Royal Icing Cupcake Toppers

I have been making a lot of royal icing transfers lately and I am loving them. It is so nice to go to my pantry and grab what I want to decorate cupcakes without stressing. You can make a cupcake in less than an hour and as soon as it cools, you can pipe the icing and add cute royal icing cupcake toppers. Fast and simple desserts are the way to go.

Royal-Icing-Cupcake-Toppers thebearfootbaker.comSince I started sharing the “Template Tuesday” templates with you, I have received a few questions about how long the RI Transfers will last on the cupcakes. Well, this made me think about how I apply mine. I usually pipe the icing and then add the royal icing transfer right before the event so they will look their best. I decided to see how long they would last on top of a cupcake before they started breaking down.

I made these bee transfers last week for this post. Then, I sat them on my kitchen table and left them alone. I live in a log cabin with huge windows that get the full hot evening sun. They sat there untouched in the air conditioning with the sun hitting them for hours. I looked at them everyday and nothing. They held up beautifully. I couldn’t have asked for better results even with all the humidity we have had the past week.

Tips for Applying Royal Icing Cupcake Toppers:

I think there are a few simple reasons they held up so nice. I am not a scientist but, I have noticed what works for for me and i hope it works for you.

  1. The bees were made with 15 second icing. If the icing is on the thin side, it will break down faster than thick icing will because moisture and royal icing cupcake toppers don’t play well with each other.
  2. The cupcake icing is sturdy enough to hold a peak. The same rule applies for the cupcake icing. Thicker is better.
  3. The bees were made with white icing only. If they were made with dark colors, it could have bled onto the cupcake icing and made it look messy.

If you follow these simple tips, I think you will have success with your royal icing cupcake toppers. If you have questions about how to make your icing shiny, Sweetopia has some great tips here.

For information on how to store royal icing transfers, click here.

Happy Creating,

Lisa