Modern confectioners can turn any cake into a real work of art with the help of decoration. What they don’t use to highlight the main advantages of the dessert. Often the main feature of cake decoration is the topper. This is a popular and very fashionable attribute that takes the form of some kind of inscription, silhouette, animal, cartoon character. The topper can be used only for decoration, but you can also turn it into a sweet that a child or anyone with a sweet tooth can eat. In our article, we will tell you about the main types of cake toppers, and also present ways in which you can prepare them yourself at home.
Toppers photo
Toppers are the essence
A topper is a decorative element that has a flat or three-dimensional shape, made from any material - edible and inedible. You can make a topper from gingerbread, chocolate, sugar paper, marshmallows, mastic, wood, plain paper and other other materials that everyone has in the house. The main task of the topper is to decorate the cake and clearly emphasize the theme of the holiday in honor of which it was originally prepared.
You don't need any expensive products or special parts to make the topper. In addition, no special culinary skills are needed. Everything is as simple as possible if you follow the instructions and use the templates that you can also find in our article.
Bonus!
For those who are really seriously interested in the idea of starting to make money on CNC laser machines, we have prepared a small surprise. Namely, a small selection of ready-made toppers, as well as a small floor shelf, which is suitable not only for toppers, but also for postcards, original business cards, baskets, etc. This way, you can start production right away, without delving into the complex intricacies of drawing layouts. Of course, over time, you will have to understand and master them, but by that time, you will already have earned your first money. And the racks will allow you to sell not just toppers, but a ready-made franchise - to flower, book and souvenir shops.
Types of toppers, list
Toppers come in several varieties, but the main criterion for distinguishing them is the theme of the holiday for which they are used to decorate the sweet.
Here is a list of the main examples of toppers:
- Bride and groom - a topper that is suitable for decorating a wedding cake or dessert for Valentine's Day.
- Hearts are a great option for a cake topper that lovers want to give to each other.
- A topper that highlights the talent of the person for whom the cake is being prepared. You can use a figurine of an athlete, dancer, musician, scientist, etc. as a topper.
- A topper composition in which several figures are used at once to thus convey a scene from life or a cartoon on the cake.
- Character toppers. These can be cartoon or fairy tale characters that are most liked by the hero of the occasion, the birthday boy.
- Toppers - animals and birds. You can make figures of any inhabitant of our planet from the same mastic or chocolate.
- Word toppers or inscription toppers. For example, you can choose the word “Love”, “Happy Birthday”. By the way, all these phrases and words can be done in any language.
- Number toppers. This topper is very relevant for children, especially since it can also be decorated with a beautiful inscription.
- Garland toppers. A popular trend among modern confectioners who make various flags from mastic or balls, and then they are beautifully displayed in a composition, and the result is an original topper for the cake.
A topper is not always appropriate for dessert. If your cake is supposed to use a lot of berries, small sweets and other decorative elements, then the topper will only make the dessert heavier and spoil its attractive appearance. When choosing a topper, take into account an important feature - the decoration should not be larger in size than the dessert itself.
Cupcake toppers templates
Templates for toppers download:
on February 23
on March 8
Happy birthday
topper girl
topper princess
topper Masha and the bear
topper for a one year old boy
topper for a one year old girl
Birthday Toppers
What is the main advantage of such decoration? It's simple. The topper can be saved as a reminder of the special day, while the edible inscriptions and images on the cakes remain only in memory. A birthday cake is often decorated with a topper in the form of a number, which indicates how old the hero of the occasion turned that day. However, for those who do not want to be limited to this design, there are many alternative options.
With the help of a topper, you can express your warmest feelings by decorating the birthday cake with the inscriptions “to your beloved mother and grandmother” or “to your most beloved on your birthday.” Cake toppers are also popular at children's birthday parties. A birthday cake with the inscription “Ilyusha is 2 years old” will certainly interest a small child and subsequently serve as an exciting toy for him.
