Edible Cupcake Decorations (Using Wilton Candy Clay)

So it’s just one more excuse. But I swear this time it’s a worthy excuse…

As of April 19th, I officially became Mrs. Bleu. 

with the best man, Tsavo, in the background

We had a terrific ceremony at the Fort Worth Zoo. A little bit flash mob. A little bit geeky. And a whole lot of love.

But the real star of any family shindig is always the food. We’re pretty big fans of eating around here. Of course we took our family to eat dinner.

However, weddings are really about the cake. Don’t get me wrong—the bride and groom are pretty important. But if you’re celebrating with your friends, you already know they love each other… So don’t lie, you’re there for the cake.

Naturally, I made our cakes. Nothing fancy, just some vanilla cakes with vanilla buttercream and chocolate cakes with dark chocolate frosting.  What made them fancy enough for our family were the decorations.

My aunt brought me this Rycraft Cookie Stamp  after she learned about us getting married in the zoo. We knew we were doing the ceremony in front of the lion exhibit. I knew we would be doing cupcakes (not cookies), but I also knew I just had to find a way to use it. 

 

I started hunting for some way to make a cupcake topper and I wanted it to be completely edible. I thought about just making some cookies, but I’m really not a cookie maker. I always burn them or make them tasteless. I ended up looking for tips on using gum paste and fondant, thinking that I could just buy a tub of the stuff and make it work.

Have you eaten any of those tubs of fondant? They taste like… Well, they taste like nothing. I’m not a fan. But everyone uses fondant. (I know that homemade marshmallow fondant is delicious, but I’m too lazy to make it.)

Then this post by Sweetapolita gave me an idea: Wilton Candy Clay medallions.

WiltonCandy Clay is seriously easy to make. Like two ingredients and a microwave easy. It works like modeling chocolate (at least that’s how it’s described). You mix it up, let it set, and then roll it/mold it how you want. The hard part is picking a color of Candy Melts to use.

We didn’t really set a color scheme for our wedding. I wore teal. I made gold, grey and ivory flowers. I used dark coral for an accent. Do they even make candy melts in those colors? Did I really need five shades of medallions? I obsessed over the color to use for ages. And when I finally decided what colors to use, we headed to the store. Then I found these…

 

Oh, yeah. They come in three delicious flavors: key lime, orange crème, raspberry sherbet. Just add corn syrup and hello flavored modeling chocolate!

I actually used about a tablespoon less corn syrup than the recipe calls for. I was trying to make sure that it was going to produce a firm enough ball of chocolate. I probably could have used even less. After letting the chocolate set overnight, I portioned it into 10 gram balls. (I was being a bit of a perfectionist.) Using my seasoned Rycraft cookie stamp (dusted in a bit of cornstarch), I simply pressed my way to chocolate medallion bliss.

I allowed the medallions to sit in a chilled box until right before serving. Even though it was chilly for most of the day, I was afraid the buttercream might make them sweat or they would get too soft. I have no clue if this really happens; I only think it might have happened.

The lions were a big hit. We shared them with family at the restaurant and later with friends at a bar. Everyone loved them.

 

Happy two month anniversary to the weirdo I married!

the new and even weirder,

mrs. bleu