Pot-O-Gold Cupcake Toppers

St. Patrick's Day isn't often a highly anticipated holiday, unless you enjoy the odd adult beverage.  Kids however love to celebrate even the smallest holidays, and I'm always looking for an excuse to make some cupcakes!  I can't wait until Roman is old enough to take treats to school, but until then John will have to take them to work.  Heaven knows we can't possibly eat all these treats!

When I decided to make a St. Patrick's Day cupcake I knew I wanted to do something recognizable but give it a fun twist.  I love to see the reaction my cupcakes get from people, so I always keep that in mind when deciding on a design.  Why decorate a cupcake if it isn't going to bring a smile to the face of everyone who sees them? 

When you think of St. Patrick's Day, one of the first things you probably think of is a pot-o-gold, no not the scratch n' win ticket, but the wonderful treasure at the end of a rainbow!  What better treasure than a delicious cupcake?  This pot-o-gold cupcake topper is incredibly easy to make.  If you can roll a ball you can make these toppers, which would make this a great project to do with older kids!  The best part is, they are completely edible. 

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.
Edible gold glitter
Small paint brush
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 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 piece of black fondant into a ball 1 inch in diameter.  Press down on the top of the ball to make the base of the pot.  Roll a second ball about the size of a grape, and press down on the top until it flattens into a disk.  To form the feet of the pot, roll 3 small balls about the size of blueberries.  Apply a small amount of water to the top of the pot and press the disk into place.  Flip the pot over, apply a small amount of water to the bottom of the pot and press the feet into place.  Your almost done!

Now to fill the pot with thousands of dollars of gold!!!  Or fondant gold....  Roll several small balls of yellow fondant, 1/8 inch in diameter, and squish them into disks.  Arrange the disks on the top of the pot.  I randomly placed the disks to look like a pile of gold.  Apply a small amount of water to the yellow disks and dry the paint brush off.  Dip the paint brush into the gold glitter and dab it onto the yellow fondant.  If glitter falls onto the black fondant use a dry paint brush to wipe it away.

Now all that is left to do is to pop it on top of your cupcake!  It's just that easy!!  You could also make a great St. Patrick's Day scene on a cake using this topper!  Maybe find a plastic leprechaun, or make one from fondant if your good at molding people (my people always look like wider stick men), and stick him on the cake.  Then pipe a rainbow with this pot of gold at the end and sprinkle shamrock shaped sprinkles over the rest of the cake.  Just an idea...now I want to make that cake!!

If you are making your toppers in advance, which you likely are, you can let them sit out on a cookie sheet until you need them.  I would suggest covering them with plastic wrap just to keep dust from landing on them.  Nobody wants to eat a dusty pot-o-gold!

I decided to make a chocolate cupcake and top it with a mint buttercream icing.  John loves the combination of chocolate and mint, and since I've never made a cupcake with mint icing and the colors work well for St. Patrick's Day, I thought I would give it a shot.  *TIP - If you are using a light colored icing with this topper, I would suggest putting these toppers on last minute because the black color from the pot might bleed into your light icing it sits long enough.