How to Make and Decorate Hanukkah Cupcakes

Guide Note

Hanukkah cupcakes are a great way to celebrate the festival of lights. They are quick and easy to make. If you're looking for ideas on how to make and decorate your cupcakes for Hanukkah this year, then this page will help guide you.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Making Kosher Cupcakes
• What to Use
• Using Stencils
• Creating Images Using Pastry Bags
• Creating Images Using Fondant
• Creating a Cupcake Menorah
• Presents Cupcakes
• Other Ideas
• Conclusion
• References

Decorating Tips

1. In 2008, Hanukkah is from December 21 to December 29.
2. Not all cupcakes are kosher.
3. Traditional colors of Hanukkah are blue, silver and white.
4. Creating a menorah out of cupcakes can be done easily.
5. Hanukkah themed cupcake wrappers and decorations are quick and easy methods to decorate cupcakes.

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Introduction

• 

  (Creative Commons photo by David Nestor)
  Hanukkah goes by many spellings including Chanukah, Chanukkah, Hanukka and Hanaka, but no matter how you spell it Hanukkah cupcakes are a great way to celebrate it. Since Hanukkah lasts eight nights, you may want to prepare cupcakes ahead and freeze them until you are ready to use them. Unfrosted cupcakes can be individually wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to three months.^{1 2}

• Before you get started, you will need cupcakes and frosting. For more information check out Mahalo's pages on How to Make Vanilla Cupcakes, How to Make Chocolate Cupcakes, How to Frost Cupcakes, How to Make Buttercream Icing, How to Make Royal Icing and How to Make Vanilla Icing. However, you may want to read the next section about how to make kosher cupcakes first.

Making Kosher Cupcakes

• If you are not Jewish, you may be unfamiliar with the rules regarding kosher foods. Although 25 to 30 percent of Jews in America keep kosher to some degree, not all observe the same laws regarding what is and what is not kosher.³ For more information on what is and what is not kosher, check out any of the following links:
  • KosherQuest
  • Star-K Online
  • OU Kosher

• Some of the basics laws affecting kosher foods that may affect making cupcakes include:

1. Utensils that have come into contact with non-kosher food or meat cannot be used.⁴
2. Eggs must come from kosher birds.⁵
3. Margarine, which may contain up to 12 percent dairy ingredients, requires rabbinic certification.⁵
4. If your meal contains meat (anything except fish), your cupcakes cannot contain dairy.⁴ For this reason, vegan cupcakes are often listed as kosher cupcakes as well.
5. All food and work surfaces must be inspected and blessed by a rabbi. You can skip this step and have cupcakes that are "kosher style."⁴ Although not every one agrees with this concept.³
6. Because it is processed, not all cake flour is certified kosher.⁶

What to Use

• 

  (Creative Commons photo by The Gifted Photographer)
  Like with any holiday, there are certain colors and images that are associated with Hanukkah.

• Colors: The traditional colors for Hanukkah are blue, silver and white. You can get these colors by using colored icing, colored sanding sugar and food color spray.

• Images: Certain images associated with Hanukkah that are good for decorating cupcakes include chocolate "Gelt" coins, a menorah, the Star of David (a six pointed star), candles, dreidels and the four Hebrew letters found on the dreidel: nun, gimmel, hay and shin.

• Frosting versus icing: The main difference between frosting and icing is the thickness. Frosting is thicker than icing, which means it holds shapes better and remains soft to the touch. Icing is thinner and will become very smooth as it dries.⁷ Some of the major types of icing include buttercream, royal, ganache and fondant.
  1. Use frosting or thick icing for anything that needs to stand upright.⁸
  2. Use medium icing for decorations such as stars, borders and flowers with flat petals. Medium icing will give uniformity to things you create. ⁸
  3. Use thin icing for printing and writing, vines and leaves.⁸
  • For more information, check out Mahalo's How to Frost Cupcakes, How to Make Buttercream Icing, How to Make Royal Icing or How to Make Vanilla Icing.

• Adding details: You can add details to your cupcakes by using decorating icing, gel icing, candy writers, food color markers or food color spray.

• Edible decorations: When looking to add decoration to your cupcakes, there are a variety of things you can include that will also be edible: edible glitter, candy confetti, jimmies or sprinkles, non-pareils (tiny candy beads), colored sanding or sugar. You can even find Star of David sprinkles online:
  • ShopBakersNook.com: Star of David Quins Cupcake Sprinkles
  • Sugarcraft.com: Hanukkah Kosher Products

Using Stencils

• A quick and easy way to decorate cupcakes is to stencil a design over the top of them. To do this, all you need is frosted cupcakes, a topping and a stencil. You can also use this technique to decorate cakes, cookies and brownies.

• There are a variety of toppings you can use to make your design including:
  1. Colored sugar.⁹
  2. Colored powdered sugar.¹⁰
  3. Colored coconut.¹⁰
  4. Sanding sugar.¹¹
  5. Ground ginger and confectioners' sugar.¹¹
  6. Cocoa powder and cinnamon.¹²
  7. Food color spray.¹³
  8. Crushed peppermint candy.

