Cold evenings in late February. Cottage pie with friends. King cake for an appetizer. Chocolate cake for dessert. Paper valentines on the walls. Mardi Gras beads on the door. Paper hats on our heads. There is so much to celebrate…
Cake Logic
I have a five minute rule about cake decorating. It goes like this: No spending more than five minutes on decorating a cake.
I really built the lead-up on that one, didn’t I?
See, I don’t think I, or anyone for that matter, will spend more than five minutes eating a slice of cake. And by that logic, that means I will spend less than five minutes appreciating a cake. And by that logic, why would I, or anyone else for that matter, spend a whole afternoon making something that will be consumed and destroyed in a speck of moments.
This is what I call cake logic.
This is why I like about cake toppers – they dress up any cake and you get a keepsake at the end of the night. And in this case, even if you toss the topper out, nobody has to feel bad about it because it did not cost any time or money to make. Huzzah much?
The idea for these cake toppers piggy backs on THIS tutorial for hot glue hearts I made for Elizabeth Banks’ blog last week. If you saw it already you can probably skip this post. If not, click here to check it out yourself.
You saw the first tutorial? Okay. Great. (Temporary Update Feb 2014: Sorry if that link does not work right now. Elizabethbanks.com transferred to a Tumblr site and the URL was never transferred. I’m told they will update it, but in the meantime, just read the rest of the post. I think you’ll get the crux of it. Thanks guys!) (Another update March 2014: click here to find it courtesy of the wayback machine)
Can you see where this is going?
Materials:
- Parchment paper (buy a roll at the grocery store by the tin foil – NOT WAX PAPER)
- Confetti shreds (click here for directions)
- Hot glue and hot glue gun
- Toothpicks
Let’s get this party started, shall we?
Lay your parchment paper on a flat surface and start drawing with the glue gun. Need a template? Use a pencil to write down any number or shapes first.
While the glue is still hot (read: work quickly) insert a toothpick in the base. Then go back over it with another round of glue and dump the whole thing with confetti. See any bald patches? Go back with more glue, more confetti. Lather, rinse, repeat. Assuming you already have some confetti ready to go, this will take you 90 seconds tops.
So that was easy. But why stop at numbers? How about letters? For you initials…or maybe a secret message?
Next birthday I’m going to spell out my whole name in confetti and cake. Who is with me?
YESSSS
Making these this weekend for my freaking wedding cupcakes. Until now I have been clueless about what to use to top them!
You are beyond fabulous! Love this! Wishing you an early happy valentine’s!
xo Mary Jo
These are the best ever. Ever. EVER.
i’m with you ap!
Really beautiful!
So pretty! Can’t wait to try these – cake or no cake.
You are made of Awesome. Scratch that: you are the dictionary definition of awesome.
This idea is very cute. I can think of things I can do for my granddaughter already. Thanks for the creative idea.
Ingenious!
I’ve done it! Did a heart and it came out so well that I’m thinking of doing it with letters and numbers like your did.
Very cute…but…aren’t candles with then a little dangerous?
Very cute…but…aren’t candles with then a little dangerous?
Amazing… <3
Wow!!!
So simple, it’s genius. I want to make a bunch of these now. Thanks for the idea!
You could extend this idea and do it with melted chocolate instead of hot glue and sprinkles instead of confetti! (Because I also have a rule about cake decorating that everything on the cake apart from the candles should be edible)
You could extend this idea and use melted chocolate and sprinkles instead of hot glue and confetti! (My rule about cake decorating is that everything on the cake should be edible,although I have yet to find edible candles)
Count me in with the melted chocolate and sprinkles too.
haha! i love your cake logic. it’s so true – we need to force our guests to spend 6 hours eating their cake slice.
these confetti guys are AWESOME! sweet tutorial and thanks for sharing! xo
Just spotted this on Pinterest….never had such a good excuse to go and buy a glue gun! Love it, thanks!
Just found this on Pinterest…never had a better excuse to go out and buy a glue gun! Fab
I’m the Editorial Assistant for Fun Family Crafts and I wanted to let you know that we have featured your cake topper! You can see it here:
http://funfamilycrafts.com/confetti-cake-topper/
If you have other kid-friendly crafts, we’d love it if you would submit them. If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above. Thanks for a clever project idea!
Yo, the ‘check it out yourself’ link to your post on Elizabeth Banks’ blog led me to a Tumbler sign-in screen. When I signed in, it said “f___ off!” Thought you ought to know!
Love this idea! I think I’m going to use cake sprinkles instead of confetti. Looks so cute.
Aunt Peaches, how does one ensure these don’t turn out floppy at the top? I’m not crafty, so I might have made a basic glue gun mistake. I’m hoping if I just wait long enough, it will harden!
The thicker the hot glue the more rigid it will turn out. Do three or four lines on top of each other if needed. Also, don’t move the glue before it dries 100% — that seems to effect floppiness. Also, keep the numbers fairly small — no bigger than your hand. Any bigger than that and you’ll want some wires or long toothpicks for support. Good luck!
Dumb question- the hot glue won’t stick to the parchment paper when you turn it around to do the other side?
When I click on the Elizabeth Banks link, it wants me to sign in to tumblr – I don’t have an account, and I can’t find the tutorial by just looking on her blog – is there any other way to access it? I want to make these for table numbers for my wedding and I wanted to refresh my memory about how to make them, and want to be sure I’m not missing something from the first post! Thank you!
Yeah, they switched platforms. The link went dead and they have been unresponsive on updating it or releasing content to me to publish here — sorry. It’s pretty much the same concept but in a simpler format. You aren’t missing much. Fingers crossed it will come back.
This is awesome! I wanted to let you know I tried this out this weekend with glitter and featured this DIY on my blog today!
http://www.lovevividly.com/vanilla-peach-jell-o-shots-toppers
-Marianela
This didn’t work for me. I used both sides of the parchment paper and it stuck to the paper 🙁
That’s really odd. Could you tell me the brand of paper? Silicone coated parchment paper doesn’t stick to anything. Nothing sticks to silicone, not even spray paint. If there is one that does not work, I’d like to know what it is.
This is freaking amazing. I used this tutorial for my grad party (the first picture in this post https://hannahwithacamera.wordpress.com/2015/06/05/graduation-party-with-daniel-wellington/) and it turned out awesome! Thank you!!
Rhett Butler: Do you mean to tell me, Aunt Peaches O’Hara, that cake doesn’t mean anything to you? Why, cake is the only thing in the world worth workin’ for, worth fightin’ for, worth dyin’ for, because it’s the only thing that lasts (forever on the hips)….besides this dear sweet confetti cake topper!
I used this to make Glitter Letters. Instead of a cake topper, I decided to use it for Christmas decorations and gift tags with my friend’s initials. They turned out perfect.
Instructions here:
http://mishmashers.blogspot.com/2015/08/hot-glue-glitter-letters.html
Very cool!!!!
Hi. Can you tell me a way to make it without the glue gun? Cause I don’t have it.
You can try with regular Tacky Glue but they may spread and dry brittle. Hot glue is a key ingredient.
I was wondering if there was an alternative to the Parchment paper? Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi, is there an alternative to using Parchment paper? Thanks in advance 🙂
You can buy a silicon baking mat, but they run around $10 and a box of parchment runs $3. You can create one-sided shapes by using tin foil – most of the foil will stick, but the bulk will tear away easy.