WE HAVE A LOT OF FUN COMING UP WITH CUTE AND QUIRKY DECORATIONS FOR OUR DAILY SPECIALS CUPCAKES, BUT THESE EDIBLE LITTLE STRAWS HAVE TO BE ONE OF OUR FAVOURITES! LEARN HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN FONDANT STRAW CUPCAKE DECORATIONS IN OUR STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE.

In our new cookbook ‘Home Sweet Home’, we’ve shared our recipe for Strawberry Milkshake cupcakes which feature little edible drinking straws to decorate.

We wanted our cupcakes to look just like the tall, frosty glasses filled to the brim and decorated with a stripy straw – pure Americana! We think these adorable fondant straws add the perfect finishing touch.

The good news is they are a doddle to make with a little practice.  

Step one

Start with two balls of soft fondant icing in red and white.

You can mix any colours you fancy, but we like the classic look of red and white straws.

Ready-to-roll icing can be bought and coloured with edible food colouring.

If you are colouring your own icing, we recommend using gel food colouring and adding this little by little until you achieve the desired depth of colour.

Step two

Using the palm of your hand, roll out a small amount of icing into a long, thin rope shape. Roll out both colours to an equal thickness.

Be careful not to transfer any food colouring from the red icing to the white – wash and dry your hands and working surface as required.

Step three

Twist the two strands together.

Step four

Roll the twisted straws into thin strands so that the colours form a single straw. Use the palm of your hand and roll the icing slowly.

It will get quite long as you add the two quantities, so it may be easier to cut this in half before starting to roll each one out.

Step five

Cut each straw into around 8cm pieces.

Step six

Carefully bend the top section to create your finished straw. Let the straws dry over night on a sheet of baking parchment.

Top tips

These red and white straws can easily be made into little candy canes if you’re making festive cupcakes.   As they are quite fragile, it’s worth making a few extra straws in case of breakages.  

These sugar decorations will last for a few weeks if kept cool and dry in an airtight container.  

If you want to purchase sugar straws, we recommend using candy sticks (sometimes called ‘old fashioned candy sticks’ or ‘candy cigarettes’) which can be found online and at specialist sweet shops.