• You can make your own stencils very easily. If you are interested, check out Mahalo's page on How to Make Stencils. However, cupcake and cookie stencils are fairly inexpensive and can be purchased online at any of the following locations:
  1. Wilton: Holiday Cupcake and Cookie Stencils
  2. Pinkwool.com: Hanukkah Stencil
  3. CopperGifts.com: Jewish Sayings Cookie Stencils

Creating Images Using Pastry Bags

• A pastry or decorating bag is a great tool for creating professional looking cupcakes as well as allowing you to add different designs onto your cupcakes.^{14 1} For information on how to set up a pastry bag, check out the section about using a pastry bag on Mahalo's How to Frost Cupcakes page. There are two ways you can use a pastry bag to create images on your cupcakes.

• 

  (Creative Commons photo by Scott)
  One way to use a pastry bag is to draw an outline of a design on the cupcake, which is then filled in with icing. This allows you to create a variety of shapes.
  1. Use stiff frosting and a small writing tip to create your outline.¹⁵
  2. When you reach the beginning of your outline, stop squeezing, touch the tip to the frosting and then lift your pastry bag.¹⁶
  3. Seal the seam with a paintbrush dipped in water.¹⁶
  4. Let the frosting dry.¹⁵
  5. Fill in the outline with thinner icing using a spoon, a squeeze bottle, a decorating bag without a tip or a heavy-duty plastic bag with one corner cut to a 1/2-inch opening.^{16 15}
  6. Let the cupcake dry for at least two hours.¹⁶

• You can also use pastry bags and different tips to write Hanukkah sayings onto the cupcakes.¹⁷ Here's a tip before you try doing this on your cupcake: Practice on wax paper first.¹⁸

Creating Images Using Fondant

• Fondant is a very thick form of icing that is often used on wedding cakes, but it can also be used to decorate Hanukkah cupcakes. You can either purchase it ready-to-use or make your own fondant. Some recipes for fondant include:
  • About.com: Basic Fondant Recipe  
  • Allrecipes: Rolled Fondant | Rolled Buttercream Fondant
  • Recipezaar: Fondant Recipe Search
  • Food Network: Fondant Recipe | Rolled Fondant Recipe  

Fondant Tips

• Here are a few tips, so you can make the best use of your fondant.

1. Your work surface should be clean and smooth.¹⁹
2. Use margarine or shortening to keep your hands from sticking to the fondant.¹⁹
3. Dust your work surface and tools with confectioners sugar or cornstarch to prevent the fondant from sticking to it.^{19 20}
4. To color fondant, use a few drops of food coloring and knead it until you get the shade desired. You can also paint shapes with food coloring to get bolder colors.²¹
5. Roll out your fondant so it is about 1/8 inch thick.²⁰
6. Use a small blade or cookie cutters to cut out images you want.²¹ Hanukkah cookie cutters are available online at the following locations:
   • • Wilton: Hanukkah Metal Cutter Set
     • ShopBakersNook.com: Hanukkah Themed 4 Piece Cookie Cutter Set | 6 Point Star Cookie Cutter
     • Crate and Barrel: Hanukkah Cookie Cutters
     • Bargain Judaica: Hanukah Cookie Cutters
     • Think-Yiddish: Chanukah Cookie Cutters
     • BayVillageStore.com: Hanukkah Cookie Cutters
     • Jewish Bazaar: Chanukah Cookie Cutter
     • Zion Judaica: Hanukkah Cookie Cutters

• Expert Village: Making Fondant Shapes for Cakes (Time: 1:30)  

Creating a Cupcake Menorah

• You can create a cupcake menorah by arranging nine cupcakes into a row. The middle cupcake, which represents the Shamash, should be elevated.²²

• Decorate the cupcakes in one of the following ways:
  1. Insert blue candles into the tops of the cupcakes.²² You may want to use a hard candy or gummy ring to stand the candle.²³
  2. Use a chocolate kiss (either with or without the flame) to create your candle.²⁴
  3. Create an edible candle by inserting a chocolate covered wafer and top it with yellow frosting.²⁵

Presents Cupcakes

• It is a Hanukkah tradition to give gelt, or money, to reward children during Hanukkah. This tradition has since expanded to giving gifts during Hanukkah. Therefore, it might be fun to make your own Hanukkah gifts out of your cupcakes.²⁶ Although you can use round cupcakes, you might want to check out some of the square muffin pans available online:
  • Google Product Search: Square Muffin Pan
  • The Home Marketplace Online: Square Muffin Pan
  • Kitchen Krafts: Square Muffin Pan

