so you get a smooth finish. (You may recall I used candy molds to make the seashells for my Nemo cake project. That time, I just smushed the candy into the molds sloppily, resulting in holey, raggedy shells.)

Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes and they'll pop right out like ice cubes. Repeat. 

You may see some unsightly uneven edges like the one around the basketball above. You can use an X-acto knife to trim them right off. 

Unlike the others, the basketballs needed to be embellished after making the ball. 

If you have extra melted candy, it doesn't hurt to make more, to keep for a future project or serve as an impromptu treat for the kids. Once you have enough, they're ready to place on top of your cupcakes, like so.

Try standing the candy cupcake toppers up on their edges, instead of flat, for more dimension. It also hides any rough edges.