I would like to frost some mini cupcakes with a very smooth top. I saw a picture in a Peggy Posrschen book where she held the full size cupcake by the paper, turned it upside down and dipped the top of the cupcake into the liquified icing.

Her recipe called for a huge amount of premade fondant that she added other ingredients to before she microwaved it to become liquid. My question is can you do this technique with buttercream? Is there a formal name for this technique? I'm not sure what words to use to do a search for previous topics. Any recipes that you have tried that are not too sweet?

My concern with a fondant base is that when it hardens, if I want to do it on the larger cupcakes, my friend wants to poke lollipop stick into them with pictures of her daughter on them. I don't want them to crack.

Any help or direction would be appreciated!!! Thank you

If the fondant is rolled thin enough (1/8"), and you put them in a covered container, it will start to absorb the buttercream and soften up quite a bit overnight. You can then put your sticks in there and not worry about cracking.

I don't see the point in going to all that trouble for a smooth top when all you need to do is top your cupcakes with a circle of rolled fondant. The buttercream crumb coat and the moisture from the cupcake will keep the fondant soft.

If you're really worried about cracking the fondant, and you shouldn't be, start the hole for the lollipop stick with a pointy skewer.

Thank you for your replies. In order to get the fondant to stick I will need to first frost a bit with BC?

So, in my original question- is there a name for that technique?

Thanks!

There's no name for a technique of just frosting it with buttercream and applying the fondant.

You will want a thin layer of buttercream for the fondant to stick to. I ice all my cupcakes with star tips, since you are only wanting a small amount (so the buttercream does not stick up too much and the fondant circle will look funny), I would just take a small star tip, to pipe your buttercream on, then run a spatula over it gently to get it flattened out a bit (or wait for it to crust and press down with waxed paper, viva paper towel, whatever), then put your fondant circle on top of it.

When you put them in a covered container, the fondant will absorb the buttercream and become soft, especially if it's a thin coat.

I don't know if the technique of thinning/melting icing has a name. And I read a lot - so I'd be very interested to find out if it in fact does have a name.

For the cupcakes, I would suggest just a smear of buttercream, then apply the fondant circle. You can "cup" the palm of your hand over the fondant to smooth it. If you use a crusting buttercream, I'd suggest chilling your cupcakes first so the icing doesn't crust over before you finish putting the bc on all of them. The condensation will keep the bc sticky a little longer to give you time to get all the fondant circles on.

Thank you both - I think I have more confidence now in using fondant circles (which was my first choice anyway). I did like the look Peggy Porschen got with her dipping technique - shiny.

rolled buttercream will give you a shiny look, or luster dust your fondant