How to Make Cowboy Hat Cupcake Toppers

I know, I know - I just posted this tutorial back in November, but it was shared on The Longest Ride promo page yesterday (YAY!) so I thought it would be a good time to share it again 🙂  

When working on a cowboy themed birthday party a few weeks ago, I decided to shoot some pictures of How to Make Cowboy Hat Cupcake Toppers. These little cupcake toppers are super cute and super easy!

You won't need any special tools and even if you're missing something on the list below, I'm sure there are plenty of substitutions that will work just as well!

Here's what you'll need to make them:

• Brown fondant or gum paste
• Tylose (if you’re using fondant)
• Corn starch
• Ball tool
• 2″ round cookie cutter or pastry ring
• Knife
• Small Rolling Pin
• Flower form tray (or egg cartons?)
• Shortening

Are you ready to make them? Here we go!

For those of you using fondant, start by mixing in some tylose (about 1 tsp. per pound). This will help the fondant dry out and hold it's shape. If you're using gum paste, you can skip that step.

Take a small ball of fondant and roll it out to about 2-3mm thick. Then cut out  2" circles. I only show one here, but when I wasn't taking pics, I rolled out a huge piece of fondant and cut several hats at once.

Here's what the 2" pastry ring looks like that I used but a regular round cookie cutter would work!

You want the bottoms or brims of the hat to dry curved so if you have one, sprinkle a flower form tray with corn starch (to keep the fondant/gum paste from sticking) and lay the circles into the form to dry. Leave those there while you make the other pieces.

For the tops of the hats, take a ball of fondant and roll it out into a long rope - about 1 inch in diameter.

Use a knife or pastry wheel to cut the rope into sections a little more than an inch long. The mat I'm working on has half-inch grid lines, so you can get a good feel for exactly how big my rope and sections were. You could also use a ruler or just estimate.

Take each section and use your hands to roll it into a small, smooth round ball. If your fondant has started to dry out or crack, you might want to knead in a little shortening to get the ball really smooth.

Now grab your ball tool and you're going to use it to make the cowboy hat shape (so technical right?). Anywho...

 rub back and forth while pushing down to make an indentation for the top of the hat. This will also cause the ball to begin to take an oval shape. You could probably do this with the pad of your thumb but the ball tool makes it more uniform.

Now it's time to assemble. Use a little bit of sugar glue on the center of the circle that you've been drying. You can see in the picture below that it it is already starting to hold it's shape and it had bee less than 5 minutes, but I do recommend longer for a good solid form that won't sag (note: I used fondant with tylose for my hats).

Set the top onto the bottom, pinching it in a little bit to give it a good "cowboy hat" shape (again with the techy terms). Place it back in the flower form and allow it to dry for at least 2 hours (overnight would be best, but I was able to put these on my cupcakes a couple of hours later and they held up beautifully).

Place on a freshly Put them on fresh frosted cupcakes and you're good to go!

Here's a really important tip for you:   If you go ahead and put these toppers on the cupcakes, DO NOT put them in a closed container!! As moisture evaporates from the cupcake, if it cannot escape, the hat's will absorb it and begin to get soft or 'melt'. If you're making them ahead of time, just place them in a box without a lid or cover them lightly with a paper towel.

And that's it!!

Happy Caking!

Rose

When I made these cupcake toppers, I actually made a couple of other designs with them and a small cowboy hat cake to match:

There were cupcakes with a Sheriff's (star) badge and ropes! There was also the cake... a cowboy hat sitting on a wood-finish fondant board with red ribbon. I have the pictures to also do a tutorial on the cake... one day soon, I hope!

Do you have any questions about the cupcake toppers? Leave me a comment!

While you're here, check out some of my other Cowboy themed creations and tutorials...

How to Make a Cowboy Hat Cake Topper

How to Make a Fondant Bandana Knot

Blue Jeans & Red Bandana Cake with a Cowboy Hat Topper