Frozen in Fair Isle: The Ultimate Winter Fondant Topper Tutorial

As temperatures continue to drop, we search for anything and everything that will keep us warm! Decorate your seasonal cakes and cupcakes with a fair isle-inspired design reminiscent of cold weather fashion and the ever-so-popular animated film Frozen!

Keep warm with fondant toppers inspired by fair isle sweaters!

Materials needed:

• White, pink and blue fondant
• Fondant rolling pin with 1/8″ and 1/16″ guide rings
• Water/edible glue and brush
• Vegetable shortening
• Miniature diamond cutter
• Small snowflake plunger
• Mitten cutter
• Fondant storage board
• 2 1/4″ round scalloped cutter
• Rolling cutter/embosser
• White shimmer dust/brush

Step 1:

Roll out pink, white and blue fondant with the rolling pin and 1/8″ guide rings on your work surface.

Step 2:

Punch out many miniature diamond shapes with the cutter out of all three fondant colors. Determine the number of shapes needed by designing your color pattern, then estimating how many of each color you will need. Feel free to overestimate! In this particular design, I utilized three colors, but doubled the amount of white fondant.

Step 3:

Place the cut miniature diamonds inside the fondant storage board as you work on the next steps to avoid the fondant drying out.

Step 4:

Roll out white fondant thin with the rolling pin and 1/16″ guide rings on your work surface. To make sure you have enough fondant, simply place the 2 1/4″ round scalloped cutter over the rolled fondant and make a slight impression so you can utilize the shape as a guide.

Step 5:

Spread some water/edible glue with a brush over the impressed shape on the white fondant and begin to layer the fondant diamond pieces in the pre-determined pattern. In this design, I alternated between blue and pink across horizontally, followed by another row of all white.

Then, I repeated the pattern, as necessary. I also used my fingers to brush on some vegetable shortening to the surface of the small diamonds creating the pattern to ensure they remain soft and avoid breaking or cracking when embossing the pattern over them.

Step 6:

Once the pattern is complete, utilize the 2 1/4″ round scalloped cutter to punch out the shape from the patterned fondant.

Step 7:

With the rolling pastry cutter/embosser, roll the tool to impress the pattern diagonally through the center of the diamonds in both directions, making the sweater-like pattern.

Step 8:

Roll out white fondant with the rolling pin and 1/8″ guide rings. Cut out three snowflakes with the small plunger. To utilize the plunger, press it over the fondant to cut out the overall shape and while still on your work surface, press the plunger down to impress the pattern {if applicable}. Then, pick up the plunger and press down to remove the fondant.

If it does not come out right away, continually press down a few times to urge it out. Try to wipe off strays and smooth the fondant out.

Step 9:

To add sparkle to the snowflakes, brush some white shimmer dust over the entirety of the snowflake shapes. If you prefer to paint them, mix the shimmer dust with a tiny bit of water or clear alcohol (i.e. vodka – the alcohol will evaporate) and paint directly over the fondant, preferably once it has dried a bit.

Step 10:

Strategically glue the snowflakes to the patterned fondant disc, then very lightly brush the disc with a bit of additional shimmer dust to add some extra shine.

Repeat the steps above to make additional shapes and patterns to achieve a variety of fair isle looks, while utilizing an array of cutters to form Winter mittens and other corresponding items, such as pine trees or reindeer. Vary colors and arrangements and add details, such as glittery pom poms and decorations attained with the use of the rolling embosser.