Elephant cupcakes for Baz's birthday

How do you know if an elephant has been hiding in your fridge?

..There are footprints in the butter! 

How do you know if an elephant has been messing with your cupcakes?

..There are footprints in the buttercream! 

Oh, I am hilarious! Somebody stop me! Seriously, stop me.

Baz, my father-in-law, loves elephants. He collects them. Not real ones. I'm pretty sure that's illegal without the correct accreditation. We all went to Taronga Zoo recently to see the baby elephant. Too much frickin' cute for one day. So this year for his birthday I made him elephant cupcakes (last year it was billiard balls). 

Here is what you'll need to make your own elephant cupcakes..

Fondant - grey and colour of your choice for circles.

Circle cutter 

Piping tips (two sizes for cutting)

Black gel food colouring

Toothpicks

Small paint brush and some water

Balling tool (optional)

First you wanna cut out some fondant circles for your elephants to sit on. I use a 2 1/2 inch circle cutter. Set aside to dry and harden.

For the face and ears we need three circles, one large and two smaller. I use my piping tips to cut these circles. Press the smaller circles gently with your fingertips to thin out and shape the ears. You can also use a balling tool for this.

Attach the ears to your fondant circle by brushing a little bit of water on the back. Then position the face and also attach with some water.

Next we're making the trunk. Take a small amount of grey fondant and roll it into a ball (see the top left image for the size required). Then with your pointer and thumb, pinch the ball and roll into a trunk shape, one end thicker than the other. Finally, flatten the trunk. You can curve the trunk or leave straight.

Attach the trunk with some water, and use a toothpick and some black food colouring to give your elephants eyes. You could easily add tusks with some white fondant. Then pop these bad boys on your cupcakes with a bit of buttercream or icing.