diy projects, fall, holidays, thanksgiving

DIY: Acorn and Leaf Topper

This acorn and leaf topper is a super cute and festive touch to any fall dessert.  It’s easy to assemble (requires no baking) and would be a great kitchen DIY for the kiddos.  I’ve included the step-by-step directions below so you can make this cuteness in your own kitchen. Enjoy!

Materials Needed:

  • Starburst® Candies
  • Hershey’s Kisses®
  • Mini Nilla® Wafers
  • Chocolate Sprinkles
  • Royal icing

1. Apply a small amount of royal icing to the mini wafer and stick a chocolate kiss face down on top.  After it has set, using a toothpick, dab a teeny tiny bit of royal icing on the top of your acorn and stick a chocolate sprinkle on top.  At this point, the acorns would be ready to serve as an individual treat, but continue on to complete the entire topper look.

In case you don’t have a royal icing recipe on hand, my man Alton Brown has a simple recipe to follow HERE.

2. Unwrap a few Starburst® candies and work them one at a time, warming each one (separately) on a plate in the microwave for 5-10 seconds to get it soft (don’t melt it!). Then, using wax paper, roll and form the leaf’s shape.  Use scissors if you prefer a clean edge. Using a toothpick, indent in the center and diagonally along your leaf. Once you’ve achieved your desired leaf shape, place it on a sheet of wax paper to set.

3. Once you’re dessert item is iced, add your acorn and leaf to the top.  For a cupcake, I used vanilla icing and then added some gold sprinkles to jazz it up a bit.  Adorable, right!?

And for a cake topper, I’d recommend adding more than one leaf and acorn.  As you’ll see below, I made a delicious chocolate cheesecake topped with caramel and dark chocolate, and then added my fall leaves and acorns on top.  For this topper, I made my leaves using the Starburst® candies AND a few milk caramel candies I had in my cupboard.  For caramel leaves, follow the same process used for the Starburst®  ones.

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