In this post on how to make puffed fondant hearts (without any cutters and molds), I am going to share with you, my easy technique on creating cute puffed hearts in fondant. The best part is, you can make these by hand and do not require any special tools or cutters. Which then means, once you have mastered the technique, you can create these cute hearts for cakes and cookies in any size you wish.

How to Make Puffed Fondant Hearts without Cutters and Molds
These are some of my projects that I used puffed fondant hearts on. Aren’t they pretty?
Tips when making lots of fondant hearts
And see all the different heart sizes? These were all formed by hand and therefore, the sizes are perfectly customize-able. What is more, its takes less than 1 minute to make one heart. And if you are making lots of these hearts, economies of scale makes it even faster to produce these cute little decorations. And by that, I mean, you complete one process at a time rather than completing one fondant heart at a time. To do this, you start by portioning the fondant for as many hearts as you want to make. After the portioning is done, you do the rolling (you will see the step by step tutorial below). Once all the rolling is done, you proceed to the folding process and then continue with the rest of the steps, process by process until the hearts are all completed.
Making and completing the hearts by process this way saves a lot of time as compared to when you make the hearts by completing one heart at a time. It also helps in making sure your fondant hearts are all uniform in size.
So all in all, whether or not you are planning on making a lot of these cuties or just one, this is an awesome technique to remember and use on your cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and other decorated treats. Not only are the super easy to learn and make, they are super cute too!
Making Miniature Hearts
One thing to note is that, while you can make the hearts as tiny as you want, the smaller they get, the more harder it is going to be to form them. This is simply because the fondant you work on is going to be tinnier than your fingers and so using your fingers to shape the fondant requires a lot more effort. For this reason, I like to use toothpicks when making very small fondant puffed hearts like the tiny red ones on my chocolate cookie below. You will see the step by step tutorial for this as well.
How to Make Puffed Fondant Hearts without Cutters and Molds – Step by Step Tutorial
Supplies needed:
- Fondant - I used Satin Ice fondant in red for the tiny hearts and baby pink and pink for the larger pink puffed hearts.
- Toothpick (only for making very tiny puffed hearts like the ones I had on my chocolate heart cookies in the image at the top of this page.
Normally, I would list a long set of supplies, but for this tutorial, since it does not require any tools or molds, all you need is fondant and your pair of hands.
And this is how you make the fondant puffed hearts:
Estimating the heart size
- Before you start, decide on the size of the hearts you wish to make. Getting the size right is important as it will determine the final size of the puffed hearts.
- Depending on the size you choose, pinch an amount of fondant that matches the size of the heart you wish to make.
- If you are making more than one heart and want all the hearts to be in the same size, it would be a good idea to pinch all the fondant pieces now. That way, you can get them all to be in the same size. Keep the fondant pieces covered as you work on them, one by one.
- Next, roll each fondant piece into a tiny ball between your palms. Roll until the fondant is smooth all over and well rounded. Again, if you are making more than one heart, you can roll all the fondant pieces at this stage. Keep those that are not worked on covered.
Shaping the fondant
- Once the balls are all done, take one ball and place it on your palm. With your pointy finger (or mummy finger as my boy calls it) placed in the middle of the ball, roll the fondant ball into a sausage by exerting light pressure only in the middle of the sausage.
- This is how the fondant piece should look like once the rolling is done.
- Next, fold the sausage into 2 as shown. See how the heart shape is there already?
- Pinch the pointed end of the heart so that is it well pointed.
- For final touches, pressed the sides and top until you achieve a balanced puffed fondant heart.
And that’s it! Your puffed fondant heart is ready. No tools or molds, just plain fondant, and your hands. Easy right?
Miniature fondant hearts
Now, for the tiny fondant hearts, it is not quite possible to use your pointy finger to form the dent in the center of your fondant sausage roll as most likely, your finger is wider than the fondant pieces. To help with the process, I use a toothpick to make the dent in the center of the fondant sausages.
- To start with, I shape the fondant pieces into smooth balls and then roll the balls into tiny sausages.
- Next, using a toothpick, I gently press the center of the sausages to form a dent. In forming the dent, make sure you do not press it too hard that it becomes flat in the center. Suffice if you make a tiny dent.
- Next, fold the fondant sausage such that both ends of the sausage meet and stick together.
- Gently pinch the pointed end to make it nice and pointy and adjust the round tops of the heart until you achieve a cute puffed heart.
- And that’s that. Your tiny puffed fondant heart is ready to decorate your treats.
How to Make Puffed Fondant Hearts without Cutters and Molds
Hope you find this tutorial useful.
Happy decorating 🙂
Mary Goodwin Burris
Thank you for so graciously sharing your talent! I decorated cakes and cookies fir years until I had 30# of FROZEN cakes fall on my mind back at Publix where I was head cake decorator! It’s been 14.5 yrs and I can no longer decorate cakes myself but sure enjoy teaching others! There are so many new items out there now. Boy do I wish I could still do it. I so enjoy reading your instructions so informative! Thank you
Priya
Hi Mary,
Your comment really made my day. And I cannot agree more with how the cake decorating world is evolving with new techniques and tools. I am so glad you enjoy reading my posts 🙂 🙂 Thank you