Not too long ago I shared a series of brownie cupcakes with a light milk glaze that you can take in many different directions depending on what you use to flavor the milk. In this post the same simple cupcakes were topped with fondant textured with a silicone mat. You will need a very small amount of buttercream spread on the top to serve as a glue for the fondant. I had some leftover from macarons, but you need so little that I would not mind if you grabbed a store-bought version. Perhaps a Wilton cream cheese frosting, which is not too sweet. It won’t be as good as home-made, but you will barely taste it in this case. Recipe for the cupcakes found here.

HEARTS AND GOLD BROWNIE CUPCAKE

Maybe my favorite of the trio, made using this mini-fondant mat. I used Sugarprism red to paint the hearts, and Egyptian gold luster + everclear to highlight the details. A little shower with Champagne glitter dust from TheSugarArt sealed the deal for me.

SPRINGTIME BROWNIE CUPCAKE

For this cupcake, I used one of my favorite little mats, which I bought a couple of years ago. You can find it here. After it dried a little bit, I painted using vodka + luster powder yellow, green, pink and the center of the flower with Egyptian gold. I could not help but finish them with some White Diamond Dust, again from TheSugarArt.

PINK SWIRLS BROWNIE CUPCAKE

For this cupcake I used this large silicone mat, and selected the region I wanted to top the cupcake by placing the round cookie cutter over it. Once the fondant dried for a few minutes, I brushed the surface with a glaze made with TrueColor Air-brush Shine Pink. The small detail in the center of the flower was added with Sugarprism red.

These are the three mats used in this set of brownie cupcakes…

Fondant mats are great little tools to play with, and work equally well with marzipan and even modeling chocolate. Some mats work better than others, and it does take some trial and error to get the impression perfect in the whole extension. With fondant, a bit of cornstarch helps. The advantage of cupcakes is their small area, a lot more forgiving to get it right.

Speaking of marzipan…

In these lemon cupcakes made a couple of years ago and for some reason never blogged (!!!!). The same white mat of the picture was used with rolled marzipan and dusted with dry luster powder in yellow and pink. Amazing what I find in forgotten folders in my computer. Sad thing is that I don’t even remember which recipe I used for them… I might have to re-visit this important issue!

ONE YEAR AGO: Brown Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Icing

TWO YEARS AGO: Mandioca Frita 101 

THREE YEARS AGO: Raspberry Puffs

FOUR YEARS AGO: Vietnamese-ish Chicken

FIVE YEARS AGO: Rutabagas Anna

SIX YEARS AGO: The Ultimate Raspberry Sorbet

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Crispy Cornmeal Sweet Potato Fries

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Pan-grilled Tilapia with Smoked Paprika & Avocado Cream

NINE YEARS AGO: Golden Saffron and Fennel Loaf

TEN YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, July 2011

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Heavenly Homemade Fromage Blanc

TWELVE YEARS AGO: A Perfect Sunday Dinner