Easy Graduation Cupcakes Decorating Idea

I made these easy graduation cupcakes for a friend who wanted the cupcakes for her cousin’s graduation party.

3 cupcakes covered in blue icing and white and gold stars

Graduation Cupcakes

She initially wanted the graduation cupcakes with typical graduation motifs such as graduation caps or graduation scrolls.

But the problem was, she requested for these a day before the party. There was no way I could complete the 3d graduation caps or scroll fondant toppers in time for the party so I suggested something simpler. I suggested her to use stars as the toppers. Stars may not be a typical graduation themed cupcake topper idea, but it is still symbolic for graduation.

She agreed and I set on making the graduation cupcakes.

How I Made This Easy Graduation Cupcakes

As I mentioned, these cupcakes are super easy to make. Here is what you need for these cupcakes:

Cupcakes in your favorite flavor. My friend requested chocolate cupcakes so I baked the cupcakes using my chocolate cupcake recipe.
Royal icing - I tinted mine in blue. There is a reason why I used royal icing instead of my usual buttercream. Royal icing dries hard and I wanted the star topper to be standing slanting on the cupcakes instead of lying down flat. Royal icing is the best icing to hold the stars in place.
Fondant icing and star-shaped cutters for the star toppers – I used store-bought fondant for the stars. To make sure they dry nice and hard, I added a bit of CMC powder into the fondant. I cut the stars using a star-shaped cookie cutter and placed them in an air-conditioned room so that they dry quickly (I live in a very humid country so I often have issues working with fondant. So, whenever I work with fondant and gum paste, I do it in an air-conditioned room as it helps keep the humidity levels low)
Edible gold dust and lemon extract– I used this to paint the fondant star toppers. To paint the stars, I mixed the gold dust with some lemon extract and then painted the stars. Some stars were painted fully while others only had speckles of the gold paint on them. Before starting to paint, I made sure the fondant stars have dried a little. It is easier to paint on dry fondant then on wet fondant cut-outs.

And here is how I put the cupcakes together:

Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, I covered each one of them with royal icing.
I then poked the stars into the royal icing. The graduation stars are not lying flat on the cupcakes, I wanted them to be standing slightly slanting on the cupcakes. To achieve this, I made sure the royal icing is of a slightly stiffer consistency than normal so that it is able to hold the stars in place until the icing itself hardens.

And that was how I made these easy graduation cupcakes.

Happy cupcaking:)