DIY edible cake topper, recipe with photo
If you have never had experience decorating cakes with toppers, then try making a sweet meringue topper first. By the way, if you make it correctly, it will look no worse than a topper made of wood or chocolate.
We present you with step-by-step instructions for making a sweet topper that you can eat along with a piece of cake:
- To begin, beat 150 g of egg whites with 300 g of sugar. You should get a very dense foam.
- You need to divide the resulting cream into 3 parts. Paint 2 of them with different dyes, and leave 1 part white:
- We will not use white cream for the topper; it can be used at the very last stage of cake design. But place the colored creams in pastry bags, and then combine them using a special nozzle into one bag so that both creams are squeezed out at the same time:
- Plant the required number of roses for decoration, insert a wooden skewer into each (adjust the length of each skewer yourself, based on your decoration idea):
- Place the meringue in the oven for an hour and a half. The optimal temperature for baking is 80°. Insert the finished meringues on skewers into your cake as a decoration:
Paper cake topper
This is also a very simple way to decorate a holiday dessert, especially since there are now so many varieties of beautiful paper. You can choose sheets with embossed patterns, sparkles, etc. To make a paper cake topper, you need to select design layouts that match the theme of the holiday.
For example, if your birthday is planned in a nautical style, you can make paper boats, dolphins, an anchor, etc. Even just cutting out 2 stars from pretty paper and gluing them onto a wooden skewer will give you a fun cake topper.
What is a topper?
Edible cake toppers are a range of confectionery decorations that differ from each other in theme, materials and preparation technique. These can be flat pictures with various prints on sugar paper, three-dimensional sculptures made of mastic, meringue balls, chocolate inscriptions and gingerbread dough figures made using the 2D technique.
- The main task of the topper is to clearly display the theme of the event. In such a young art form, popular toppers have already appeared. These are numbers made from mastic and figures made from gingerbread dough. Such decorations do not require expensive products and can be easily made at home.
- Chocolate products are no less in demand. Numbers, animal and human figures made from black and white chocolate look elegant and noble.
How to make toppers with your own hands?
In order to make toppers with your own hands, you need to stock up on chocolate, mastic or gingerbread dough. When working with any of these materials, you will need a mold or stencil, an internal support to hold the figure, brushes, mastic glue and a lot of free time. Especially for recipes that involve drying and baking.
- You can make your own toppers using a template or by modeling. The last option is more often used for mastic products. In this case, you should be calm about errors that arise during manufacturing.
- Most toppers are held on by skewers. It must be durable and withstand high temperatures. It should be placed in the product at the initial stages (before hardening or baking).
Gingerbread toppers
Gingerbread cake toppers are one of the most popular types of decoration. They are prepared from gingerbread dough containing honey and spices, so they have a mild taste and bright aroma. The dough is pleasant to work with, having elasticity, it is easy to cut into a stencil and bakes quickly. They are painted mainly with sugar icing.
- egg white - 1 pc.;
- powdered sugar - 100 g;
- citric acid - 1 g;
- gel dye;
- honey - 160 g;
- flour - 450 g;
- sugar - 100 g;
- butter - 125 g;
- egg - 1 pc.;
- ginger and cinnamon - 1 teaspoon each;
- soda - 2 teaspoons.
- Combine honey, sugar and spices in a saucepan. Boil for 3 minutes.
- Remove from heat, add soda, butter, egg, flour and knead the dough.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours. Afterwards, roll it into a layer.
- Cut out the image using a stencil.
- Bake at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Insert skewers and cool.
- Beat the egg whites and powdered sugar, add coloring.
- Color and leave until hardened.
