I actually made these a while back and since I’m not doing as much baking I though that NOW would be a good time to finally just put together a tutorial on them.
Mind you these are only for Mario, I will post a how to for Luigi at another time. But if you can make Mario…you’ll easily be able to make Luigi.
These are actually very easy to make, but do take a bit of time. If you look at the picture below, you can see that he is essentially just a variety of everyday shapes put together. So try to look at him in that way and the rest is a breeze!
I make these a day or so in advance to ensure that they are dry enough. If they are to soft they won’t hold their shape well and will be a bit limp
This is what you will need to make them…..
- Fondant
- Red, Black, Peach & Brown gel food coloring
- A Circle cutter (Or something circular)
- A large decorating tip and a regular sized tip or whatever else you can use.
- Black food marker or a food safe paint brush
- A small flower cutter (see image below)
I would suggest reading this whole post before deciding whether you think you can make these or not. Many of the decorating items you may not have handy are things that you can “improvise” with whatever you find around the house.
Meaning you will probably find most of what you need in your kitchen and if needed look through your kids Play Doh cutter collection 🙂 just be sure to wash everything before you use them.
I buy fondant from my local craft store, I just haven’t found a need to make my own yet. The brand I use is Wilton and with a coupon, you can usually get it at a very decent price at any craft store.
Before you roll and cut anything you need to prepare your fondant. You will five separate colors of black, red, peach (flesh), brown and white(uncolored). So get those ready and set aside in plastic bags. Fondant dries out when it is exposed to air, so keep it well wrapped until you are ready to use it.
Roll out your flesh colored fondant and use the circle cutter to cut out his face, the size should be small enough, so that it covers the top of a cupcake. If you don’t have a circle cutter, you can use the top of a drinking glass or something circular. I rolled this part out a bit thick, since it is the main component of the topper. If you find that the fondant is getting too sticky, sprinkle some cornstarch or powdered sugar on your work surface
Cut out as many faces as you think you will need, plus an additional one or two as “just in case” toppers. Set to the side. Next roll out more of the flesh colored fondant and take your large decorating tip to cut out small circles. These are going to be his ears so two for each face is what you will need.
When they are all cut out, you will begin to attached them to the face. FLIP over each face and attach an ear to each side of the circle. Just position each circle halfway onto his head. You can use a dab of water to adhere the ears.
After both ears are attached flip his face back over.
To make his nose roll out a length of flesh colored fondant and cut into equal sized pieces, roll them into a roundish shape to form his nose.
You can attach these to his face with a small dab of water or even corn syrup. Use a food safe paintbrush so you don’t get the fondant too wet or it will get all sorts of messy. After all the noses have been added, you can set the faces aside as you work on the rest of elements It’s okay if they dry out a little ,I find them easier to work with in this way.
To make his eyes roll out a length of white fondant and cut it into equal parts. Cut the smaller pieces into two. Roll them into oval balls. Smoosh them down with your finger and you have the whites of his eyes ready. Place aside.
To make his pupils roll out your black fondant and use a small decorator tip to cut out his pupils. I used a #12 tip. Set aside until you put all the pieces of his face together.
Next you can start on his mustache. Roll out you r brown colored fondant and use the medium sized flower cutter from Wilton or anything that remotely resembles Mario’s mustache and cut out the shape. Use a large decorators tip to cut the curved top of the mustache out. Put these to the side when done.
To make the side burns cut out a small circle using a a decorators tip.
Cut the bottom of the circle’s with the decorators tip.
Then cut two equal portions from this circle to get the sideburns.You can do this for his eyebrows as well…just make them much smaller.
At this point you can start putting his face together, before you start on his hat. Using a small amount of water attach all the pieces of his face with a food safe paintbrush.
To make his hat, roll out your red fondant and using the same circle cutter as his face.
Using the cutter, cut the bottom portion of the circle.
It will resemble the shape of a football.
Take this part and fold it in two.
On the other part of the circle, brush the edge with some water and attach the folded part.
Mold it into the hat brim.
With these formed you can roll out a length of white fondant and cut into equal parts, roll into balls and squish them to make the circles for his hat. Attach with a dab of water. I typically wait till the white circle has dried out a little before writing the “M” onto it with my food safe marker. You can also paint the “M” on using a food safe paint brush a black food coloring.
To add the hats to the face, brush the top of Mario’s head with water and attach the hats to the face.
Do this for all of the Mario’s and set aside to dry. I usually let them set overnight.
When they have dried. Frost your cupcakes and sprinkle with some colored confetti, sprinkles or sanding sugar and attach your toppers! Because the toppers are dried, I have no problems when storing the cupcakes in the refrigerator.
Good Job!!! Now go show off all your hard work and soak up the praises….you deserve them 🙂
Hope you enjoyed this post! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below or e-mail me!
