My two year old has recently fell in love with "Hello Kitty". If she is to spot one randomly about, a sudden squeal of high pitched enthusiasm erupts from her pint sized self, as she points and repeatably squeaks....."Kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty."
Needless to say she likes Hello Kitty, and why wouldn't she? Her character is so simplified and charming that it is so appealing to little girls, like mine. So I thought I would surprise her by making her some cupcakes with a picture of Hello Kitty on top!
They were a complete hit, she loved them!!! For those of you that wish to make them as well, you can follow along with how I made them....
This is what you will need:
These sugar toppers were actually very easy to make and I made them in an afternoon; so even if you don't have a lot of experience working with royal icing, you could still make these with no problems :)
To make any of the templates I use to create these traceable sugar toppers, I use a free program from
Serif called Page Plus, it's a great little graphics program to knock around with and it's relatively easy to use. I found and downloaded a image of Hello Kitty through a Google image search, and using the Page Plus program I centered it in a circle a bit larger than 2 1/2 inches in diameter,
(2.69 inches to be exact.)
If your not so graphic savvy you can print the templates from here
Full Head Kitty and
Blue Dress Kitty. I typically print out a few more than I need, this helps with practicing and for the inevitable mistakes that "I" always make.
Cover them in wax paper, and tape them to the wax paper so they will not move as you trace them.
Now you can make your royal icing. For these I used a Wilton recipe, which can be found
{HERE} After you have finished making your icing,m it's time to start adding some color to it! In 4-5 separate bowls mix your colors!
Black will take A LOT of gel coloring, red a little less and the blue and yellow take very little. Start small and add if you need to, if you add to much coloring just add some of the un-tinted icing back into the mix to lighten it. If you have it available use the white tint to make your white pop, it really does make a difference.
The consistencies of the icing should be as follows:
Black: Piping consistency
Red: Flood Consistency
Blue Flood Consistency
Yellow: Piping Consistency
White: Flood Consistency
After you've tinted your icing, fill your decorating bags. You can cap off the ends with a coupler and some saran wrap until you are ready to use each color.
With your black icing and tip #1 start outlining Kitty's face. Switching to tip # 1.5 and outline the small details inside her bow. (You can use #1 tip for all of this if you choose)
Still using the black Icing, switch to a #2 tip and trace the outer circle of each topper. Take your time!
When you are done, let them dry for 30-45 minutes...The longer the better! When they are dry you can begin filling in the bows. With a #1 or a 1.5 tip on your red icing , flood the inner parts of the bows.
When all the bows are finished, switch to the blue icing (if you are doing the Kitty in the blue dress) and with a #1 or #1.5 tip fill in her dress. As soon as you fill all the dresses, switch to the white icing with a #1.5 tip and add in the polka dots, they will meld into the blue a bit, but still remain raised.
With all the little details done, you can put them aside for about 15 minutes or so before you start flooding the remainder with white. When you are ready put a #1 tip on your white and begin flooding around kitty's face and her hands and feet (paws) Do the inside of her face LAST!
When you are finished filling the face, switch to the yellow and a #1 tip and pipe the nose onto Kittty's face. Just a small squeeze, to make a small dot.
Let the toppers dry completely for a few hours, before you peel them off.
This is what they will look like!
Now you are ready to put your cupcakes together! Yippee! Fill a bowl with some multicolored confetti sprinkles and set it to the side. Fill a decorating bag with vanilla frosting (or whatever flavor you choose.) I use a 1M tip for this, but you can use whatever large tip you prefer. Start frosting a ring around the outer edge of your cupcakes. It should look like this when you are finished.
Now dip the cupcake into the confetti sprinkles and gently roll it, coating the entire edge.
Finally, place the topper on top of the cupcake and gently press down, try to use equal pressure so as to not to break the topper, as they are very delicate!
Voila...your finished
Hello Kitty Cupcakes! Now pat yourself on the back, job well done!
These cupcakes can be stored in the fridge for a day or two
without the royal icing breaking down.You can also make these topper well in advance, just store them in an airtight container, until you are ready to use them.
I hope this was informative enough. Please feel free to comment below if you have any questions or to just let me know you were here!
Most of all though....enjoy and happy cupcaking!
Please note that this cupcake tutorial is meant only for personal and not commercial use!!
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