• Once you have your cupcakes baked, you will want to frost them in a variety of colors before adding the bow. Afterwards, you might want to add name tags to your cupcakes and use them for place setting holders.²⁷ Bows can be created in various ways, including:
  1. Using buttercream icing.²⁸
  2. Using royal icing.²⁹
  3. Using rolled red spice drops to create a double-looped or a multi-looped bow.^{30 31}
  4. Using fondant to create any of the following bows:
     1. Wilton: Fondant Bow and Loops
     2. Wilton Cupcake Fun: Tree-mendously Generous Mini Cakes
     3. Wilton Cupcake Fun: Fluffy Bow Cupcakes

• Expert Village Videos: How to Make a Fondant Bow (Time: 2:14)  

Other Ideas

1. Add a couple of drops of blue food coloring to vanilla cupcakes and swirl it around with a knife before you bake them to keep the Hanukkah feeling going.³²
2. Simply spread blue sprinkles onto white-frosted cupcakes.³³
3. You can add pre-made Hanukkah candy decorations on your cupcakes.
   • ShopBakersNook.com: Hanukkah Themed Cake and Cupcake Decorations
   • Wilton: Hanukkah Icing Decorations
   • Wine and Cake Hobbies: Hannukah Icing Decorations
4. Hanukkah cupcake wrappers can add a finishing touch to your cupcake. They can be found online:
   • Google Product Search: Hanukkah Cupcake Wrappers
   • ShopBakersNook.com: Hanukkah Themed Cupcake Liners
   • Wilton: Hanukkah Baking Cups
5. Cupcake picks are plastic or wooden images that can be inserted into cupcakes as decorations. They are readily available almost any place that sells baking supplies as well as online:
   • ShopBakersNook.com: Dreidel Shaped Cupcake Toppers | Star of David Hanukkah Cupcake Toppers
   • eBay: Hanukkah Topper Search
   • Hometown Celebrations: Dreidel Cupcake Picks | Hanukkah Cupcake Picks | Hanukkah Star Cupcake Rings | Blue and Silver Cupcake Picks
   • FancyFlours: Hanukkah Glitter Picks
   • Wine and Cake Hobbies: Hannukah Rings

Conclusion

• With your Hanukkah cupcakes made, you might want to check out some of the other Hanukkah food pages such as How to Make Latkes, Beef Brisket, Hamantash, Gefilte Fish, Blintz and Hanukkah Gelt. You might also find the pages on the How to Spell Hanukkah, How to Light Hanukkah Candles, How to Play Dreidel and Dreidel Rules useful.

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References for How to Decorate Hanukkah Cupcakes

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Homemakers.com: 10 Expert Tips for Making Great Cupcakes
2. ↑ Cupcakes Take The Cake: Cupcake Tips (July 6, 2005)
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Judaism 101: Kashrut: Jewish Dietary Laws
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} WeddingChannel.com: Can You Have A Kosher Wedding Cake?
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Ou.org: How Do I Know It's Kosher?
6. ↑ Chowhound: Kosher Cake Flour
7. ↑ Christmas-Cookies.com: Decorating Sugar Cookies
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} Wilton: Icing Consistency
9. ↑ About.com: How to Make Colored Sugar  
10. ↑ ^{10.0 10.1} FabulousFoods.com: How to Make Tinted Sugars and Coconut (July 29, 2007)
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} MarthaStewart.com: Stenciled Halloween Cakes
12. ↑ Slashfood: How to Make Cupcake Stencils
13. ↑ Martha Stewart Crafts: Cake Stencils
14. ↑ RecipeTips.com: Pastry Bag
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1 15.2} Goodhousekeeping.com: Cookie Decorating Tips - Christmas Cookies  
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3} CakeWorksCentral.com: Cookie Decorating 101
17. ↑ Wilton: Script Writing
18. ↑ Moms Menu: Holiday Cupcakes
19. ↑ ^{19.0 19.1 19.2} Expert Village: Tips for Working with Cake Fondant (Time: 1:16)    
20. ↑ ^{20.0 20.1} Wilton: Fondant Leaves
21. ↑ ^{21.0 21.1} The Journal of a Girl who Loves To Cook: Fondant @ Sugarpaste (September 5, 2007)
22. ↑ ^{22.0 22.1} Kraftfoods.com: Cupcake Menorah Recipe
23. ↑ DianasDesserts.com: Tips for Cupcakes
24. ↑ The Jewish Food Mailing List Archive: Chocolate Cupcake Menorahs
25. ↑ CafeMom: Hanukkah Cupcakes!
26. ↑ About.com: Hanukkah Giving and Gifts  
27. ↑ CupcakeRecipes.com: Christmas Cupcake Ideas
28. ↑ Wilton: Frosting Bows
29. ↑ Wilton: Bow Loops
30. ↑ Wilton Cupcake Fun: Wreath Reward Cupcakes
31. ↑ Wilton Cupcake Fun: Big Bright Bow! Cupcakes
32. ↑ Teamsugar: Christmas Cupcakes!
33. ↑ Mrs. Beasley's: Chanukah Cupcakes