Snowflake Cupcake Toppers Tutorial

These 3D snowflake cupcake toppers are another very easy and simple cupcake toppers you can make for winter or snow themed cupcakes.

Cupcakes in blue with white and dark blue snowflake cupcake toppers

I made these for a Disney Frozen themed birthday party. And these 3D snowflakes formed part of the decoration for the cupcakes set I made. The other deco I had were 2d snowflakes which were practically snowflakes cut out of fondant and attached on top of the cupcakes, edible images as well as initials cupcake picks.

This is a brief tutorial on how I made the 3D snowflake cupcake toppers.

How to Make Easy 3D Snowflake Cupcake Toppers

Main supplies for the toppers:

Fondant – I used Satin Ice fondant. For this particular snowflake cupcake topper project, I had the 3D snowflakes made in dark blue, white, and turquoise. For the dark blue, I added Americolor Navy blue food color to white fondant, while the turquoise ones were made by adding Americolor turquoise food color to white fondant. And of course, the white snowflakes were untinted.
CMC – I used CMC to make the snowflakes set hard and firm quicker. Since they were meant to be standing upright on the cupcakes, I wanted to make sure that they are set firm and stable, hence I added CMC to my fondant.
Snowflakes cutter – The cutter I used for this project is quite common. I have seen it being sold in a couple of online stores. It comes in a set of 3 cutters in the same pattern but different sizes. So you are free to choose the size that fits your cakes or cupcakes best.
Toothpicks – these were basically what were holding the snowflake toppers upright on the cupcakes. Since toothpicks have pointed ends, for this project, I made sure I cut off the pointed ends to avoid the risk of them poking into anyone who decides to take a bite of the snowflakes.
Shortening – this was basically the glue for my project. You can also use fondant glue but since the snowflakes cut out were not heavy, I chose to use shortening.
Fondant glue - I used this to stick the toothpick to the snowflakes.

And this was how I assembled the snowflake cupcake toppers:

Cutting the snowflakes

To begin with, I kneaded CMC into my fondant.
And then I rolled it thin and cut out the snowflakes. For each snowflake, I used 2 cut outs.

Rolled turquoise fondant with a snowflake cutter on the side

I did all the cutting first before assembling them. This is because I wanted to give the cutouts some time to firm up slightly. They are easier to handle when they are slightly set. I live in a very humid climate and so fondant takes time to dry out when left open. So if you live in a very dry climate, you can probably start assembling the snowflake cupcake toppers right away. The idea is that since the snowflakes had tiny nooks and corners, I find it easier to work with when they are a bit set.

Assembling the cupcake toppers

Once I had all the cut out ready in pairs, I went ahead to assemble them.
For each pair, I brushed the back with shortening. And then I sandwiched them together carefully with a toothpick in between.

Applying shortening to cut out snowflake fondant pieces

In positioning the toothpick, dipped it into some fondant glue and then placed it on the snowflakes. I left about two thirds of it outside the snowflakes and only one third in between the cut outs.

Dipping a toothpick into a small jar of fondant glue

A toothpick on a piece of snowflake fondant cut out. Next to it is a fondant snowflake cut out

I adjusted the snowflakes such that both pieces are as perfectly aligned as possible. Using shortening as the glue made this possible. I could attach and unattached the pieces until I was happy with the position without the snowflakes losing their shape. Had I used fondant glue to stick the cutouts, it would have been difficult to remove and adjust.

A snowflake fondant cut out with a toothpick attached

And then I left the snowflake cupcake toppers in a horizontal position until they were completely firm and set.

Only then did I attach these snowflake cupcake toppers onto my cupcakes. To do that, I simply inserted the picks into my cupcakes until the toothpick is no longer visible.