How to make toppers:
wooden, photo with explanation
To make such a beautiful topper, you first need to make an inscription on the most ordinary paper. After this, it is applied to a piece of plywood and cut along the contour. To make internal holes, you can first drill them. When the inscription has already been completely cut out, it needs to be sanded and painted on each side, or you can simply varnish it.
for flowers, photo with explanation
The topper for flowers is made in the same way as for a cake. If you decide to decorate your bouquet with a wooden topper, then make sure that it has a long stem that will fit tightly into the bouquet itself and will not fall out when the flowers are transported to the recipient.
topper silhouette, photo with explanation
Cut out a paper template of the silhouette you need. It could be the silhouette of a girl, a child, or even a couple in love. Glue this template onto a thick base - high-quality cardboard or plastic. Decorate the resulting topper - paint it or cover it with beautiful paper. Attach a skewer to it and insert it into the cake.
made of mastic, photo with explanation
Take a layer of royal mastic, attach to it a template of the number or shape that you want to make a topper for your dessert, cut it out and give it volume. This will give you a flat figure. If you want to make a more voluminous figure, then in this case you need to have the skills of modeling from plasticine. Once your piece is ready, insert a skewer into it and use it as a topper. By the way, children love to eat such toppers after the whole cake has already been eaten.
waffle toppers, photo with explanation
If you like to make toppers from wafer paper because you don’t have the skills to draw beautifully, then simply attach a design on wafer paper to a regular wafer, and then attach a skewer to this blank. You will get an original topper for decorating a homemade cake.
How to Make an Edible Sugar Paper Topper
If you want the pictures on the topper to be bright, print on sugar paper.
It is easier to cut from sugar paper with scissors; it is soft and elastic and does not break. You can cut along the contour, you can leave a white edge.
Sugar paper will not hold its shape. She needs a mastic backing. It’s better to take a quick-drying one, maybe a floral one. It takes little to make toppers; a 100-150 g package is enough.
Roll out the mastic into a thin layer if you are going to glue the stick onto the chocolate, as in the example above. And 0.5 - 1 cm if you insert the stick inside. It is convenient to use a silicone mat and a plastic rolling pin. If there are none, add potato starch when rolling out so that the sugar paste does not stick.
We glue the picture to the mastic using a neutral gel. Apply it with a regular paint brush.
We cut out the picture using mastic using a knife or a special stack.
Next, glue the sticks onto the chocolate as in the example above.
Or insert a stick into the mastic. To prevent it from slipping, the edge can be greased with chocolate or neutral gel. This method looks a little neater. An example of making toppers with a stick inside can be seen here. Example photo from the same site.
The mastic topper with a sugar picture must be dried so that it holds its shape. The drying speed will depend on the thickness of the sugar paste layer and its brand. Floral or with the addition of SMS/CMC will dry faster. Some types, usually intended for covering, will take a long time to dry, up to a day.
Sugar toppers, recipe with photos
Sugar topper is the same as lollipop in essence because it is made from caramel.
If you want to give the caramel candy a fancy shape, then simply select the one you need in the store, and then pour the following mixture into it:
- combine 0.2 liters of corn syrup with 0.2 kg of sugar and 0.18 ml of water;
- add flavoring and coloring here;
- Boil all this over low heat.
When you pour the caramel into the molds, do not forget to immediately insert the skewers so that they harden along with the caramel. Place the pieces in the refrigerator for a while and remove them before decorating the cake.
Paper toppers, ideas with photos
Children's toppers, ideas with photos
Decorating cakes with toppers is an excellent decoration technique that makes our life several times easier. The topper can also be made from ready-made chocolate bars, marshmallows and other sweets from the store. But this is a secret for you in case you are running out of time. Be sure to fantasize about your culinary masterpieces so that they turn out better every time!
DIY cupcake toppers, photo
Cupcake toppers are decorations that are inserted into desserts. At any holiday such delicacies will not go unnoticed. Children are especially interested in toppers. Kids happily look at the colorful decorations and share their impressions with friends.
You can make toppers with your own hands. They can be anything. If you are planning a themed party, then the decorations can be made in the same style. This will add a piece of magic to the holiday.
