Leprechaun Hat Cupcake Toppers

Leprechaun's are a huge part of St. Patrick's Day, especially for kids, so you can't have St. Patrick's Day cupcakes without Leprechaun hats!  Well I guess you could, but what fun would that be?  Since I already had the fondant out from the Pot-O-Gold toppers I figured I might as well make these too!  They are a little more tricky but still fairly easy to make, and you could still have your older kids help you assemble them!

I usually bake at least two flavors of cupcakes when I'm having a party, but since I was making these cupcakes "just because", I used the same chocolate cupcake and mint buttercream for both. For that reason I thought having two different toppers would give the cupcakes a bit more variety without having to bake a ton of cupcakes.

Supplies
Fondant - you can make your own or you can purchase pre-made fondant. The amount of fondant
                you need will depend on how many toppers you are making.
Black gel coloring
Yellow gel coloring - I used Daffodil Yellow from Wilton as it was the only yellow I had on hand.
Green gel coloring - I used Leaf Green from Wilton
Edible gold dust
Small paint brush
Rolling pin
Sharp knife
Water

*NOTE - when working with fondant you want to keep the fondant you aren't using at the moment in a air tight container to prevent it from drying out.

To color the fondant, take a ball of fondant and knead it a few times. Dip a toothpick into the coloring and run it through the fondant. Start with a small amount of color and gradually add more. It is much easier to make fondant darker than it is to lighten it. *TIP - use a new toothpick each time you dip into the coloring. If you double dip you may deposit icing into your coloring which will cause it to go bad faster. Knead the color into the fondant until it is evenly distributed. Repeat this process with the green and black coloring. *TIP - always color lighter colors first to reduce the chance of transferring color from once of fondant to the next. Washing your hands in between colors will also help.

Roll a ball of fondant 1 inch in diameter.  Roll the ball into a tear drop shape by applying pressure to one side of the ball while you roll it against a flat surface.  If the tear drop takes on a shape your not happy with, simply roll it back into a ball a try again. 

Stand the tear drop up with the smaller end on the table and press down on the top to form the top of the hat.  If you squish a little too much, lay the hat on its side and roll it against the table to lengthen it. Set aside.  Roll another ball of fondant 1 inch in diameter.  Flatten the ball into a disk 1/8-1/4 inch thick, this will form the base of the hat.  Set aside.

Take a small amount of the black fondant and roll it out as thin as you can while still being able to lift the fondant off of the table.  Using a sharp knife, cut a a strip of fondant 1/8 inch wide.  *TIP - if you let the fondant sit for a minute or two after rolling it won't be as sticky and will cut much easier.  At the same time cut a very small square of black fondant, this will be the centre of the buckle, set aside.  Using the paint brush, apply a small amount of water to the base of the hat and wrap the black strip around.  Trim off the excess black so that the ends meet.  Don't worry about the seam as we are going to cover it with the buckle. Set aside.

Roll out the yellow fondant to about the same thickness as the black fondant.  Cut a square slightly larger than the black square you cut earlier.  Apply a small amount of water to the yellow square and gently press the black square into the centre.  *TIP - if you have craft tweezers they would be helpful to get the black square into place.  I picked the square up with the tip of the knife and it worked well.  Dry the paint brush off and dip it into the edible gold glitter.  Dab the glitter onto the yellow square around the black square.  *TIP - if glitter gets on the black fondant, use a dry paint brush to brush the glitter away.

 

Apply a small amount of water to the bottom of the hat and press it onto the disk.  Ta da!  Your leprechaun hat is complete!  I would suggest letting these hats dry for at least a few hours before you place them on cupcakes because there are so many pieces that are "glued" together.  If you are making these toppers ahead of time, they can be store on a cookie sheet and covered with plastic wrap until you are ready to use them.  The hats will slowly harden but they are still completely edible!   

 

I think if I made these cupcakes again I would have white buttercream icing instead of green as the hat blends in more than I would like.  I attempted to use a green cupcake cup (with adorable shamrocks all over them I might add) but the design basically disappeared when I baked the cupcakes.  Don't you hate when that happens!?  I need to find a solution to that problem!

 

These cupcakes would be a great treat for your kids or for your kids to take to school!  Don't these hats just make you happy?  I know I would love to have a cupcake with a hat on it!  Really I just want a cupcake with anything on it...