It's Graduation Season

It's graduation season, so what better way to show your graduate a little love, than with graduation inspired pastries! A neighbor asked me to make cupcakes and I wasn't quite sure what and how I wanted the design to look like. 

I ended up going with the traditional, a fondant graduation cap and diploma. I also went to my local Michaels and purchased 2015 graduation baking cups which came with 2015 picks. Believe it or not, this project was super easy! I colored some Wilton fondant black, used a small square fondant cutter (also by Wilton) to cut out the top of the cap and enhanced it with a small ball of black fondant which I placed in the center and smacked down a bit to give it that button (is that what it's called?) look. I rolled out the remainder of the fondant so I could make the portion of the cap that goes around the head. It was a little tricky making sure I didn't have to much fondant for the bottom portion, it needs to be in scale with the top part. I cut it in strips and sliced those in half. I took one end and slightly overlapped it to the other end, then brushed on a little water to secure it. The tassel was made from red fondant. I cut which skinny pieces, and with a pairing knife I indented the bottom to resemble the stringy part. The diploma was a breeze, I rolled out a thin piece of white fondant, cut long strips, cut those in 3 shorter pieces and rolled each one to resemble a diploma. I topped it off with a small piece of red fondant to mimic a ribbon. 

Tada! And there you have it, fondant diplomas and graduation caps!