I always aim to please when it comes to my children and with my Pokemon-mad son’s 10th birthday last week I decided to try my hand at making easy Pokemon Poke Ball Cupcakes.

I stopped making cupcakes for my kid’s to take to their class a few years ago now. There was no sense in it. Maybe when they started school, thinking that’s what everyone else was doing so felt I had to but decided to do something special for his this birthday because he was turning 10, double digits. My children don’t like most of the kids in their class so why would they want to celebrate their birthday with them? That’s how they feel and I do too.

Pokemon Poke Ball Cupcakes

I’ve been making cakes since I was about 8 years old but after all these years, I decided to try my hand at rolling fondant to decorate the cupcakes, something I never tried before. I don’t know why. I just thought it looked really complicated and was for expert cake makers. It really was very easy. If you can roll out dough, it’s exactly the same. A bit like playing with playdoh. Most of the supermarkets now have the primary colours of fondant icing in stock.

I’d made my cupcakes a few days earlier just to help being a little more organised. I used a homebrand box cake mix for 80 cents because most of the time the kids eat the icing and throw the cake away. From being in the fridge, they were a little sticky on top so didn’t have to cover them with jam or anything to make the fondant stick.

I found a round cookie cutter that was the same size of the top of the cupcake and set about kneading the fondant until it was soft, exactly the same texture as playdoh. I worked in small quantities. Use a baking sheet to roll on so it doesn’t stick to your work surface.

Roll the Fondant

For 24 cupcakes, you need 12 red and 12 white fondant circles.

Cut each circle in half.

Place one half of the red and one half of the red on the cupcake. Smooth the edges together to join http://www.startupvalley.com/member/bensstiv each half. You can press down on the outside of the cupcake to make sure the fondant is sticking.

Set the cupcakes aside.

It gets easier from here

And if that part wasn’t easy enough, this part is even easier. I couldn’t be bothered with carefully piping black lines and white circles on the cupcake to represent the Poké Ball so I picked up licorice straps for the black line. Using the diameter of the cookie cutter you used to cut out the fondant, cut lengths of licorice.

Using the ridges in the licorice strap, cut them again into strips. (You’ll note there’s still a slight bend in the licorice. I did want to unroll it and press between two heavy objects the night before just to make sure it would sit flat on the cupcake but forgot. Some did ‘pop up’ on the cupcakes but the kids didn’t notice.)

Make a mixture of icing sugar and water to the consistency of glue and put in a piping bag with a small nozzle. This will be used to stick the licorice and the white ball to the cupcakes.

Run a line of the white icing glue in the centre of the fondant and stick on the licorice.

I found these white M&Ms in a mint mix. There were dark and light green and white M&Ms in the pack and I thought they were perfect. Pop a small dab of icing glue onto the centre of the licorice and stick on the white M&M.

And that’s it. I’m not usually one for buying special candy just for a recipe rather opting to make do with things I already have but for the price of about $10 for the fondant, cake mix and candy I got 24 cupcakes. I did price online Pokemon cupcake toppers and they were about $24 for 12. Ummm, no thanks. My son was very impressed and loved them. Don’t be put off by using fondant. It really is easy and your Pokemon fan will be very happy with your effort.

What You’ll Need

• 24 cupcakes
• quantity of red fondant
• quantity of white fondant
• licorice straps
• white M&Ms
• quantity of glue like consistency icing sugar/water mixture