How to Make Candy-Flower Cupcakes (With Video)

How to Make Candy Flower Cupcakes in 3 Different Ways

Try this easy shortcut for floral-inspired cupcake toppers.

Published on June 16, 2023

cupcake flowers made of candy — Photo:
Aaron Dyer

Floral cupcakes are a pretty, garden-inspired addition to spring parties, summer bridal showers, or warm-weather potlucks. But if you haven't mastered the icing-piping techniques that result in neat, intricate petals, substitute pre-packaged candies with this easy tutorial.

Here, our decorating expert used gummy peaches, sour candy strips, and mini marshmallows to create a cohesive palette of flowers in orange, pink, peach, and white tones. You could swap these flavors for other candies in different hues to accommodate any event (try rainbow fruit strips for vivid roses or monochrome gummy gems for a colorful garden of cupcakes).

These instructions cover how to prepare, cut, and place the candies; start with our recipe for basic vanilla cupcakes and buttercream icing as a tasty base for a platter full of blooming beauties.

What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

Knife
Kitchen scissors
Cutting board

Materials

Iced cupcakes
Sour peach candy
Mini marshmallows
Sour candy strips

Instructions

How to Make a Candy Garden Rose Cupcake Topper

Slice the flat, gummy peaches in half longways, exposing the colorful center. Then cut each piece in half crosswise, so you have four petal-shaped pieces from each candy.
Push a candy piece into the outer edge of the cupcake with the longest cut-side going into the frosting and the rounded edge pointing up and out. Place more candies around the edge of the cupcake, completing the circle, overlapping the pieces slightly.
Continue placing peach pieces in overlapping circles toward the inside of the cupcake, mimicking the petal layout of a rose.

How to Make Marshmallow Chrysanthemum Cupcake Toppers

Use kitchen scissors to cut mini marshmallows crosswise into thin, oval-shaped pieces. Each marshmallow should make about five petals.
Set a petal into the icing, starting on the outer edge of the cupcake. One narrow point should hang off the edge of the cupcake, while the other is aimed at the center.
Continue setting petals into the icing using the same technique. Leave space between each petal. Create additional layers of petals as you move toward the center of the cupcake, overlapping the points.

How to Make a Sugar-Coated Rose Cupcake Topper

Lay a 10-inch strip of sour candy out on the cutting board. Hold it at each end, and turn the ends in opposite directions until the entire piece is twisted.
Roll the twisted candy into a circle. The twists will curl to create petals.
Set the twisted candy into the center of the iced cupcake, pushing down on the edges to create a higher section in the middle.