Monday, October 11, 2010

Monday Tutorials: Spongebob Candy Cupcake Topper



OOOoohhhhhh...who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!

We have been absolutely terrible about blogging consistently. But we have plans to start up the Monday tutorials again, and we will post tutorials for all the Mondays we missed as well!

However, we have a great kids' cupcake topper for you this week--and it's tastier than fondant! Inspired by Bakerella's cake pops, these use cookies instead of cake.


Here's what you'll need (unfortunately we don't have a photo of everything together):

- a package of yellow wafer cookies
- a package of yellow candy melts (we used Wilton candy melts, found at Michaels)
- a package of white candy melts
- a package of dark cocoa candy melts
- a small cookie sheet
- some waxed paper
- a tube of black frosting (we used Wilton), with a Tip #1
- a knife
- a small sauce pan filled about 1/3-1/4 with water
- a glass or stainless steel bowl, a few inches bigger than the saucepan
- white M&Ms (Michaels sells one-color packages of M&Ms) 
- small blue circular sprinkles
- pretzel sticks
- mini Oreos
- a package of pink and red (and white) heart-shaped sprinkles (Wilton, again)



Cut each wafer cookie in half. Three halves will be used to make one Spongebob.



Bring the water in the saucepan to a boil, then remove from heat. Place the bowl over the saucepan, with  about 1/4-1/3 of the yellow candy melts in the package. Stir constantly until melted.



Dip the pieces of wafer cookies in the yellow candy coating until completely covered. Set on cookie sheet (covered with waxed paper). 



When you have dipped 3 wafer pieces, place them directly next to each other on the cookie sheet (2 pieces shown in above photo, about to add the third piece). Once finished putting them all together, allow the cookies/candy to harden on the cookie sheet. Refrigerate to speed up the process!



Melt a few of the white candy melts. Dip the bottom third of the Spongebobs, then place back on cookie sheet, and allow to cool in fridge. 

Using leftover yellow candy, put a little on the back of the white M&Ms and attach to the Spongebobs for eyes. 

Twist apart the two halves of the mini Oreos. Using a serrated knife, cut the mini Oreos in half. We used the same knife to scrape away some of the Oreo center to create teeth.  



Melt a few of the dark cocoa candy melts. Dip just the slightest part of the bottom of the Spongebobs, and allow to rest on the cookie sheet in the fridge.



Now let's add on the finishing touches!



Break the pretzel sticks into small pieces, and dip in the yellow candy melts (reheat briefly if needed), and stick on as Spongebob's nose. 

Using the black frosting (with Tip #1), add eyelashes and a belt. Cut the point off a pink heart sprinkle, and use black frosting to attach to the mouth. Cut the point off a red heart sprinkle, and use the point for the knot of the tie. Cut a red heart sprinkle in half, and use it as the tie. Use the black frosting to attach the small blue circular sprinkles, and add an extra dollop of black frosting on top to finish off the eyes. 

All that's left to do is place them atop some tasty cupcakes, and watch the kids go crazy over their square-pantsed friend!

U of Cakes will be doing Q&A posts now as well, so submit baking and cake decorating-related questions in the comments, and yours could be selected and featured on our blog!